Innoson makes Forbes Made-in-Africa cars list

The domestic vehicle maker, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, has built on its success of manufacturing buses and trucks to launch a passenger car line comprising of a truck IVM 1021A and the Sports Utility Vehicle IVM 6490A.
One of the other two cars is from Kiira Motors Corporation Uganda. Originally developed by students from Uganda’s Makerere University for a project headed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the sedan hybrid electric vehicle called the Kiira EV SMACK was designed for the region, local terrain and consumers’ ability to afford the car. The five-seater sedan is powered by a rechargeable battery and also has an internal combustion engine-based generator which charges the battery. The first commercial vehicle from this line is expected to roll out in 2018.
The other car is Kantanka SUV model from Kantanka Automobile Company, Ghana.
The Ghanaian based automobile company founded by Apostle Safo Kantanka, assembles its automobile models at its Gomoa Mputa plant in the central region of Ghana. The automobile company has reportedly pushed back commercial release of its models pending approval from the Ghana Standards Authority.
Last year, Africa was projected to see sales of new 2 million cars with major auto players such as Toyota, Tata Motors and General Motors looking at the continent for growth opportunities. According to Zawya, there are approximately 21.6 million passenger vehicles operating in Africa; making the continent’s nearly 1.2 billion population a very attractive prospect for global automobile manufacturers to penetrate.
Not to be left out of the lucrative market, African entrepreneurs are now entering the automobile industry; designing and developing vehicles specifically geared for the local market and local consumers but with global aspirations.