has said that government dwindling revenue and forex have greatly
affected the auto industry.
Sales, Ade-Ojo said, has dropped by 60 per cent because government and
corporate organisations, who are main buyers of brand new vehicles in
the country are affected by tight revenue and foreign exchange.
“So when government is cash strapped and businesses are closing down and
not generating cash to run their businesses, then naturally, that also
affect our business,” he said.
He spoke during a media briefing at TNL head office, Lekki, Lagos.
The TNL chief predicted a tougher year ahead if the present situation persists.
“Foreign exchange has been a major challenge to everybody. And as a
result, when we compare import this year with that of last year as far
as brand new vehicle is concerned, there has been a drop of almost 60
per cent.
“Last year, the entire market imported about 15,000 new vehicles. This
year, it has reduced to about 6,000, which is a major decline as far as
importation is concerned,” he said.
Even at that, he said the company did not retrench workers, rather look inward and cut some expenses.
“However, despite the difficult challenges encountered during the
current year, we have decided not to retrench. We have a strong
foundation, which we keep on strengthening to weather the storm.”
On the market share, he said Toyota has continued its leading role.
“Out of total sales of 32,000 vehicles recorded by the entire auto
market in 2015, Toyota sold about 7000 vehicles. For this year, however,
the industry forecast only a maximum of 16,000 vehicles. And for us in
TNL, our sales forecast was 4000, which is a significant drop,” he said.
He noted that foreign exchange and price of vehicles will continue to be
major issues come next year, saying: “Between January and now, the
price of vehicles has more or less doubled from what it used to be. And
that has been, because of the foreign exchange issues. At some
instances, some of us had had to go into the black market, which also
has major impact as far as price of goods are concerned.”
