AFRIKARS, a technology company building a cross-border vehicle marketplace, launched its platform in Nigeria today at The Nordic Abuja, before an audience of 89 guests drawn from the automotive, financial services and public sectors.
The platform went live at 11:00 WAT, opening auction bidding and funding to Nigerian buyers for the first time. The programme set out Afrikars’ position that the systems carrying vehicles safely into Nigeria today are the same systems that could one day carry Nigerian-made vehicles out to the rest of the continent.
The problem the platform addresses
Nigerians who import vehicles from abroad tend to describe the same experience. A price is agreed for a car. Payment is made, often in dollars, often to an intermediary the buyer has never met. The remaining costs then arrive one at a time: inland transport in the United States, shipping, import duty, the levy, VAT, clearing charges, agent fees. By delivery, the total bears little relation to the figure first accepted.
“We do not build what we drive. And when you do not build what you drive, you pay for it twice. Once in shipping and duty, and again in the years already taken off the life of that vehicle,” said Femi Omotoso, co-founder of AFRIKARS.
The economics shifted this year. Under the 2026 Fiscal Policy Measures, implemented by the Nigeria Customs Service from 1 July 2026, the import levy on used vehicles fell from 15 per cent to 5 per cent, while the levy on new vehicles dropped from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. A Green Tax Surcharge was introduced at the same time, with vehicles below 2,000cc, mass-transit buses, electric vehicles and locally manufactured vehicles among the exempted categories.
A lower levy reaches the buyer only where the buyer can see it. Where a single opaque figure is quoted, a change of that size can be absorbed before it reaches the person paying.
How Afrikars works
More than 160,000 United States vehicle listings are live on afrikars.com. Each carries its own estimated landed cost, covering the vehicle, shipping and import charges in one figure.
A buyer selects a vehicle and pays in naira, into a Nigerian account, without arranging any foreign transfer. AFRIKARS purchases the vehicle on the buyer’s behalf and manages the process through shipping, clearing and delivery, releasing funds in verified stages.
“With us, your money moves only when the car does,” said Lanre Taiwo, co-founder and chief operating officer of AFRIKARS.
The company operates across both ends of the route through three entities: AFRIKARS Inc., its Delaware holding company; AFRIKARS Motors LLC, a licensed Texas dealer handling United States operations; and AFRIKARS.NG Ltd, the Nigerian operating company, registered as RC 9632671 and based in Asokoro, Abuja.
The launch audience saw the platform demonstrated live, with the company sourcing vehicles named by guests from the floor and showing the full cost to each guest’s door.
“Bringing a car into Nigeria the right way, with clean papers, honest history and duties fully paid, is how we earn trust. Trust is the foundation every manufacturer needs,” said Taiwo.
Vehicle history checks
AFRIKARS offers a vehicle history check free to verified users. After signing up and completing identity verification, users receive three checks covering a vehicle’s United States export history, including title records, accident history and salvage records.
The check addresses a structural gap. Nigeria Customs values an imported vehicle for duty purposes and does not read that vehicle’s United States title. A car declared a total loss by an American insurer, repaired and shipped, can clear a Nigerian port in the same way as any other vehicle.
The tool reports origin history rather than current condition, and the company is explicit that it does not replace a physical inspection.
“The free check builds trust in our platform before you commit to a purchase, just so you’re informed of what exactly you are getting,” Omotoso added.
That transparency extends to the charges waiting at the port. AFRIKARS itemises every import cost before a buyer commits, giving buyers a clear picture of what Nigerian Customs will calculate on arrival.
“One of the two mandates of the Nigeria Customs Service is to generate revenue and, of course, implement the government’s fiscal policies,” an officer of the service said. “As an importer or trader, when you import cars, you ship it down to Nigeria, to any of the ports. The system automatically calculates the duty and all other charges that you are supposed to pay. I think it is a very simple process with AFRIKARS on clearing an imported vehicle.”
Founders 100
AFRIKARS opened its founding membership at the event. The first one hundred buyers to bring a vehicle home through the platform lock a service rate of 3.8 per cent, subject to a minimum of 800 dollars, for life on every subsequent purchase.
Membership also includes fuel credit of up to ₦500,000, vehicle registration handled by the company, and a permanent place on the AFRIKARS Founders Wall. Terms apply. The membership closes once the hundredth is filled and will not reopen.
“Made in Nigeria. Moved by Africa. That is not just a panel title. It is the road map,” said Taiwo.
The programme
The day opened with the two co-founders in conversation on stage, tracing the company from 2014 through its first vehicle movements to the platform launched today. Representatives of GT Bank and Squad, and of cross-border payments company Duplo, each addressed the room on how payments reach businesses safely and how money moves across borders. Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and the Federal Road Safety Corps spoke on correct vehicle importation and on road safety standards buyers should insist upon.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole, MFR, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, was represented at the event. “The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is committed to building a competitive and productive economy,” she said. “In that regard, we are fully aligned as a ministry on AFRIKARS’ mission.”
A closing panel on local vehicle manufacturing brought together Oluwatobi Ajayi, founder and chief executive of Nord Automotive, and Lukman Lanre Shittu of Lanre Shittu Motors, moderated by Omotoso. The discussion covered what it will take for Nigeria to build its own vehicles at scale, the infrastructure constraints holding back electric vehicle adoption, and routes for Nigerian-made vehicles into other African markets.
Omotoso closed with an address setting out the company’s longer ambition, before leading the room in a countdown marking the platform’s launch.
What comes next
AFRIKARS currently sources vehicles from the United States and delivers into Nigeria. The company has said it intends to open further source markets, naming Dubai, China and Germany, before extending delivery into Ghana, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa. Beyond expanding where it sources and delivers, AFRIKARS has set its sights on a longer ambition: using the same infrastructure it is building today to move Nigerian-made vehicles out to the rest of the continent tomorrow.
“Africa should not only be where the world’s cars end up. It should be where the world’s cars are made, and Nigeria has what it takes to lead,” said Taiwo. “The road runs both ways, and we are building it one car at a time,” Omotoso added.
Buyers in other African markets are invited to register interest through the platform.
About AFRIKARS
AFRIKARS is a technology company building a cross-border vehicle marketplace designed to change how Africans discover, purchase and manage vehicle ownership. Buyers access international vehicle markets with the estimated landed cost shown before purchase, pay in local currency, and follow funds released in verified stages at each point of the journey.
The marketplace, cost calculator and VIN lookup are available at afrikars.com. The AFRIKARS app is available on the App Store.