Volkswagen recently announced the establishment of a new company in Rwanda, revealing plans to build a production facility in Kigali with an initial annual capacity of 5 000 units as well as roll out a fresh community car sharing project. And now the Wolfsburg-based brand has confirmed which vehicles it intends to assemble in the country.
In a second statement, VW said that it planned to build an “environmentally compatible” local vehicle assembly facility in Kigali. Volkswagen and CFAO, a long-standing partner in Africa for the distribution and assembly of vehicles, have signed a letter of intent to this effect.
Production will start with “several hundred vehicles” in mid-2018, with capacity expected to be “gradually” expanded to up to 5 000 vehicles per year. The cars to be assembled at the new plant? Well, VW says its initial plans include the Polo and Passat.
The automaker will also be focusing on new app-based mobility services such as car-sharing and ride-hailing, with the vehicle fleet required for the planned services to be taken “entirely from local production”.
Volkswagen started assembling vehicles in Nigeria in 2015, and in Kenya in late 2016. And, of course, the brand has been manufacturing vehicles in South Africa since 1951.
