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Ghana: Volkswagen and Westpark promote 100-acre automotive cluster near Takoradi

As part of a partnership announced in Ghana earlier this year, Volkswagen and WestPark Enterprises, a subsidiary of BlackIvy Ghana, are working together to promote a value chain for the automotive manufacturing industry at the WestPark industrial park in Ghana’s resource-rich Western Region. Volkswagen expanded its footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 by opening a vehicle assembly facility in Accra, Ghana. An ecosystem of automotive parts suppliers is vital to expanding and diversifying vehicle assembly and furthering the impact of Ghana’s emerging automotive industry on job creation and economic development. Germany’s Bosch and DHL, two global leaders in automotive parts and automotive logistics, are already tenants at the WestPark. Ghana imports over $1.1 billion in vehicles and parts annually. Automotive parts account for approximately $175 million.

The WestPark location leverages Takoradi’s expanding port, the surplus natural gas as well as the area’s vast natural resources that serve as vital inputs for the automotive industry, including lithium and manganese for batteries, natural rubber for tires, silica for windshields and bauxite for aluminum and – ultimately – car bodies. WestPark has allocated 100 acres for the development of an automotive cluster with competitive, flexible terms for suppliers. The region’s proximity to Cote d’Ivoire creates further opportunities to build cross-border industrial value chains. The initiative comes at a time when Ghana is increasingly seeking to grow local production capabilities in light of the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The collaboration is part of a broader partnership to build new industries, create jobs and pave the road to a sustainable future in Ghana that was announced at an event with His Excellency, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in September. Volkswagen and BlackIvy are collaborating on three pillars of development: increasing affordability of homes and cars in Ghana, providing modern and green mobility, and creating a larger value chain for automotive manufacturing to thrive in Ghana.

Volkswagen is strengthening the regions and focusing on new up-and-coming markets as part of its TRANSFORM 2025+ brand strategy. Alongside North and South America as well as China, the Sub-Saharan Africa region plays an increasingly important role. Although the African automotive market is comparatively small today, the Sub-Sahara region has the potential to develop into an automotive growth market of the future.

Source: westparkghana.com