The Chief Executive Officer of Silver Star Auto, Asad Nazir has hinted that his outfit in partnership with Peugeot will soon set up an assembly plant in the country this year to serve the ever growing Ghanaian automobile market.
According to Mr Nazir, his immediate strategy is to roll back the years –by making Peugeot a household name in the country and reckons the establishment of the assembly plant will boost that purpose.
“We want to be one of the major firms in Ghana and making Peugeot the old name (household) that it was. The assembly plant will come up very soon, this year hopefully by second quarter,” he said during a virtual launch of the all-new Peugeot Landtrek.
According to Mr Nazir the actual vehicle is expected to arrive in the country in a couple of months and added that the specifications and design of the car has been purposely made for African terrain.
The Landtrek joins other recent Peugeot releases for the global and particularly the African market. The sole authorized distributor of Peugeot in Ghana, Silver Star Auto are offering six models of a variety of vehicles to suit demand.
Peugeot has designed a brandnew pickup called the landtrek and this for the tough terrain countries like Ghana and today was the reveal and in a few months the actual pickup will arrive in Ghana.
Carmakers around the globe are struggling with a range of challenges, while consumers are buying fewer cars research shows but Mr. Nazir seems upbeat for the new Landtrek pickup and is looking forward to good sales in the months ahead.
“Last year was the best year and we already sold 100 of them. So this year with the new product, new launch although the pandemic is giving us challenges, and we are still all out to get new customers, so we hope the success story will be there.”
“Because of sensitivity it is difficult to say but we are hopeful sales will inch up and there will be hundreds of them buying,” Mr Nazir stated.
On government’s automobile policy, he indicated that it is a laudable one –“any policy has its challenges but I am sure the government and all the teams involved will work together, we look forward to getting on board and going forward with this journey”.
The salient features of the Landtrek pickup include a suspended screen and steering wheel and piano keys dash control buttons similar to the Peugeot 3008 and 5008 SUVs. The Landtrek pickup standard load is 1000kg.
The Landtrek has a 2L turbocharged engine and offers a six-speed manual or 6-speed automatic four-wheel drive (4WD) transmission.
The Peugeot Landtrek has racked up an impressive 2 million kilometers (1.24M miles) of testing on all types of surface and weather during the development phase.
For Silver Star Auto, they are excited about the state of the art in-cab design and the Landtrek’s robust exterior. This is a pickup ready to tackle both city roads and off-road situations.