Angola’s Opaia Opens Luanda Vehicle Assembly Plant to Cut Imports and Build Local Manufacturing
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Angola’s Opaia Group has opened a vehicle assembly plant in Luanda, restarting domestic production as the country looks to reduce reliance on imported cars and expand local manufacturing capacity.
Opaia, a privately owned diversified group headquartered in Luanda with a focus on infrastructure projects, said the facility will be operated by its new subsidiary, Opaia Motors, and has installed capacity to assemble 22,000 light vehicles and 1,000 buses per year.
The company said the plant is the only operational vehicle assembly facility in Angola, after it acquired the assets of a China-funded factory established more than a decade ago that later stopped production as economic conditions changed.
Opaia told Reuters it plans to import white-label vehicles for local assembly and sell them under the Opaia Motors brand, while buses will be supplied by Volvo and imported from Sweden and passenger vehicles will be imported from China through partnerships with Chery and Dongfeng Motor.
Beyond substituting imports and opening the possibility of future exports, Opaia said it also intends to introduce electric vehicle production, without specifying a timeline.
