• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Lagos cabinet gets GAC GS8 Trumpchi SUV official cars

IMG_20200114_131240 (1)

Cabinet members of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration are to cruise in 2019 model GAC GS8 Trumpchi 320T Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) as official cars.

The cabinet members are picking up the SUVs five months after 22 commissioners and 13 special advisers took oath of office in August 2019. Three more commissioner nominees undergoing screening by the state House of Assembly are expected to join the cabinet upon approval by the legislators any moment from now. The state runs about 42-member cabinet, inclusive of Secretary to State Government, Head of Service (HoS), Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff.

The Sanwo-Olu led government had linked the delay in securing official cars for the cabinet to inadequate funds in the state government coffers.

The price of the GS8 Trumpchi SUV in Nigeria is put at about N15 million. The car is manufactured by GAC automobile group, also known as Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd, China, with its global headquarters in Guangzhou, province of Guangdong.

 The Trumpchi GAC GS8 is a full-size SUV with a capacity to seat 7 persons in comfort and complete luxury. The car blends comfort, ruggedness, and maneuverability skillfully, at the same time presenting the best of Chinese automative design and European dependability.

Related News

The automaker is represented in Nigeria by Nigerian registered company, CIG Motors Co. Nigeria, Ltd, which is in charge of sales, distribution, and servicing of all GAC Motors’ brands in the country under its Trumpchi logo and brand.

Sanwo-Olu may have been buoyed to go for this brand for his cabinet, as he visited GAC’s facilities in Guangzhou during his trip to China in 2019 to woo investors to Lagos.

While in China, the governor had invited the GAC company to build an assembly plant in Ojota area Lagos. The company is also said to be strongly contemplating a fully automated auto manufacturing plant in the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) to drive its various models into the Nigerian market.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY