Innoson to produce 30,000 CNG buses, trucks annually

Nigeria’s pioneer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle manufacturer, Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company Ltd (IVM), Nnewi, Anambra State, has constructed a new multi-billion naira plant to start manufacturing sundry buses and heavy duty trucks with engines that run on CNG.

The plant, which is about 90 per cent completed and has the capacity to produce 30,000 vehicles a year, is expected to be commissioned soon.

This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Innoson Group, Dr Innocent Chukwuma, in a statement by IVM, which also disclosed that the company, in conjunction with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), plans to construct a plant that will produce tractors and other farm implements.

The statement, issued by Alfred Nwosu, a media consultant and Director in the Innoson Group, was in response to a well-publicised appeal by a group of farmers led by Chief Ebere Orji Odi, to Dr Chukwuma and IVM to produce tractors and related implements to enhance mechanised farming and boost the economy.

The company said, “As a result of the wide acceptance of CNG vehicles Innoson has been manufacturing since 2022, the company last year embarked on the construction of a new multi-billion naira plant dedicated to the production of only automobiles that run on CNG.

“The new factory, which has the capacity to produce 30,000 units of CNG vehicles annually in one shift, has almost been completed and will be commissioned soon.”

The statement reads further, “The IVM line-up has since been expanded to include medium, city (mass transit) and inter-city buses, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), family vehicles, purpose-built 4×4 pick-ups, military vehicles, as well as specialised vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks.

“Some of these vehicles have at different times been exported to Sierra Leone, Niger, Congo, Ghana, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso

“In 2022, well ahead of the fuel subsidy withdrawal, Innoson scored another first by commencing the manufacture of vehicles that run on CNG.”