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By Theodore Opara

CHAIRMAN/CEO of Nord Automobiles Limited, an indigenous auto company, Mr. Oluwatobi Ajayi, has explained that the Nord brand of vehicles introduced by his company will give Nigerians real value for money.

Oluwatobi Ajayi, Chairman/CEO Nord Automobiles Ltd

Ajayi who spoke to Vanguard Motoring in his Lekki office recently described Nord automobile as a brand that takes the needs of Nigerian environment into consideration during the assembly of the vehicles. According to Ajayi who was listed among Forbes 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa in 2018 as well as 10 most influential entrepreneurs under 40 in Nigeria by the Business Insider Magazine, he nurtured the dream to give Nigerians the best of automobiles in 2016 while he was the managing director of Jetvan Nigeria Limited.

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He said, “I have always wanted to own an automobile brand that Nigerians should be proud of. This has always been my dream. So in 2016 when Nigeria went into recession and I was the managing director of Jetvan Nigeria Ltd, a company that markets Mercedes Benz sprinter in Nigeria, I wanted an alternative for my customers, something that would give them value for their money and my search ended with Nord.

“When Nigeria went into recession and the customers couldn’t cope with the price of Mercedes Benz sprinter which is a premium brand, I sought for a quality brand to cushion the gap and that was how I found Nord, a brand that gives real value for money.”

The Nord Flit mini-bus on sale at the company comes loaded with an array of features. Apart from having the Toyota Hiace big body it comes with anti-lock brake system, electronic brake distribution system good legroom, comfortable seats, three year warranty, high roof, air-conditioning system, led lights, etc.

On their preparedness to deliver excellent services and after-sales, the chairman said, “we have outlets in Lekki, Ikotun, Ijebo Ode, while Ajah and Port Harcourt will soon be ready.”

According to him, the vehicles being offered are durable and elegant, and yet competitively priced. They have low total cost of ownership compared to the competition.That is why we are confident that the Nord vehicles would soon be a household names in Nigeria.

Nord Flit bus

He added, “the Nord Flit is Toyota Hiace and Nissan Urvan’s competitor but we have advantage of price. Our products should be preferred because we adopted Toyota standard, our vehicles are as elegant as Toyota and equally durable yet offered at 40 per cent less the price. The secret is that they also use Toyota spare parts coupled with our excellent after-sales network coverage.” With Flit, he said they are targeting transporters, schools, churches, car hire companies, corporate organisations as well as other private individuals.

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Expressing no doubt on their ability to break into the market, the Nord CEO said, “we have all it takes to break into the market because we are big enough to deliver and young and small enough to be flexible to our customers’ demands which to me is a combination for delivering great vehicles and service with our experience in marketing Mercedes Benz sprinter. We don’t have problems delivering the Nord vehicles in Nigeria from the last quarter of the year, you shall feel our presence. Some customers that have tested our products have given it a thumbs up. It is going to be the next big thing in the Nigeria auto industry.”

Nord automobiles designs, sources,  develops, assembles, distributes, markets and provides sales and after-sales services of Nord vehicles.

Their range of vehicles cuts across buses, sport utility vehicles and passenger cars. They include the Bolt bus, flit bus, Aso truck, Trum big bus etc. Others are Q3 sedan, Q5 SUV, Ben SUV, Tank pick up and urban sedan.

Vanguard