IVM - THE PRIDE OF AFRICAN ROADS

 "A copy of a Chinese copy of a G-Wagon with a Mitsubishi Engine", were the exact words used by James Pumphrey of Donut Media, to describe our so-called "Pride of African Roads", the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company. When I heard him say this, I laughed uncontrollably because he was not far from the truth. If you have ever seen the Innoson G80, the next thing that comes to mind is, what sort of a low budget G-Wagon is this?

Tell me this doesn't look like a low budget G-Wagon?

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly shortened to IVM) is a Nigerian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nnewi, Anambra, Nigeria. It was founded by Chief Innocent Chukwuma Nwala. Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing is nicknamed Pride Of African Roads. I am always pro locally made products, but my issue with Innoson is, are their cars really locally produced? According to the company, 70% of its car parts are produced locally, while the rest is sourced from Japan, China, and Germany. Initially, 70% looks like a lot, but that 70% basically entails just the vehicle frame as the most important aspect of the car which is the engine is sourced from abroad. Just to put things in perspective, a vanguard news from 2020 states that Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman/CEO, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, IVM, revealed that his company only imports engines and lights, as all the electrical aspects and other equipment are sourced in-country.

Only the engine and lights, but come on, you do not claim to be the "Pride of African Roads" if you can not manufacture your own lights. Also, if Innoson is importing Engines, it means they are equally importing Gearboxes', because they go together. This in particular saddens me because we have automobile and electrical engineering graduates sitting at home without jobs. As the Pride Of African Roads, Innoson should be able to set up a sort of training for these Nigerian Engineers, so the Engineering team of the company is also locally sourced and maybe in a few years, it could unveil it's own in-house manufactured engine and drive train.

Innoson's Car Line Up

Another thing that bothers me about Innoson is how their cars all look rebadged. By this, I mean that almost every car in their line up looks like a knock off from other car companies. The most noticeable is the Innoson G80 that bears so much semblance to the G-Wagon, it even bears the same name tag "G". It is the same case with other cars in their line up. The second car from the right above, looks like a Jeep or Hummer SUV, the pick up truck looks like the previous generation Ford Ranger and then most of their sedan cars look like Japenese knock offs. The lack of genuity and imagination is truly bothersome.

Innoson and Big Brother's Romantic Relationship

Finally, I would like to make it clear that I am not a hater of the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, I am not just satisfied with the way things are run by the company. I wish only to see more Genuity and innovation as they progress as the leading car company in Nigeria. Hoping that in the nearest future they would be somewhat close to producing 90% of their car parts locally and also have Nigerian graduates fully ingrained in the workings of the company.

Let me know in the comments if you previously knew about IVM, what you think about their cars and if you know someone who owns one. Thank you for reading and always remember to turbo that engine.