Automobile dealers have threatened they will halt the importation of new cars into the country should government refuse to reduce further the sulphur content contained in imported diesel.
According to them, a further reduction in sulphur content will protect their brands and consumers from further damage of their engines.
Their assertions follows recent concerns over the harmful effects of substandard diesel imported into Ghana which contains excessive sulphur of 3000 parts per million (ppm) than the permitted 10ppm in Europe and other countries across the globe.
The Managing Director of Marketing at Nissan Sub-Saharan Africa, Xavier Gobille explained to Citi Business News, his outfit will be forced to take critical measures should the situation persist.
“All the new technologies right now are not designed for such and as far as the government is concerned. All these high sulphur should be banned everywhere in the world and Ghana should ensure it does not remain one of the countries with the bad quality fuel that affects consumers,” he said.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), last week, reduced Ghana’s sulphur specification content from the current 3000 parts per million (ppm) to between 500ppm – 10ppm.
Energy Think Tank, ACEP, which has been vocal on the matter however says the new figures are not good enough.
Mr. Xavier Gobille who was speaking at the launch of the New Nissan Altima in Accra, also believes importers owe it a duty to protect their consumers by not compromising quality.
“As manufacturers, we are just here to import the cars we make so definitely I will not import the cars if the fuel quality does not protect the consumer. We will not import the latest technology in terms of engines if we can’t guarantee that the consumer will find the right fuel matching the requirement of the engine.”
Meanwhile the automobile dealer has advised government to take the dirty diesel issue seriously to save the economy and its populace.
“I really believe that the job of the government as well is to care about its populace to make sure that the consumers are not misled and buy a car without knowing that the car will not last long due to dirty fuel.”
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