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Commissioning ceremony of first locally assembled Suzuki Swift in Ghana

TOYOTA TSUSHO MANUFACTURING GHANA CO. LIMITED commissioned the first locally assembled Suzuki Swift in Ghana. TOYOTA TSUSHO MANUFACTURING GHANA CO. LIMITED ("TTMG"), Toyota Tsusho Corporation (“Toyota Tsusho”)'s vehicle assembly company in the Republic of Ghana, began SKD* production of Suzuki Motor Corporation (“Suzuki”)’s Swift compact car in Ghana in September 2022.

Commissioning ceremony of first locally assembled Suzuki Swift in Ghana

This is one of the initiatives based on the MOU on Cooperation in Developing Automotive Industry signed between Toyota Tsusho and the Government of Ghana at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) held in Yokohama, Japan in August 2019. TTMG began SKD production of Toyota Motor Corporation's ("Toyota") pickup truck “Hilux” in June 2021. This is the first time that Toyota Tsusho produce Suzuki vehicles in Africa as well as mixed production of the two brands.

To mark the start of production, a ceremony was held in Ghana on January 30th. In attendance of the event was the Minister of Trade and Industry Samuel Abu Jinapor, Japanese Ambassador to the Republic of Ghana Hisanobu Mochizuki, and Suzuki Managing Officer Koichi Suzuki. Suzuki Managing Officer Suzuki, who attended the ceremony, said: "We would like to expand Suzuki's presence in Ghana. We hope that the people of Ghana will grow fond to our products, including the Swift.”

In addition, Toyota Tsusho COO for Africa Division Shinichiro Otsuka spoke about his hopes, stating that: "I would like to thank the Government of Ghana for their cooperation and ask for their continued support for the development of the automobile industry. Toyota Tsusho will make efforts with the spirit “With Ghana, For Ghana”."

The Managing Officer for Middle East and Africa Division of Suzuki Motor Corporation Mr. Koichi Suzuki, in his address elaborated on the fact that the business had increased sales in Africa by 60% to 116 thousand units and in Ghana increased by 63% to over 1 thousand units in the year 2022 hence their decision to open an assembling plant in Ghana. This will also go a long way to continue to strengthen it to enhance Suzuki's presence in Africa, especially in Ghana.

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Suzuki was founded in 1909 as Suzuki Loom Works and has developed a wide range of products under the Suzuki brand, including motorcycles, automobiles and outboard motors. Suzuki is recognized worldwide as a brand of high-quality products that combine reliability and originality. Our mission is to develop high-value products that always prioritizes customers around the world.

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