Volkswagen Back To Nigeria After 20 Years, Signs Deal With Stallion

Global automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen Group, and regional

conglomerate, Stallion Group, have inked a deal to establish a vehicle
assembly plant in Nigeria.

The agreement marked the historic return of the German car maker after
more than 20 years of their departure, following the collapse of their
joint venture with the Federal Government.

The collapse led to the closure of Volkswagen manufacturing facility in
Lagos and the subsequent sale of government shares to the Stallion Group.

In line with the new Auto Policy announced by the Federal Government in
October 2013, the collaboration between the Volkswagen Group and Stallion
will result in local assembly of Volkswagen brands in Nigeria.

The Volkswagen Group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany is one of
the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in
Europe.

It operates 107 production plants in 19 European countries and an
additional eight countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The
Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

Stallion Group is already the exclusive distributor for several brands of
the Volkswagen Group, including Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, and Porsche.

It is a multinational conglomerate with a 45-year history operating in
Nigeria and in 18 countries and is engaged in diversified industries.

Stallion’s Chairman Sunil Vaswani, who spoke on the development, said:
“This is a proud moment for Stallion in partnering with a world-leading
global brand like Volkswagen.

“Stallion is fully committed to achieving its objectives in establishing
assembly operations in Nigeria, and expanding into other aspects of the
automotive industry value chain”.

Vaswani reaffirmed his commitment to working with the Federal Government
to create jobs and attract more foreign investments to grow the economy.

The Executive Director of Sales, CIS, Middle East and Africa at
Volkswagen, Dr. Jan Utermarck, said: “Volkswagen is on a constant global
search for market and sales potential. Nigeria is the largest automotive
market in the Sub-Saharan region; hence, we appreciate the fact that we
have found a professional partner in Stallion to launch a local vehicle
assembly in Lagos starting in 2015.”

Stallion will assemble the Jetta, Volkswagen CC, and Amarok models during
the initial phase, followed by the Passat, Tiguan and other models in
subsequent phases.