adminNgoni Dapira Business Correspondent
MUTARE’s vehicle assembling firm, Quest Motors, has started manufacturing its first line of the sport utility vehicle Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
The company has slowly been up-scaling production since 2014 with targets to boost its capacity utilization to over 60 percent in 2016.
The firm currently holds a franchise to manufacture various Chinese makes such as JMC, Foton and Chery.
Last year it picked up on production, introducing a number of new-line productions like the Zhongtong Quest Bus and Foton Tractors.
Quest Motors marketing director, Ms Niroshia Abdulla during a tour of the plant by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa last Thursday said local assembles were better than imports because they were customised for Zimbabwean roads.
She said their first Mitsubishi Pajero Sport under production was bought by the University of Zimbabwe.
“As Quest we are not going back on driving for maximum capacity utilisation but we will need more support from the local market. For instance there is a market for 300 buses each year in Zimbabwe, but sadly most of them are being imported. As Quest we sold just 10 buses last year, but the capacity to locally produce the required quantity between us, AVM Africa and Deven Engineering is there,” she said.
In February Quest Motors also started manufacturing the latest edition of the Mitsubishi Triton double cab which was purchased by Bulawayo’s Hillside College.
“Our pricing is now competitive. The Mitsubishi Triton, which is actually not yet being manufactured in South Africa, is selling for $56 000 while the manual version is $48 000. The Pajero Sport 4×4 is going for $78 000 while the Two wheel drive is $56 00 and all these will be customized to suit the Zimbabwean terrain. “The Pajero is reasonably priced compared with the $89 000 price of importing the latest range of the Toyota Fortuner,” said Ms Abdulla.
Quest Motors operations manager Mr Carl Fernandez said the firm had the capacity to produce 23 000 tractors per year and 105 vehicles per day. He said the firm currently employed 150 but used to employ 5 000 employees at its peak, a level which can be achieved at 60 percent capacity utilisation.
Mr Fernandes also bemoaned the country’s poor procurement policies that have seen both private sector and Government exporting jobs by importing vehicles instead of procuring from local assemblers to boost the country’s gross domestic product.
Online Reporter