Automotive industry players have hailed the government for supporting manufacturing through the review of legal and regulatory reforms that have resulted in a surge in locally assembled vehicles.
Over the years, the government has been initiating a raft of incentives to encourage local assembling of vehicles including tax exemption on imported vehicle parts for assembling.
Speaking at the Customer launch of UD Trucks in Kenya at the new UD Trucks service facility in Jomvu, Mombasa, Isuzu East Africa Board Chairman and Managing Director (MD), Rita Kavashe said review of the taxation regime has seen a complete transformation of the assembling industry.
In 2020, for instance, she expounded that the split between locally produced and imported was almost half.
“But because of this new regulation, what is produced locally is about 80 per cent and only 20 per cent is coming in as imported. That graph is going to shift significantly because of the good incentive program, the review of those assembling regulations and the stability of those regulations,” stated Kaveshe.
The trucks making a re-entry into the Kenya market will be sold by ISUZU East Africa and are assembled locally at the Kenya Vehicle (KVM) Manufacturers in Thika.
The MD said that the collaboration with UD Trucks will create synergies through technology transfer and promote job creation in support of the Buy Kenya, Build Kenya policy.
“We know other players who come and import vehicles directly and some come as second hand, but we are assembling these products locally therefore creating job opportunities and opening manufacturing within Kenya for the larger East African region,” she said.
Kavashe added that the re-entry of UD trucks in Kenya is very important because the country is the logistics hub for the region, and customers are looking for durable products, value for money and partners who will support their business growth.
“Leveraging the heritage of ISUZU in terms of good quality and reliable products, there is an opportunity in the market to scale up not only in Kenya, but across the region leveraging the strategic location of our port, our road infrastructure and trading blocs’ opportunity there,” explained the MD.
On his part, President of UD Trucks for the Middle East, East & North Africa Region, Mourad Hedna noted that in Kenya logistics is the lifeblood of the society and will continue to grow proportionately to the population size, and with emergence of the middle class, they will be more goods to transport.
“There is a need for a lot of infrastructure to be built. We aim to be the key player to support the prosperity of the country,” he said, adding that the trucks boast of quality and reliability, and are designed for a purpose with a modern drive line.
The Director of the Board and Managing Executive Officer at Isuzu Motors Limited, Tetsuya Ikemoto, said the long-term vision for the alliance with UD Truck is to give customers more choices in East Africa by introducing innovative technologies in vehicles that will meet the logistics requirements of customers.
UD Trucks Corporation Chairman Koichi Ito stated that the partnership with Isuzu East Africa exemplifies the shared value of providing top-notch products and comprehensive aftersales support to customers.
By Sadik Hassan
