German motor vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) has announced that it will resume producing cars in Kenya by the end of the year.
Volkswagen Group in South Africa said that it will scale up its operation in the auto assembly of passenger vehicles in Kenya.
The vehicle manufacturing company stated that it will partner with a local automaker to sell more cars across the Eastern Africa region by the end of 2024.
In a statement on Tuesday, December 3, VW South Africa stated that it would scale up production of five more models, purely driven by market demands in collaboration with local carmaker Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM), in which CFAO is a major shareholder.
Volkswagen to Resume Producing Cars in Kenya
Volkswagen South Africa Chief Executive Martina Biene noted that the world’s biggest carmaker by numbers believed in Kenya’s potential to develop “a very big fully-fledged” automotive industry.
“The East African Community has got the potential, and VWGA will make Kenya the East Africa Hub. We will deepen our investment in the region expanding from ICE, Hybrid, and electric vehicles to passenger vehicles progressively,” he said.
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Additionally, Martina said that VW will invest in recycling, vocational training and deepen localization.
He added that the company will create green jobs, and ensure they are growing sustainable supply chain enterprises.
Established in 1946, Volkswagen Group South Africa is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Aktiengessellschaft (VWAG) in Germany.
It is the largest German investment in South Africa and is a major contributor to foreign direct investment, technology transfer and skills development.
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Volkswagen Group South Africa is based in Uitenhage, an industrial town some 35 km from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.
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Mudavadi Speaks on VW Return
After meeting VW executives in Nairobi on Tuesday, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said, “I am happy to welcome back the Volkswagen Group, currently the largest car manufacturer in the world, back to Kenya.”
Mudavadi said that Kenya was keen to industrialize as a Country and acknowledged the role auto manufacturers play in realizing an industrialization strategy.
VW set up operations in Kenya in 2016, and its first car rolled off the ramp less than a year later. Since the launch, it recorded sales of 104 units- according to data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) in 2018.
Volkswagen’s return to Kenya in 2016 came more than four decades after the German auto giant stopped production in the country in the 1970s.
It will join other brands already operating in Kenya, including Isuzu, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
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