The Nigerian assembly plant which would be in partnership with Coscharis motors limited, a Ford dealer in Nigeria, is the first outside South Africa, where Ford produces the Ranger for 148 markets.
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Production will begin from the fourth quarter of this year, in the Lagos State about 750km southwest of Nigeria’s capital city Abuja. The company expects the new assembly plant in Ikeja to create approximately 180 jobs directly and indirectly. That’s because the midsize pickup is reportedly too close in size to the Ford F-150.
“Nigeria is a priority market for us in sub-Saharan Africa”, said Jeff Nemeth, CEO of Ford’s business in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Depending on how Nigeria develops over time, we are potentially looking at using our Nigerian plant to service West Africa”.
Rival automakers, Renault-Nissan, South Korea’s Kia Motors and Germany’s Volkswagen have announced plans to assemble vehicles in Africa’s most populous nation.
Ford will import vehicle body parts and components from South Africa, and assemble them at the Ikeja plant. All of the production will be for sale locally.
Later this year, Ford will start selling an updated Ranger with new styling and features, including the ability to wade through water up to 31.5 inches deep. The Ranger accounts for about 50% to 60% of the total, he said. And with a 28-degree approach angle and 25-degree departure angle, customers feel confident when taking on steep terrain. A robust electronically controlled transfer case allows drivers in 4×4 models to shift on the fly from 4×2 to 4×4 high with a knob on the center console. An electronic locking rear differential helps to improve traction in hard conditions.
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The T6 Ford Ranger, which was developed by what is now called Ford’s Asia Pacific arm – with R&D based in Melbourne – is also made in Thailand (we get ours from there), South Africa and Argentina.
