The initiative of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri to develop the first indigenous car project christened “AFRICAR” has received a major boost with the visit of FUTO Project Team to the Technical University of Munich, Germany. The Africar would be a collaborative project involving FUTO, Imo Polytechnic and Technical University, Munich.
 
The Team comprising Engr. Prof. O. M. I. Nwufor, (Director, Centre for Nuclear Energy) and two postgraduate students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mr. Olisaemeka C. Nwufo and Mr. Jerry O. Azubuike were in Germany from Saturday, December 7, to Monday, December 16, 2013  to kick start the process of the globaldrive project which will lead to the AFRICAR project.
 
The main objective of the team’s visit was to work out the attributes of the prototype and concept of the Africar project. At an interactive meeting held on Monday, December 9, 2013 Engr. Prof. Nwafor presented the profile of FUTO and the activities of the Department of Mechanical Engineering which are in line with the GlobalDrive project.
 
The entire Globaldrive team was split into two groups of four participants in each group. Each group had been working on one dimensional (1-D) ideas. The PG students in the Team had useful experience and also benefitted from useful exposure to the instructional and research facilities available at the Technical University, Munich.
 
The Team had since returned back to the University to continue the other phases of the project.