SMATI Turtle, an automobile developed jointly by Ghana and the Netherlands, is reported to be making waves and attracting huge interest across Europe.

Television viewers in excess of two million in Germany are estimated to have already watched the prototype vehicle.

This was contained in a press release mailed to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi by Mr Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, Consultant to the Suame Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO), promoters of the project.

The disclosure comes on the heels of a special ceremony held in Rotterdam, Netherlands to unveil phase-two of the development of the model vehicle - the first bi-cultural vehicular model in the world.

The event was organized by “V2” Media Institute, a leading Dutch media institution, and brought together the business community and captains of the automobile industry.

Mr Azongo, who was the Special Guest, said the goal was to mobilize the best of Dutch and Ghanaian expertise and investment partnerships to build a global vehicular brand that mirrored the cultures of the two countries.

It would promote a new culture of Euro-African cooperation in technological advancement under the Regional Investment Gateway Project (RIGP) to transform Suame Magazine into a globally-competitive industrial hub in Africa.

Mr Azongo said the work on the second-phase was likely to start in the last quarter of this year after the SMATI Turtle was shipped back into the country.

He said the ceremony in Rotterdam would be replicated in Ghana for a media interface at the International Press Centre, to showcase not only the vehicle to the media, but also provide evidence of the emerging European interest in the initiative.

The car would be driven through the streets of Accra and finally leave for Kumasi.

The platform would additionally be used to present the RIGP’s strategy blueprint launched in Kumasi last year to promote Suame Magazine as the investment gateway to Ashanti, Ghana and the West African sub-region, through investment cooperation between enterprises in Suame magazine and advanced industry players in Europe.

Messrs Joost Van Onna and Melle Smets, the Dutch counterparts on the SMATI Turtle project, said the prototype had made history in terms of whipping up European interest.

They underlined the enormous potential to project Ghana as an emerging industrial giant of Africa and draw global industrial investment.