Kigali — Volkswagen (VW) expects a rebound in vehicle sales in Nigeria as the economy recovers, the head of the company’s South African operations said. Sales in the West African nation dropped to less than 40 units in 2017, according to the company. Nigeria was one of several African oil exporters hit hard when crude prices crashed in 2014, but the economy is recovering as oil rebounds. "Now that the oil price has been recovering hopefully this situation will reverse and we can assemble and see a few hundred cars in the next year or so," Thomas Schaefer said in an interview at a conference in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. VW resumed building cars in Nigeria in 2015, it’s first factory on the continent outside SA. The company is set to start producing models including the Polo, Passat and Teramont at an assembly plant in Rwanda in June. We are "expecting to start with at least 2,000 cars in 2018 alone, but I would love to get to 10,000 cars," Schaefer said. While VW is continuously a...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.