Written By Bertha Mollel in Arusha
The Japanese’s Heavy Commercial Vehicle Company has ambitions of growing its reach across the East African region.
The Director, Sales and Marketing at Isuzu East Africa, Wanjohi Kangangi revealed that the East African Community has been a boost to intra-regional trade by allowing locally assembled vehicles; with significant value addition in Kenya exported duty free to Tanzania and the other East African Countries.
“Automotive industry size is about 95,000 units annually comprising pick-ups, light and medium trucks and buses, cars and SUVs” said Wanjohi.
“However the industry is dominated by used vehicle imports from Asia and Europe attributing 94 percent of all vehicle sales in Tanzania,” he said.
Mr. Kangangi said, the locally assembled vehicles will help offset that as new vehicles assembled in the region will continue to become more accessible to customers across the region.
According to Kangangi, the industry has tremendous potential given the country’s geographical size, growth trajectory of the country and major in- country and regional infrastructure expansion projects.
He was speaking during the roundtable meeting between the East African Business Council and the officials from the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, as well as Chief Executive Officers, an event which was held in Arusha City.
The EAC Secretary General, Veronicah Nduva said the East African region still has great potential for investments in the automotive industry, considering its population, geographical size and economic activities.
She pointed out that even the EAC fiscal year budget of 2024/2025 has taken into account the issue of automotive industry development in the region.
Recently, President Samia Suluhu Hassan inaugurated a vehicle assembly plant established by the Chinese Truck manufacturer, Howo in Dar-es-salaam.
On the other hand, Isuzu East Africa is the leading automotive assembler in the East Africa region assembling over 6,000 vehicles annually and currently market leader in East Africa at 45 percent market share as of December 2023.
Isuzu East Africa started as a joint venture between the government of Kenya and General Motors in 1975 with the aim of expanding the regional automotive sector and spurring economic growth across the trading bloc.