Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing(IVM) has announced its plans to diversify into the production of tricycles.

The current supply of tricycles or keke, as it is called in Nigeria, is sourced from India and other countries.

The auto maker, based in Nnewi, Anambra State, was founded by Innocent Chukwuma and is now looking to add tricycle production as it aims to grow.

Innoson confirmed that prototypes of the keke are already out for testing, as the Company aims to crash the high cost of tricycles in Nigeria. Production, they said will commence later this year.

“We are probably launching this year and we are going to produce something that is eco-friendly,” Cornel Osigwe, Innoson’s head of corporate communications, said on Friday.

“We are going to produce something much cheaper and more affordable that an average Nigerian can buy. Mr Osigwe said the firm has already produced a prototype tricycle, widely known in Nigeria as Keke, and the model is being tested already in the Nigerian market.

“We produced about 100 prototypes that we gave out to different people to test run and give us feedback on it,” he said.

“Right now, we don’t have them in stock for sale, the ones we produce are just samples to collate information.

“We are testing it and we are getting different recommendations. One of the recommendations we got is to make the engine biofuel which we are going to do.

“So it will have the ability to use both gas and petrol,” he added.

He said after gathering information from the people that have tested it, the company will release the final product later in the year.

“We just did a few samples, the main equipment that we will be using to mass-produce is still on the way,” he said.