Innoson is 2nd most purchased vehicle in Nigeria
Sopuruchi Onwuka
Indigenous automobile manufacturer, Innoson, is second most purchased vehicle in the country despite the refusal of the federal government to implement the highly applauded Nigerian Content policy in the purchase and use of vehicles in the country.
Despite the galloping inflation and very tight cash squeeze plaguing the automobile industry in the economy, the indigenous brand beat the Korean Hyundai to become the second brand most preferred by new car buyers in the country. Innoson stands only behind Japanese Toyota in sales volume among new vehicle sales so far in the year.
In a total of 3469 new vehicles purchased from three brands comprising Toyota, Innoson and Hyundai in the first six months of the year, buyers took 1160 automobiles from Innoson, 1335 from Toyota and 974 from Hyundai to rank the first three most patronized brands in the country.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Innoson vehicle manufacturing maintains it position among the top 3 most purchased cars in Nigeria despite the declining real growth rate of the Motor vehicle and assembly sector which contracted by 151% between first and second quarters of the year.
The NBS however stated that whereas the real growth rate of motor vehicle and assembly declined, the purchase of new cars in Nigeria has been on the increase in the last six months with the car market in 2024 experienced strong double-digit growth.
The data from the NBS, The Oracle Today reports, indicate that imported brands rules the new car sales in the country where sales June alone maintained a positive trend for the fourth consecutive month with 1,446 units of new vehicles sold.
The sales figure indicates significant 20.4% growth in the purchase of new cars in the country where the wider car market is rules by used cars imported from all corners of the world.
A separate report reviewed by Dataphyte, and independent analytics medium, showed that 7,171 vehicle were registered in the country between January and June, indicating some 18.7% increase in sales.
The figures mirror the trend of the new car purchases which have increased in the last five years by 14.1% between 2019 and 2023. While the lowest was 7,451 cars sold in 2020, the highest was sale of 13,304 new cars in 2023.
It is not clear if the new registrations are new or used (tokumbo) vehicles. It is clear however that consumer demand for new cars has increased despite the sharp contraction in the motor vehicle and assembly sector, implying the huge spend in new vehicles leaves no growth impact on economic activities within the local motor production sector.
Nigeria has 6 motor vehicle and assembly companies: Nord automobile limited, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Proforce Limited, Phoenix Renewables, Jet Systems Automobile Industries Limited and Electric Motor Vehicles Company of Nigeria Limited.
Although the real GDP growth rate of the motor vehicle and assembly sector is on the decline, Innoson vehicle manufacturing is among the top three most purchased cars so far in 2024.
