The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube
Business Correspondent
MUTARE’S vehicle assembling company, Quest Motor Manufacturing, has appealed for urgent support from Government and other stakeholders as it is operating on a capacity utilisation of less than five percent.
High production costs and competition from foreign products are some of the challenges bedeviling the company.
The dire situation has seen the company operating with only 50 employees who are directly involved in its operations, instead of 4 500 employees it should have.
Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the manufacturing plant early this week, the company’s general manager, Mr Carl Fernandes applauded City of Mutare for supporting them through acquiring vehicles from the company.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza, heads of Government departments and various captains of industry were part of the tour.
The plant, which is housed on a 20 000 square-metre stand, has the capacity to assemble 10 to 15 buses a month.
However, Mr Fernandes revealed that their current production is below five percent and the last time they had an order of 10 buses was in 2019.
“We need support from locals, especially Government departments. The National Development Strategy (NDS1) speaks on the resuscitation of the local motor vehicle industry.
“Under this policy, Government departments, parastatals, local authorities, companies and individuals are encouraged to buy locally manufactured vehicles. We have seen very few locals supporting us.
“We need institutions to acquire local products. We are fully geared up to have 4 500 employees working on three shifts per day. We have a big portion of land, but so far we are operating below capacity,” said Mr Fernandes.
He added: “We are not looking for hand-outs. We just need orders from buyers and our contribution to the provincial and national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be excellent.”
Responding to queries about the exorbitant prices of their vehicles, Mr Fernandes said: “In any production situation, the more we produce, the cheaper it becomes. Pricing should only be addressed through economies of scale. We are actually cheaper than a fully imported bus. Considering that a unit from China requires processes of duty and taxes, we are way cheaper.”
Speaking after the tour, Minister Mugadza said: “The situation here is ufortunate. Everything that is needed for a vehicle to be assembled is here. The only thing that is not here are the orders. All they need is our support.
“Let us make it a covenant to buy locally assembled vehicles. We cannot sit back and watch this industry going down. It is our duty to fight for Manicaland companies to remain operational.”
The motor manufacturing plant was established in 1960 as British Motoring Corporation and it is one of the first companies to adopt Government’s Look East Policy.
Quest used to assemble vehicles for local and regional markets, including Peugeot, Hyundai, Volvo, Leyland trucks, Mitsubishi Canter and Nissan trucks, among others.
They are currently assembling vehicles such as JMC, Yutong and Foton, among others.
