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Local car manufacturer's hopes dashed
BY PATRICIA ROXBOROUGH-WRIGHT Editor-at-large, Western Bureau
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Gooden's River, Westmoreland - Patrick Marzouca's car-manufacturing dream which climaxed three years ago with the export of one of his Island Cruiser brand motorcars to the Bahamas has gone sour, leaving the local manufacturer in a near state of manic depression.
"I gwine haffi close di factory," he wailed when the Observer visited his car-manufacturing plant - Excel Motors - in this Westmoreland district last week.
Born and raised in the community of Gooden's River, Marzouca went to the United States where he studied business.
GOING NOWHERE: Patrick Marzouca poses beside the frames of several Island Cruisers on the assembly line of his plant in Gooden's River, Westmoreland.
He came home in the late nineties and established Excel Motors in 1996 with the objective of manufacturing cars for export and the local car market. But although the local market's negative reaction to his product disappointed him - he has sold 10 vehicles locally for between US$10,500 and US$12,500 each, depending on the type of top and whether or not the vehicle was air-conditioned - Marzouca pressed on with the help of JAMPRO, the government's development agency which vowed to assist him in sourcing funding and identifying export markets, which looked much more promising.
In fact, Omar Davis, the finance minister, in a letter dated March 28, 2000, introduced Marzouca to several government members and encouraged them to buy the vehicle - the chassis and body of which is made from fiberglass, which is locally manufactured.
"His name is Patrick Marzouca and although he has difficulty limiting his use of certain unique Jamaican words, he is a fascinating person...I have driven the vehicle and although I am not competent to judge its reliability, I believe that Mr Marzouca's efforts are deserving of support.
I ask each of you to have a competent person in your ministry assess the vehicle and, if possible, purchase a few trial ones in order to test whether a larger order should be placed" said Davies,, in the letter. However, that letter did not give way to the result that Marzouca had hoped for, namely an order to outfit the security forces - which are supplied mainly with Japanese vehicles - with a fleet of custom-made motor cars.
Other documents made available to the Observer revealed that the tax authorities had reduced to 15 per cent, the General Consumption Tax (GCT) payable on the vehicles on the basis that more than 64 per cent of their value was added during the manufacturing process in Jamaica.
Additionally, a $2 million loan was extended to him by the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica.
However, when the Observer interviewed him last week, a bitter, foul-mouthed Marzouca was full of blame for the private sector, which he accused of failing to provide enough support for productivity in Jamaica in general and more specifically to enable him to continue manufacturing the cars which were fine-tuned with the help of Hans Fleischer, a German engineer.
The 25-member team which Marzouca engaged along with Fleischer, has since been scaled down to one member, who keeps the equipment cleaned and oiled on a part-time basis.
"High interest rates, greed, lack of control on the part of the government to stop these greedy, selfish (expletives deleted)...these are the factors that are to blame... does it have to come to the point where Jamaican people block the road in front of the banks and shut the bank down..." he ranted.
Pointing to the operations of several Japanese motor vehicle companies in the United States, Marzouca noted that their success had been bought at the expense of that country's local companies, and drew an analogy between that scenario and his own.
"It is really the same sort of thing that is happening here," he said.
Despite the gloomy outlook, however, interest is still being shown in Marzouca's endeavours, as up to last week Bob Wilson, a Canadian fire engine manufacturer, was pursuing the possibility of coming to Jamaica to manufacture four fire truck engines for export, while another European investor is interested in building a chassis at Excel Motors.
BY PATRICIA ROXBOROUGH-WRIGHT Editor-at-large, Western Bureau
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Gooden's River, Westmoreland - Patrick Marzouca's car-manufacturing dream which climaxed three years ago with the export of one of his Island Cruiser brand motorcars to the Bahamas has gone sour, leaving the local manufacturer in a near state of manic depression.
"I gwine haffi close di factory," he wailed when the Observer visited his car-manufacturing plant - Excel Motors - in this Westmoreland district last week.
Born and raised in the community of Gooden's River, Marzouca went to the United States where he studied business.
GOING NOWHERE: Patrick Marzouca poses beside the frames of several Island Cruisers on the assembly line of his plant in Gooden's River, Westmoreland.
He came home in the late nineties and established Excel Motors in 1996 with the objective of manufacturing cars for export and the local car market. But although the local market's negative reaction to his product disappointed him - he has sold 10 vehicles locally for between US$10,500 and US$12,500 each, depending on the type of top and whether or not the vehicle was air-conditioned - Marzouca pressed on with the help of JAMPRO, the government's development agency which vowed to assist him in sourcing funding and identifying export markets, which looked much more promising.
In fact, Omar Davis, the finance minister, in a letter dated March 28, 2000, introduced Marzouca to several government members and encouraged them to buy the vehicle - the chassis and body of which is made from fiberglass, which is locally manufactured.
"His name is Patrick Marzouca and although he has difficulty limiting his use of certain unique Jamaican words, he is a fascinating person...I have driven the vehicle and although I am not competent to judge its reliability, I believe that Mr Marzouca's efforts are deserving of support.
I ask each of you to have a competent person in your ministry assess the vehicle and, if possible, purchase a few trial ones in order to test whether a larger order should be placed" said Davies,, in the letter. However, that letter did not give way to the result that Marzouca had hoped for, namely an order to outfit the security forces - which are supplied mainly with Japanese vehicles - with a fleet of custom-made motor cars.
Other documents made available to the Observer revealed that the tax authorities had reduced to 15 per cent, the General Consumption Tax (GCT) payable on the vehicles on the basis that more than 64 per cent of their value was added during the manufacturing process in Jamaica.
Additionally, a $2 million loan was extended to him by the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica.
However, when the Observer interviewed him last week, a bitter, foul-mouthed Marzouca was full of blame for the private sector, which he accused of failing to provide enough support for productivity in Jamaica in general and more specifically to enable him to continue manufacturing the cars which were fine-tuned with the help of Hans Fleischer, a German engineer.
The 25-member team which Marzouca engaged along with Fleischer, has since been scaled down to one member, who keeps the equipment cleaned and oiled on a part-time basis.
"High interest rates, greed, lack of control on the part of the government to stop these greedy, selfish (expletives deleted)...these are the factors that are to blame... does it have to come to the point where Jamaican people block the road in front of the banks and shut the bank down..." he ranted.
Pointing to the operations of several Japanese motor vehicle companies in the United States, Marzouca noted that their success had been bought at the expense of that country's local companies, and drew an analogy between that scenario and his own.
"It is really the same sort of thing that is happening here," he said.
Despite the gloomy outlook, however, interest is still being shown in Marzouca's endeavours, as up to last week Bob Wilson, a Canadian fire engine manufacturer, was pursuing the possibility of coming to Jamaica to manufacture four fire truck engines for export, while another European investor is interested in building a chassis at Excel Motors.
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