Wednesday, October 09, 2024 - A Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and other machines, Honda, has launched a motorcycle, tagged ACE 150, built for rugged rural runnings, especially for farmers.
The new motorcycle brand was unveiled on
Monday at the Honda factory on Idiroko Road, Ota, Ogun State, before
wholesalers and the public.
The Honda Senior Manager of Sales, Olabade
Badejo, described ACE 150 as the ‘kind of motorcyclist’, stressing that the
bike was not made for commercial use but for rural rugged uses.
He said, “Our main target for ACE 150 is not
Okada riders because they might be unable to afford this. There is a product
made for Okada riders, and that is the 100cc and 110cc bikes. This ACE 150 was
conceived and produced for rural, rugged operations, dispatch riders, and those
who cannot use normal vehicles or trucks to bring their farm produce from the
farm to the market, to tow
Badejo stressed that nothing was sourced
locally other than research and development for the actualisation of the new
motorcycle.
He said all the parts of the new motorcycle
were sourced abroad because the Nigerian government has refused to show honesty
in the drive for local content.
He stated, “The local content I can say is in this production
is design, research and development. That is our input from Nigeria, but for
the actual content, nothing was done here in Nigeria. This is because the
policy of the government for local content, especially in the motorcycle
industry, has only been lip service.
“For Honda, if we have to enter into the
local content sourcing, the product will be much more expensive. So, we need
economic upscale before we can venture into local content sourcing and this has
not been guaranteed. As a company, we cannot be the only one sourcing locally
while others are busy importing from abroad.”
Earlier, the Managing Director of the
company, Tetsuya Kawai, said the motorcycle was built upon understanding the
Nigerian market to achieve durability, reliability and performance.
He described the unveiling of the motorcycle
as a testament to Honda’s commitment to continuously provide quality products
that meet the ever-evolving needs of its customers.
“At Honda, we have always been committed to
designing and delivering solutions that make life easier, more efficient, and,
most importantly, safer for our customers,” he stated.
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