Isuzu facility in Dammam makes rapid progress

Isuzu Motors has set up in the Kingdom “its first production plant in the Middle East.’ Located in the Industrial City of Dammam II, the Saudi-Japanese joint venture will assemble 140 to 160 F-series medium-size trucks every month starting from next year.
The company said it would eventually expand production from 600 to around 25,000 units per year.
The move is part of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious vision to upgrade its industrial production capacity, especially in the automotive sector.
To this end, some major industrialized countries manufacturing both light and heavy vehicles will be providing technical support and on-the-job training for Saudi youth in this sector.
Future plans include expanding the site, located in an industrial park in the Eastern Province to handle local assembly of light-duty Elf trucks produced at the company’s plant in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture as well as heavy duty models.
The Saudi-Japanese automaker scheme, which was launched last year in Dammam by Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah is currently producing about 50 trucks per month, while its commercial production has reached 200 trucks so far.
In a related development, sources said the Saudi-UAE investment in Dammam, in the second industrial city, has begun pilot production for the manufacture of forklifts.
Commercial production under the joint venture is expected to commence during the next two months.
Specialists in the industrial sector look at the Saudi-Japan investments and Saudi-UAE investments have extended their full support to the joint venture, whose goal is to manufacture automobile components in the first place before moving on to the next stage of setting up a car assembly plant in the Kingdom.
In his comments, Abdullah Al-Sanie, vice chairman at the Asharqia Chamber, said investments would be in support of the industry in the event of any further support by the concerned authorities in the industrial sector.
He called on the Ministry of Trade and Industry to adopt a dual strategy based on the auto parts industry and their products in the first place followed by the establishment of a car assembly plant.
Such a move will help the Kingdom’s small-scale industries, besides providing job opportunities for Saudi nationals.