Willowvale Motor Industries Set To Resume Assembling Vehicles
Willowvale Motor Industries (WMI) is set to resume assembling vehicles this year after ceasing vehicle assembly in 2017.
The company is a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ).
WMI acting managing director, Mr Dzi Matanhire, said the assembly of pick-up trucks would resume in August this year, according to The Herald.
Matanhire told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce during a tour of Deven Engineering and Willowvale Motor Industries in Harare last week:
Our mandate is local production and supply of vehicular products and equipment and to be the leading supplier of mobility solutions in Africa and beyond.
Willowvale Motor Industries is a customer-centric manufacturer and supplier of sustainable mobility solutions. The company is solvent financially and currently we are selling Mahindra products. We approached the company with a view to establishing a plant in Zimbabwe. We are also selling Mazda products.
He added that Willowvale Motor Industries collaborates with Deven Engineering to produce buses. They plan to acquire three well-known vehicle brands for assembly, as well as consider agricultural equipment. However, they face challenges such as foreign currency, retail credit, wholesale finance, working capital, retooling, and public sector procurement support. Despite this, Willowvale Motor Industries is now a profitable organisation, having resolved its financial issues from 10 years ago. They plan to secure funding for equipment upgrades and retooling.
Mr Edward Tome, the General Manager of IDCZ, said the company aims to produce affordable vehicles that Zimbabweans can purchase. He said they are considering collaborating with the Harare Institute of Technology and other universities to manufacture local components for assembling vehicles. This is to reduce production costs and make the final retail price of vehicles affordable for the people of Zimbabwe. He added:
Starting in the third quarter of this year we will be assembling double and single-cab trucks that will be very affordable to the people of Zimbabwe.
We also have in the pipeline a plan to start assembling again the 3.5-tonne trucks popularly known as T35s which will be very affordable.
Chimanimani East Member of Parliament, Joshua Sacco who heads the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce said Zimbabweans should support local industries by buying locally manufactured products.
WMI was established in 1967. It is a vehicle manufacturer in Zimbabwe that produces buses, trucks, and cars for the local market. The company was initially established as a joint venture between the Zimbabwean government and a South Korean company, Daewoo.
They stopped making cars because the Zimbabwean economy got worse, which made it hard to get the parts they needed to build cars. Fewer people wanted to buy cars too. There were also problems with how the company was run, like corruption and bad management. The Zimbabwean government ended their partnership with Daewoo, and WMI closed in 2005, resumed and closed again in 2017 because of all these problems.
