Stallion Group Marks Historic Assembly of Volkswagen Passenger & Commercial Vehicles in Nigeria

Multinational Conglomerate Stallion Group launched the first Nigeria made Volkswagen passenger & commercial vehicles assembled at its brand new plant, marking the historic return of global brand as a locally assembled vehicle after 20 years.

The Stallion Group had entered into collaboration with the Volkswagen Group for assembly of its vehicles in Nigeria, pursuant to the new Automotive Policy announced by the Federal Government in October 2013.

Stallion is commencing assembly of Volkswagen’s renowned products including Passat, Jetta, CC and Amarok models.

The Volkswagen Group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group operates 119 production plants in 20 European countries and a further eight countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

Stallion Group is the preferred partner for an impressive portfolio of global auto brands and the exclusive Distributor for the Volkswagen Group in Nigeria including the brands Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Porsche.

Commenting on the launch, Stallion’s Chairman Sunil Vaswani said “this is a great moment for Stallion in partnering with a world leading global brand like Volkswagen. He said further “Stallion is immensely pleased to bring back the proud legacy of Nigeria automotive industry, the Volkswagen brand, which once was indigenously produced at the same premises.”

On Stallion’s plans for the automotive industry, Sunil Vaswani said “Stallion in committed to investing and expanding further its operations in the automotive value chain across multiple global brands, paving way for Nigeria to establish itself as a regional leader in the automobile eco system”.

Stallion is already assembling Nissan, Hyundai, Ashok Leyland and IVECO vehicles in Nigeria and has developed a large team of highly skilled human resources following extensive training by specialists from the respective Principals.

For Volkswagen, this is a return to Nigeria for assembly operations after more than two decades. Notably, it was the Stallion Group that acquired the moribund plant then and successfully resuscitated it with assembly of buses, trucks, pick-ups and eventually passenger vehicles at the facility.

The launch of Volkswagen vehicles by Stallion is another major catalyst for the revival of Nigeria’s automotive industry that can potentially lead to the development of multiple ancillary component industries, apart from fostering engineering skill base in the country and generating employment.

Stallion is a multinational conglomerate with a 45-year history operating in Nigeria and the sub Saharan markets, and is engaged in diversified industries including agriculture, commodities, automobile assembly & distribution, mining, steel manufacturing, packaging, technology and others.