Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
27 June 2011
Johnny General Auto Car Maintenance & Assembly constructing plant at 67m Br in Gelan
Johnny General Auto Car Maintenance & Assembly is constructing a car assembly plant at a cost of a little over 67 million Br in Gelan Town to assemble Italian made Fiat and Chinese made FAW automobiles.
Construction on the 10,000sqm plot of land in Gelan, located 35km south of Addis Abeba, commenced in December 2010. The company expects construction to be completed by June 2012.
“We plan to initially hire 220 employees but aim to eventually employ 500 people to assemble 100 Fiat cars and 130 FAW cars annually,” Gizachew Temesgen, head of administration and finance at the company, told Fortune.
Johnny General Auto Car was named Johnny General Service upon its establishment in March 1996. It provides garage services as well as maintenance, painting, body work, and electrical works on cars.
The company is finalising negotiations with Fiat Co to assemble cars ranging from 800cc to 1,400cc in complete knocked down (CKD) form, according to Johnny Perseghian, general manager of the company.
Fiat, the largest car maker in Italy, was established in July 1899 and opened its first factory in 1900 with 150 workers and an annual production capacity of 24 cars. Today it is renowned for its small sized reliable cars.
“We plan to assemble fuel efficient cars,” Johnny said.
The 800cc runs between 24km to 26km per litre, the 1,200cc can go between 17km and 19km per litre, while the 1,400cc gets 18km to 22km out of a litre, according to the general manager. The maximum speed of the 800cc is estimated at 120km per hour, while that of the 1200cc and 1400cc are put at around 140 km per hour and 160km per hour, he claimed.
Johnny General Auto plans to use locally available raw materials such as leather, sponge, and iron together with imported materials for car interiors and seats to be assembled using machines imported mostly from Italy and China, according to Johnny.
“We are in initial talks with FAW and plan to travel to China soon for closer inspection,” he told Fortune. “We also plan to road test the cars in Ethiopia to determine their suitability to the local terrain.”
FAW Group is a leading Chinese car and truck maker that was founded in 1953 and makes in excess of seven million vehicles annually. It wholly owns 28 subsidiaries and controlling interest in 18 partially owned subsidiaries while also being in a joint venture (JV) with Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG. The company’s total assets are currently valued at 14.27 billion dollars.
“A total of 279 investment licences have been given to investors with a total capital of close to 6.2 billion Br in Gelan,” said Gizaw Jigsa, expert in investment projects follow-up and assistance at the Gelan investment bureau. “Out of these, 55 have become operational, and seven have exported products worth more than 73 million dollars over the past 10 months.”
Nationwide, 49 investors hold licences to assemble automobiles, motorcycles, and trucks, according to data from the Ethiopian Investment Agency (EIA).
By ELIAS GEBRESELASSIE
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Progressing Plant Plans Fiat, Faw Car Assembly