Ghana’s SMATI Turtle showcased as first Bi-Cultural model vehicle in the world

A special ceremony has been organized in the Netherlands to unveil the second-phase of developing Ghana’s model vehicle, the ‘SMATI Turtle’ as the first Bi-Cultural Vehicular Model in the World.

The event in Rotterdam brought the business community and captains of the automobile industry in the Netherlands to unveil the project as an evolving Dutch-Ghana Model Car.

Organized by a leading media institution, the V2 media-institute, the event was witnessed by over 1000 audience in the Netherland as part of a historic festival in Holland.

Latest reports also indicate the SMATI Turtle has made a stunning record in Germany as the most watched automobile prototype on German TV with an estimated audience of over 2-million.

The second phase of the project is intended to mobilize the best of Dutch and Ghanaian expertise and investment partnerships to build a global vehicular brand that mirrors the cultures of both countries.

The “SMATI Turtle 1” was built under a partnership between the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO) and a Netherlands based NGO, AARDSCHAP Foundation using simple tools from a cluster of engineering workshops of artisans at Suame.

The vehicle was shipped to Europe in April 2013 for an international exhibition to attract investors for large scale commercial production to serve the African market.

According to Consultant to SMIDO, Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo “the adoption of Dutch-Ghana series of SMATI Turtle brand would promote a new culture of Euro-African cooperation in technological advancement that would become a major policy to promote global partnership under the regional investment gateway project  to transform Suame Magazine into a globally-competitive industrial hub in Africa”.

Joost Van Onna and Melle Smets, the Dutch counterparts on the project, say the SMATI Turtle prototype has already made history in terms of whipping European interest beyond Holland.

According to Joost, the principal interest is to promote Euro-African partnership in technological advancement and to advance a strong diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Ghana as well as promote Ghana as an emerging industrial giant of Africa to drive global industrial investment.

The SMATI Turtle will be shipped back to Ghana by the last quarter of 2014.

Mr. Azongo says the events in Rotterdam would be replicated in Ghana, including media activities and drive-through principal streets of Accra. It will finally be sent to Kumasi for the commencement of the project’s second phase.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh