Announced since the beginning of the year, Volkswagen’s assembly plant in Rwanda officially opened on 27 June. An initial cost of $ 20 million, the project located in the suburbs of Kigali, will allow to assemble the models Polo and Passat at first.
The plant will produce 1,000 vehicles annually – a figure that is expected to rise to 5,000 – for a local market of 12 million people with 200,000 cars in circulation. Volswagen wants to find outlets for individuals, but also put on a car-sharing system on the model of Uber, Reuters believes.
It is the fourth factory of the German manufacturer in Africa after South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, a neighboring country.
Between 500 and 1,000 jobs are planned for this project.
