Fresh from getting the nod to assemble Chinese vehicles, local car assembler Quest Motor Corporation will next week add tractors on its menu.
BY NDAMU SANDU
Quest is assembling Foton Turnland double cab trucks and buses. The assembler is working on the first batch of 10 buses which will be assembled using imported products.
Quest operations manager Carl Fernandes told NewsDay that his company would add tractors to its list.
“We will assemble the first batch of 10, thereafter we will see how sales go and adjust accordingly to market demand,” he said.
The move comes after the local assembly industry has been suffocated by the importation of new cars and second-hand vehicles from Japan.
Quest Motor Corporation director Tarik Adam told NewsDay during a tour of the plant in Mutare on Tuesday that the buses were much better than imports “because people making them know Zimbabwe conditions”.
Fernandes said “depending on volumes, we will see what can be localised economically on the tractors”.
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“For the buses, plans are in place to localise seats, batteries tyres and flooring in the next pack.
Already we have local paint and consumables for welding. Thereafter we hope to localise glass,” he said.
Adam said the company had the capacity to assemble more cars “as the capacity and space are here”.
Fernandes said the company’s output depends on the uptake from the market.
“We have received little or no support from police, armed forces, Zupco, Zesa, NetOne and other parastatals with all the big deals going towards importing vehicles,” he said. “We have capacity to match the country’s demand for new cars, buses and trucks which was last year pegged at about 4 500 units, or 400 units per month or 20 units a day.”
Local car assemblers are hamstrung by the importation of new cars and grey imports from Japan.
Local car assemblers feel government has failed to walk the talk in alleviating their plight by enforcing a Cabinet directive that government departments, ministries and parastatals should buy cars locally.
