A Frem car is seen on a street in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 18, 2019. David Frem, ambitious founder of Frem Industry, will finally realize his dream of launching "Frem Immortal," the first car to be designed and manufactured in Lebanon. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)
by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- David Frem, ambitious founder of Frem Industry, will finally realize his dream of launching "Frem Immortal," the first car to be designed and manufactured in Lebanon.
"We are working on getting a permit from the industry minister to allow the registration of any car manufactured by our company," Frem, a young Lebanese automotive engineer, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
"We can take the industry sector in Lebanon to the next level," he said.
Frem said he has been fighting for seven years for the government to give number plates to his cars.
"We finally succeeded in our endeavor after our car passed the mechanic inspection test," he said.
The Lebanese car industrialist also noted that Frem Immortal is the world's first military car tailored to civil use.
"We created a segment that is not available in the world. We created a military car for civil use because the youths are fond of such cars," he said.
Frem's car is highly priced at more than 80,000 U.S. dollars because the materials are imported from foreign markets.
"We pay 11 percent value added tax and custom fees in addition to importing the engines and other materials from foreign markets," he said.
In addition, he is working on a project to offer 10 cars to the Lebanese army.
"We will launch a fundraising campaign to offer 10 vehicles to the army. It is a great pride to see our national army using locally manufactured cars in the Independence Day's parade for instance," Frem said.
Frem said he will not rely only on the local market as he has already started contacting the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait for such purpose.
"I already have a lot of meetings with people interested in the car. Nobody believes that the car is qualified while it is manufactured in Lebanon," he said.
Frem said once he gets a permit from the industry ministry to allow his cars to be sold in Lebanon, he will start with a nationwide advertising campaign.
