First Ethiopia car assembly company to offer three new models

June 8th, 2009 | EthioPolitics.com |

By Elias Meseret

Capital - Holland Car Plc, the first car assembly company in Ethiopia, says it has finalised preparations to offer three new model cars for the coming Ethiopian New Year.

The company, which has so far assembled Docc and Abay cars, will offer the three models at competitive prices.

“One of them is the Abay Executive, which is the modernised version of the previous one. The other two, whose name will be disclosed soon, are also named after an Ethiopian name,” Tadesse Tessema, engineer and general manager of the company told Capital.

The firm recently came up with a new scheme to enable it to operate on days when there is a foreign exchange shortage. The scheme the company devised, providing discounts and fast delivery for customers who purchase its cars in dollars, is now banned by the government.

“The foreign exchange shortage definitely affects our business. But the situation is getting and better now. We hope things will get better in the future and we will expand and complete our planned projects on time,” Tadesse explains.

Tadesse also told Capital that the company’s new pick-up vehicle will debut at the automotive show that will start in 15 days.

Asked why the Awash brand the company started producing a few months ago has not yet started mass production, Tadesse said the forex shortage is the main cause. “We are planning to start mass production in July,” he said.

Holland Car Plc was established in 2005 and is a joint venture between the Dutch company Trento Engineering BV and the Ethiopian company Ethio-Holland, each of them own half of the company.

The cooperation combines the expertise of production and processes by Trento and the knowledge of the local market of Ethio-Holland. Its production-site lies on 20,000 square metres and is located in Modjo, about 65km south east of Addis Ababa.

In related news, Holland Car Plc disclosed to Capital that it is undertaking a project that will enable it to assemble fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly cars.

The project, which is underway in collaboration with foreign companies, is expected to help the company join a group of car companies that have opted to go green by using bio-fuels and battery cells as the main source of energy to move the cars.