Dear Editor,

In recent weeks two local stories caught my attention: (1) the high cost and taxes on motor cars and (2) the continued existence of a tiny motor car company in Westmoreland. I was motivated to find out more about locally made cars. I am puzzled that I don’t see many of them around the island, given the high cost of pre-owned Japanese imports. The cost of the cheapest imported three-year old pre-owned motor car runs about $1.5 million while the cost of a brand-new, soft-top Jamaican-made car is about $1.2 million.

I did some checks and found that Excel Motors, the local car makers, can provide brand-new hard-top and air-conditioned vehicles for well under $2 million. They also have designs for other cars besides the Island Cruisers, which they now build for tourist rentals. Like the rest of the local industry, they are unable to afford to borrow the cash they need to put their designs on the market. I wondered why the enforcement teams patrolling our cities and towns are not using the Island Cruisers? Tourists seem to have found them suitable means of transport and now they have been introduced to the Turks and Caicos Islands as rental vehicles.

Could our cash-strapped government invest in a local company by mandating that public entities own at least one of these locally manufactured vehicles? How can our politicians tell us to buy Jamaican and build Jamaica when there is no political will to do the same? Since the Jamaican government has no money for development or research funding, it should therefore find innovative ways of supporting local industry. By making sure that at least five per cent of all vehicles bought this year are Jamaican-made, the government will provide much-needed jobs for Jamaican engineers, build capacity, create new industries and build a better Jamaica.

Z Neufville

zneufville@yahoo.com