Introduction
There is a high demand for automobiles in the African continent, and as such, a whole lot of cars ranging from thousands to millions of cars, arrive in Africa every month.
A disadvantage here is that even though we have indigenous car manufacturers, the speed rate at which cars are produced is slower as compared to the demand and thirst for cars by Africans. Part of this is because of inadequate funds and investments into the Nigerian Auto Industry. Despite these tight conflicts, some indigenous companies are doing great in a bit of effort to take over the African automobile market.
In this article, naijauto.com will be taking you through the list of 7 top African carmakers as well as details when they are founded and how they are operating.
A concept prototype car made in Nigeria
Top African carmakers
1. Laraki Motors from Morocco
Laraki Automobiles was founded in 1999 by Mohamed Laraki but currently has his son Abdeslam Laraki as the owner. Abdeslam Laraki was first a designer in Morocco, and he made luxurious yachts, which later led to Laraki, an eponym company.
To be able to meet up with the legacies of his father, he went to Switzerland to study automobile design and soon after, launched Laraki Fulgura as its first model in 2002.
The Laraki Motors designed Epitome Supercar
2. Perana Performance Group from South-Africa
The Perana Performance Group is based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and they are African automobile developers. It happens to be the second to use this brand name “Perana”.
The first was the Basil Green Motors who are very famous. The Perana Performance Group was found in the later months in the year 2007. Their plant is rooted around Hi-Tech Automotive research and Superformance.
Recently, this company has been able to manufacture her bespoke sports car which resulted from collaboration with Zagato. This latter company is a styling house in Italy and produced the Perana Z-one.
The 2012 Perana Z-One Zagato is a product of Perana Performance Group
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3. Birkin Cars (PTY) based in South-Africa
Birkin Cars Limited is an automobile manufacturer that is South African based. It was founded in 1982, by John Watson who was a strong automotive enthusiast and a fan of Lotus Seven, which was very classic in nature.
The founder, John Watson, is a descendant of Tim Birkin, a swift pioneer race driver. The car, “Seven”, had been completed in production from the manufacturing company and so could not be bought as new. Around the early 1980s, Watson went ahead to build and develop his own version of Seven.
These were then unveiled at the South African Grand Prix in 1983. Their cars are sold through dealers all over the world like Japan, the United States, and even across Europe. These vehicles use several Inline 4-cylinder engines that could be found in cars like Ford Zetec, as well as Toyota 4AG.
Some of their newer cars even use independent rear suspension, unlike the previously used live-axle. Their latest version is both longer and wider. Their speciality as well as their only produced vehicle, S3 Roadstar, is just a copy of Lotus Super 7.
Birkin Cars Limited has sold a part of their African manufacturing company to Ralph Smith/Dean Knoop. This company, currently trading as BIRKIN PERFORMANCE CARS, has been issued exclusive rights to make the product range of Birkin, i.e (S3, CS3, S3XS, and CS3XS) and other previous models under the BIRKIN license.
Birkin Cars score easily with the iconic Birkin CS3XS
4. Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM)
Innoson Group of Companies is an automobile and bus manufacturing company that was established by Mr Innocent Chukwuma Nwala in 2007. This company has its plant rooted in Nnewi, Anambra State.
The popular nickname of this company is “Pride of African Road”. It is said and believed that 70% of the parts of the cars used by them are made and produced locally, while the other 30% parts are sourced from other countries like Japan, China as well as Germany.
Some of the notable products of IVM are Umu (a 2-litre engine vehicle), Fox (a 1.5-litre engine vehicle) and Uzo (a minibus). Innoson motors are very much used in West African countries like Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Mali.
The beautiful winner of the Big Brother Naija, Pepperdem Season 4 is the brand ambassador of the IVM. Recently, Osuolale Farouq, a Nigerian Youth was invited by Mr Innocent Chukwuma, the CEO of Innoson Group of Companies, for re-designing an attractive logo for it on Twitter.
Noteworthily, the IVM recently won the 2020 carmaker of the year award.
The IVM Fox is a standard IVM vehicle
5. Advanced Automotive Design (AAD) from South-Africa
Established in 1995 by Rhys Edwards and Brian Glover, this automobile company is located in Die Wilgers, in Pretoria. It has "Shaka" as its registered trademark.
Her first vehicle was shown and displayed at the popular South Florida International Auto Show in 1997 and was called the Shaka Nynya. This car had similarities with the Plymouth Prowler and in 2000, a series model was launched and built according to orders.
AAD has made two notable cars called the Shaka Giotto in 2000, which was peculiar to only South Africa, and also the Shaka Nynya, built in 2000.
The Shaka Nynya from AAD automaker
6. Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) from Uganda
Kiira Motors, a state enterprise, was founded in 2014 to boost the development of home-based automobiles to create wealth for the nation. The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation holds 96% of the stock while Makerere University holds 4% of equity.
The company is rooted in Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda. The CEO of the company is currently Paul Isaac Musasizi. Uganda is not recognized for producing hybrid cars but this particular company, Kiira Motors, broke this glass ceiling by introducing the first set of hybrid cars. This company went into full-scale production for hybrid cars in 2018.
Kiira Motors Corporation is heavily into EVs like the one above
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7. Wallyscar from Tunisia
Rooted in La Marsa, Tunisia, Wallyscar was established in 2007 and manages to meet up with the production of 600 units every year. This company extends to Panama, France, Spain, Qatar, as well as Morocco.
Wallyscar works hand-in-hand with Peugeot, which is a French automobile company, by adopting PSA 1.4-litre petrol engine to be used in their vehicles. It was established by Zied Guiga.
A cool Crossover SUV from Wallyscar in Tunisia
You can also find more information on the top African carmakers in the video below.
Conclusion
You can always find a unique made-in-Nigeria vehicle as well as made-in-Africa vehicles around. In a nutshell, these top African carmakers are doing Africa very proud as they strive to compete against foreign car manufacturers in the automobile market. Cheers and good luck to you as you feel free to patronize them.
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