Holland Car Plc is making preparations to take its car assembly process a step further by shifting to complete knockdown (CKD), where all the parts will be imported in pieces to be welded, painted and assembled in Ethiopia, it says.

So far it has been assembling vehicles from semi knockdown (SKD) kits, where parts are welded, painted and assembled. In its earlier relationship with Lifan Motors and now with Anhui Jianghuai Plc (JAC) Holland Car receives SKD kits. In a CKD, the parts, including the internal combustion engine and the transmission, will be supplied in parts for assembly by the receiving company.

This decision followed the problematic split the company had with its former supplier, the Chinese Lifan motors, which brought viability under such relationships into questions, Tadesse Tessema (Eng.), general manager and part-owner of the company, told Fortune.

"If we have to survive we have to do it all ourselves," Tadesse said.

Holland Car Plc undertook a feasibility study for six months and set up its research and development department two weeks ago, according to Tadesse.

The department comprises three people, including Jeffery D. Jenks, an American automotive engineer, and two Ethiopians specialising in biogas and marketing. The department will be responsible for transforming the operations of the company from semi-knockdown (SKD) to complete knockdown (CKD).

In a CKD, the company will need to set up body coating line, welding line, engine assembly line and mechanical testing line, Tadesse said, which could require the company a capital of 35 million Br.

"Some of it will come from us. We will have to borrow the rest from banks," he said.

The company currently has 250 employees, but Tadesse says that that may double when the company shifts from SKD to CKD even though the company already has all the professionals it needs for the new process. Four people have already returned from training in China on logistics, assembly, coating and maintenance, he said.

The company also announced, last week, that it had started assembling vehicles that could run on biogas and petroleum, stored in different tanks, to supply to the market cars that cut the cost of fuel consumption. It established Sheger Biogas Manufacturing Company to produce biogas for the new vehicles it is assembling to run on this fuel.

A tanker and some industrial machinery for the new plant were delivered early in January from China and the Netherlands, respectively, the company disclosed at an event organised for journalists on January 14, 2010.

The new plant will be constructed on a 50,000sqm site in Burayu, 15km from Addis Abeba, in the Oromia Special Zone, Tadesse Tessema (Eng.) general manager of the company told Fortune.

The total cost of machinery and equipment to be procured cost three million dollars, according to him.

The new delivery included one large tank to hold the human and animal excreta and other organic wastes from agro-industries and other sources, which is imported from China, and industrial machinery from the Netherlands, which will convert these wastes to biogas.

The company also demonstrated the first model of Abay Executive sedan which runs on biogas. The biogas holder fitted for this car has a capacity for 60 litres. Awash Executive will also be made to run on biogas.

All models will also run on conventional fuel, and the drivers can switch between the two sources, Tadesse said.

The biogas plant will be operational in seven months, according to Tadesse, when it could have a capacity to produce 500,000 litres in its first year.

After seven months, when the company commences full operation it will have the capacity of generating 500,000 litres of biogas the first year.

There is no fear of shortage of waste, according to the manager, as over one million cubic litres of waste is collected from Addis Abeba.:lol:

The biogas could be available to car owners at five to six Birr a litre, which could cut the cost of fuel by half, he said. The gas will also be available for household use.http://allafrica.com/stories/201001190652.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201001190652.html
:lol::lol::lol: Aye Addis..

How's the quality on these Chinese cars? Are they popular back home?

:lol::lol::lol: Aye Addis..

How's the quality on these Chinese cars? Are they popular back home?

They are getting more popular back home. The one issue I personally have with them is the high price tag, if it is intended for use by the masses. I have seen somewhere online that the price tag is more than 200,000 birr for these small cars. But, talking to these guys who recently came from Ethiopia, he informed me that the price starts as low as below 100,000 birr.

Either way it is a good start to providing automobiles (:)) for the middle class Ethiopians that runs on waste.

"Ethiopian" cars proving to be a success

With the rising purchasing power within Ethiopia’s small-but-growing middle class comes the aspiration to drive better cars. But it still has to be affordable. Holland Car, a Dutch-funded company, is making this possible by assembling cars in Ethiopia with cheap imported parts. A unique solution on the African continent.

By Luc van Kemenade, Addis Ababa

It costs a small fortune to get a second hand vehicle from Europe through the port of Djibouti into landlocked Ethiopia. Although taxes on second hand imports have been reduced recently, one of those supposedly cheap cars can still cost double its price once it has gone through customs. A twenty-year-old Toyota Corolla, for example, can easily cost up to 12,500 euros.

Cheap labour
But various investors in Ethiopia saw an opportunity to come up with a solution. Import car parts from China, for example, and with the help of cheap labour assemble them in Ethiopia into finished cars. Holland Car is one of those investors.

The supply of new models assembled in Ethiopia is on the rise. More and more “Ethiopian” cars are seen among the chaotic traffic, although still dominated by rundown Lada cabs and Toyota Corollas.

Sishah Yohannes, a 40-year-old pilot with Ethiopian Airlines, has been driving his Awash for a month now. It was assembled by Holland Car in Ethiopia. “I’m really proud when I see the name written in Amharic (official language in Ethiopia) on the back,” he says while parking at the Bole Medhane Alem Church. “This is what I’ve been waiting for: a good Ethiopian product after all this talk about economic growth.”

Once Holland Car’s general manager, Tadesse Tessema, managed to convince the Ethiopian government to lower import taxes on spare parts, he started production. In no time he presented his first three models, all named after Ethiopian rivers: Abay, Tekeze and Awash.

Growing industry
Soon other car assemblers followed suit. Among them, Yangfan Motors, a former partner of Holland Car, launched its own line with three models - Lifan Cars. Among the models proving to be a huge success in the country is the Mini-Cooper look-a-like, the Lifan 320. The company prefers to describe it in masculine terms as a “mini-SUV with the power of a bear”, but it’s a “typical lady’s car”, says a car salesman.

The industry is growing so fast that the big names in the motor industry are also making a move. Hyundai is the latest competitor for the passenger’s car market in the country. The South Korean company has employed heavy artillery for this. It has appointed Haile Gebreselassie, the internationally acclaimed long-distance track and road running athlete, as its ambassador. And the athlete is also the sole importer. According to Gebreselassie, the assembly plant is under construction and personnel will be trained to assure “international standards”.

New step
Buzzing on his success and the competition he managed to initiate in the market, Holland Car CEO Tadesse is even embarking a on new project where he will be working towards producing the first fully Ethiopian cars. A huge factory to cater for this is being built and is expected to be completed in two months time.

Sisha is positive about the emergence of this boom in the local car industry. “As a pilot, I can afford different cars from all over the world. But I prefer to encourage guys like Tadesse and Haile by buying Ethiopian ones. If the quality is there, why not.” http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/ethiopian-cars-proving-be-a-success


That 2nd to last paragraph makes me happy!! :D

I am loving this, heck I think I may want to cry. The birth of the Ethiopian automotive industry! Soon we will be seeing cars designed in Ethiopia and parts cast domestically- they may want to send some people to a school abroad to learn about automotive design and styling!

We are rising! Heavy industry is coming!

Hope we become the "Germany" of Africa! :)

I do too. We'd need more companies though, and I'd see Dire become a major manufacturing center due to it's proximity to Djibouti.

Hope we become the "Germany" of Africa! :)

minus the "superiority" complex tho....right?!?










I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. :lol:

:hi:

How many cars will be assemblied per year ?

minus the "superiority" complex tho....right?!?

You mean self-loathing inferiority, right?

You mean self-loathing inferiority, right?

That's Habeshas.:lol:

He's talking about Germans.

Hope we become the "Germany" of Africa! :)

You will have competition from other african nations for that title. But the more competition, the more fun, right?

Does Ethiopia even have a domestic automaker? I only know two african nations with one, Nigeria and Kenya (or tanzania). Nigeria has Innoson and a few others (I think) and already using domestic supplies for some parts of cars. The automobile industry could take off there in the next few years if electric privatization is successful and the 2011 elections go by smoothly.
The other being Simba motor (or whatever its name is) from Tanzania or Kenya. But still, considering how Ethiopia trumps mostly all other African nations besides Egypt and Nigeria in population size, that alone should make it an attraction for automakers looking to set up shop. Domestic and foreign.

Well this is Ethiopian!

You will have competition from other african nations for that title. But the more competition, the more fun, right?

Does Ethiopia even have a domestic automaker? I only know two african nations with one, Nigeria and Kenya (or tanzania). Nigeria has Innoson and a few others (I think) and already using domestic supplies for some parts of cars. The automobile industry could take off there in the next few years if electric privatization is successful and the 2011 elections go by smoothly.
The other being Simba motor (or whatever its name is) from Tanzania or Kenya. But still, considering how Ethiopia trumps mostly all other African nations besides Egypt and Nigeria in population size, that alone should make it an attraction for automakers looking to set up shop. Domestic and foreign.

When you mean domestic, do you mean domestically designed cars?

The above company assembles cars from China but under license (so the cars are renamed for the Ethiopian market). However the bus in some other thread was designed in Europe somewhere, but commissioned by Holland Car (instead of being an existing product that was just renamed). But if you look up a few posts, I posted an article where I highlighted in red that they are working on creating a 100% Ethiopian car (from design to finish, I presume).

If you mean domestically-owned, here's the breakdown:
- Lifan Motors: foreign-owned
- Freestyle Plc: foreign-owned (possible venture with a local, not sure)
- Holland Car: joint Ethio-foreign venture
- Marathon Motors: joint Ethio-foreign venture.
- Belayab: Ethiopian-owned
- BH Trading: Ethiopian-owned
- Mesfin Engineering (trucks, not cars): Ethiopian-owned

The above are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Of course, there's one or two military-related assembly plants for trucks, etc, in addition.

Thanks abesha. You shaved me a lot of typing. I was about to respond similarly.

You missed one misconception he made tho: that Egypt has a larger population. Ethiopia's population exceeded Egypt's long ago, eddeux.

When you mean domestic, do you mean domestically designed cars?

The above company assembles cars from China but under license (so the cars are renamed for the Ethiopian market). However the bus in some other thread was designed in Europe somewhere, but commissioned by Holland Car (instead of being an existing product that was just renamed). But if you look up a few posts, I posted an article where I highlighted in red that they are working on creating a 100% Ethiopian car (from design to finish, I presume).

If you mean domestically-owned, here's the breakdown:
- Lifan Motors: foreign-owned
- Freestyle Plc: foreign-owned (possible venture with a local, not sure)
- Holland Car: joint Ethio-foreign venture
- Marathon Motors: joint Ethio-foreign venture.
- Belayab: Ethiopian-owned
- BH Trading: Ethiopian-owned
- Mesfin Engineering (trucks, not cars): Ethiopian-owned

The above are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Of course, there's one or two military-related assembly plants for trucks, etc, in addition.

When I mean domestic automakers, I meant car companies started in Ethiopia and currently still have shop set up there. It seems like you've laid to rest my curiosity on this issue. I never knew Ethiopia had so many automakers operating in the nation, and domestically owned.