French multinational automobile manufacturer, Renault has mentioned the possibility of establishing an automobile assembly plant in Ghana. The vice president and chairman of the African-Middle-East-India (AMI) region at Renault, Fabrice Cambolive mentioned this on his courtesy visit to president Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra on 28th January 2019.
Cambolive explained that they would look out to see if the policies in Ghana match the capacity for them to transport their products into the country, after which they would go ahead with the process.
“I have noticed a lot of values in the country, and they are very important to us. I hope that we will be able to concretize it in a really hard project, not a short-term project, but a long-term project, and if everything is matching, we will come back to you as soon as possible,” he said.
The president assured Renault that Ghana is the best place for it to establish an assembly plant in West Africa. He also mentioned that Ghana considers itself the gateway to West Africa and as such has the potential to help them enter into the market successfully.
“We are the second largest economy in West Africa. So, there are lots and lots of reasons why Ghana is a well-positioned place for you. We are looking upon ourselves as the gateway to West Africa, to a market of some 350 million people, which is scheduled to go up to 500 million people by the year 2030. So, we think that it will be a good place for you to make it”, the President said.
Renault’s intentions to establish an assembly plant in Ghana comes after Volkswagen, Nissan and Sinotruk launched plants in Ghana this year. Once this is finalized, the African country may be on its way to becoming one of the top automobile centres in West Africa.
Renault is a French multinational automobile manufacturer that was established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured trucks, tractors, tanks, buses/coaches and autorail vehicles. According to the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, in 2016 Renault was the ninth biggest automaker in the world by production volume. By 2017, the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance had become the world’s biggest seller of light vehicles, bumping Volkswagen AG off the top spot.
