Côte d'Ivoire launched this week a bus assembly unit in Abidjan. This investment of nearly 70 million euros aims in the long term to expand into the sub-regional market.

The assembly unit launched on January 10 by the Franco-Italian car manufacturer Iveco Group, via its bus subsidiary, will produce minibuses "made in Côte d'Ivoire". With its long-standing partner, the Société des transports abidjanais (Sotra), the assembly line, which represents an investment of 45 billion CFA francs (69 million euros), has a production capacity of 1,000 vehicles (from bus type with 18 to 26 seats) per year, with the possibility of producing different models marketed under the Daily Ivoire brand.

For the time being, the promoters of the project indicate that the order book is filled until 2024, only thanks to the Ivorian market, and that 60 vehicles have already left the factory. The target customers are private transport companies, schools and businesses within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).