Gomba bags Stonefield
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THE STONEFIELD on/off highway vehicle wrested itself from the hands of its receiver last week, and is to be built by a Uganda-born Asian whose previous British manufacturing interest was confined to a handbag factory in Blackburn, Lancashire.
Gomba Motors Ltd, part of Jersey-based Gomba Holdings, and headed by 48-year-old Abdul Shamji, is renaming the lorry the Gomba-Stonefield, and hopes to have the first vehicle one of 20 for a Gomba construction company in Nigeria ready in May.
A Gomba spokesman told CM that the Cumnock factory will start off with 50 employees (half the number employed by the old company), and that the target for the first year is to sell 100 vehicles. He added that almost certainly this would not be enough to make a profit.
He said that Mr Shamji is convinced that the new company will only start to make money when it sells large numbers of vehicles and spare parts.
Gomba says its sales and marketing capabilities are strides ahead of those which let down Stonefield Vehicles, and in the first instance it is aiming at civilian markets in developing countries.
He added that Africa, where Gomba is well-established, is a prime target, and said that there is little doubt that there is scope for the Gomba-Stonefield in the Middle East. Mr Shamji is convinced that, once a diesel engine is added to the range of options for the 4x4 and 6x4 vehicles, it could be sold in India.
No make of diesel has yet been decided for the range which at present is offered with Ford V6 and Chrysler V8 petrol engines mated to those manufacturers' automatic gearboxes. A manual gearbox is also being planned by Gomba to meet another known gap in the specification.
The spokesman told CM that Gomba is convinced that the vehicle can be built more cheaply, and is looking at alternative components, but added that the basic specification is excellent.
Gomba says it is faced with a hard nine months while it tries to re-establish the Stonefield, but it is being supported by a small Scottish Development Agency shareholding, and the rent-free provision of its SDA factory at Cumnock, South Ayrshire, for up to two years.
The new owner was chosen in preference to Shelvoke and Drewry which wanted to move production from Scotland to Letchworth.