Isuzu Plans Increase in Nigeria’s Light, Medium Duty Truck Market Share

Bennett  Oghifo

Isuzu Motors International has said it plans to increase its market share in Nigeria this year, in the light duty and medium duty truck segments of the market.

Deputy President & Executive Vice President, Isuzu Motors International, Mr. Hirokazu Maruyama, who was on a working visit to Nigeria, stated this during a media chat at the office of its representative in Nigeria, Koncept Autocentre, a subsidiary of Kewalram Chanrai Group.

Isuzu is leveraging its excellent technology and its customer-tailored products to achieve their goals in Nigeria, he said, adding that Isuzu is strong in Nigeria in the commercial segment such as light duty trucks, and medium duty trucks, as well as diesel-engine globally.

Maruyama said, “The Nigerian auto market is unique. We feel it has a lot of prospects and we want to stay here and be part of the development.

“We are here to promote new Japan-made diesel-engine trucks. This will help our customers’ business to grow; reduce their operational cost and downtime. It will also be the contribution of Isuzu to the economy of this country.”

According to him, Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa with also its large population has a lot of opportunities for the auto business.

He said, “In 2023, our target is to increase our share in the Nigeria market, more than what we did last year.

“We started promoting the 3-S philosophy last year; we are continuing with that this year. The 3s stands for Sales, Service and Spare parts.”

In line with the directive of the Isuzu management, he said they had set up a team with the 3-S to support its dealers’ operations, adding, “We want them to be more service-oriented in order to assist the customers. We send our team out to meet with the customers’ needs.”

He said Isuzu would contribute to the growth of Nigeria’s economy through its unique technology and would focus on local assembly of vehicles, through Koncept Autocentre, because of its huge benefits.

“For us, local auto assembly is important. This will help to develop the local industry fast. Through this, we will have a lot of component/spare part suppliers in the local market. More employment opportunities will also be created and it will boost the national economy,” he said.

The Isuzu team, he said, assisted its Nigerian partners to set up the assembly plant operation, adding, “We also asked the team to train some specialists that will continue to work at the plant for production. We provide an assembly manual that could be easily understood by the local workers.”

He said they were satisfied with the performance of their representative in Nigeria, Koncept Autocentre, stating that the firm did well last year, and that it could do better this year.

“Our management is determined to provide quality commercial vehicles to contribute to the world economy and help our customers’ business to grow well; our strength in diesel-engine vehicles will contribute to the economic growth and serve our customer needs immensely.”

Speaking on the Isuzu’s plans to increase its market share, the Executive Vice President, Vehicle Sales (Sub-Saharan Africa), Mr. Geoffrey Mulandi said, “Our strategy is to get closer to our customers. This will enable us to hear their voices and we are able to address their needs. We have promotional activities that enable us to reach out to the customers and get to understand them better.”

On what is unique about Isuzu products, Managing Director- Auto, Kewalram Chanrai Group, Anil Sahgal said, “At Isuzu, we want our products to speak for us. That is the reason that every day and night, they work on new product development to meet the customer needs.

“We have products for customers’ needs and they are designed with high quality, best performance and efficiency. That is unique to us.

“People always say we are diesel-technology experts for the needs and efficiency of the customers. That is why Isuzu has maintained its leadership in this market.”