Stakeholders and auto industry players have expressed mixed feelings over the N20bn consumer credit fund to stimulate demand for locally assembled brand new vehicles.
Many of the stakeholders who spoke with Daily Trust said the auto finance scheme, which is a critical component of the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) that has suffered over a decade of implementation, was coming rather too late.
This is just as an analysis by Daily Trust indicated that the N20bn scheme could only purchase less than 600 vehicles at an average of N35m per vehicle.
A check on some locally manufactured vehicles by Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) indicated that prices range between N25m and N35m depending on the models. Some models on the Innoson line up cost as much as N100m.
The scheme, which was launched by the Nigerian Credit Corporation (Credicorp) in partnership with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), was designed to make a single-digit loan available for vehicle buyers.
