Japanese imports kill industry

The company has since laid off staff due to low uptake of their vehicles by the local market and is operating at five percent of its capacity.

“Cheap imported cars, especially those from South Africa are 48 percent subsidized by their government. We cannot compete with them here. This is as good as dumping here in Zimbabwe,” said Quest Motors Director, Tarik Adam.

He said it was not sustainable for them to sell their cars on hire purchase while the uptake was still low. He said Quest Motors has partnered other reputable automobile manufacturers such as Foton, Cumins and Cherry to manufacture over 1 000 models.

Tarik said there was a need for the government to protect the local motor industry, as this created employment and generated revenue for the country. “We are worried that we may lose our skill to Mozambique which is constructing a car assembly plant with the capacity to manufacturer 150 cars per shift,” he said.

A local economist, David Fritz, said problems bedeviling the local motor industry were caused by lack of direct investment and capital to fund operations.

“It’s tricky for the government to protect the local industry because the majority of workers are living below poverty datum line and cannot afford brand new vehicles,” he said.

It costs a whooping $22 000 cash to buy a new Peugeot 405 from Quest while it costs $4 500 to import a very good second hand Toyota Vitz or March from Japan.