Zoyte to assemble vehicles in Lanka

Hiran H.Senewiratne

United Motors Lanka Plc (UML) has been awarded the approval for a vehicle assembly plant from a leading Chinese vehicle manufacturer/ exporter Zoyte.

The company is now in the process of awaiting domestic institution approvals to go ahead with the project, UML Chief Executive Officer Shanaka Yatawara told Daily News Business.

Zoyte one of the leading small car and medium sized jeep manufactures and exporters in China have principally given the approval for the assembly plant in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to Daily News Business he said once the required approvals are granted from domestic institutions such as the Register of Motor Vehicles, the Ministry of Industrial Development, and other local Government bodies, they will decide the nature of the assembly plant which will specially target the domestic market in the initial stages.

This approval is a conditional long term business venture and has not decided the nature of the plant because of the pending government approvals due to manifold reasons, Yatawara said.

“Zoyte is an up and coming Chinese automaker but it certainly is a forward looking company keeping up with current trends in the auto market,” he said.

After having gone green earlier this year with a highway-speed electric SUV, this month Zoyte has closed a co-branding agreement with Fiat, the Italian automaker.

Fiat Multipla and Lancia Lybra will go under the Zoyte branding and it is rumored that more of the Fiat models might be bought in the near future by the Chinese brand.

Zoyte seems thus to be quite aggressively trying to build its brand.

Investing in designs and corporate image on Zoyte, which might just be another rising from nowhere to become an up and coming Chinese auto brand. Things took a decisive turn in 1989, when it was selected as the first government venture for peopelisation. In May that year, United Motors Lanka Limited was born.

The company was listed with the Colombo Stock Exchange a few months later. The company has since grown in strength and reputation, guided by the vision to be the best company in the country through diversification.

Their corporate strategy has proved highly successful. UML maintained the leadership position by consistently providing high quality products, services and transport solutions to a discerning clientele.

Today, UML PLC is a major player in Sri Lanka’s motor trade. UML has a long history and its roots can be traced back to United Motors Limited, which was formed in 1945. The business was acquired by the Government in 1972. It emerged as the market leader for Japanese vehicle imports in 1988, having entered into a distributor agreement with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation three years earlier.