Executive Director of luxury automobile distributors, Silver Star Auto Limited, Nouhad Kalmoni, is hopeful Ghana’s automobile industry will bounce back after sales generally plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has had an impact on the globally integrated automotive industry with a disruption in export of Chinese parts, large scale manufacturing interruptions across Europe, and the closure of assembly plants in the United States. This is placing intense pressure on an industry already coping with a downshift in global demand.
Speaking to Citi Business News during the launch of a new dealership for Citroën brand of vehicles in Accra, Mr. Kalmoni said the automobile industry in Ghana is showing signs of steady growth ahead of the general election in December.
“The Auto industry has seen a setback of about 25 to 30 percent on average depending on the brands and the segments in which we operate. So, you might see maybe commercial vehicles are more affected than maybe some passenger cars, fleets might be buying. Fortunately for us and all the other dealers we happen to be in an election year so there is a drive for purchase of new vehicles. They’re using up budgets before the end of the year and before the new year comes around. So, hopefully, the latter part of this year, that’s the next three to four months, well see some boost in terms of vehicle sales,” he said.
Mr. Nouhad Kalmoni said the new dealership will showcase top of the range vehicles such as the new Citroën Cactus SUV, Aircross SUV, Citroën Jumper and Citroën Berlingo Van, from the renowned French car manufacturer.
He said customers should expect exciting new products and offers from the company which is the nation’s sole distributor of Citroën brand of vehicles.
