This archive report was first published on 31 July 2020.
On July 31, 2020, Portugal-based auto-dealer Salvador Caetano Group announced plans to establish a local assembly plant in Kenya for low-cost Hyundai and Renault brands.
The move aims to take advantage of the tax benefits that come with assembling cars in Kenya, where the government exempts local vehicle assemblers from a 25 per cent import duty levied on fully-built imported vehicles.
Caetano Kenya managing director Ezio Tuniz said the assembly of the two brands would ride on the company's recently launched Sh350 million Kenya subsidiary on Mombasa Road in Nairobi, which comprises a showroom and an aftersales service bay.
‘We are alive to the government’s policy that promotes local assembly and collaborations with small and medium enterprises. We are assessing the situation and will disclose our planned assembly plant investments in due course,’ he said.
Kenya has been seeking to attract manufacturers back to help create jobs and support growth, after undermining its local assembly industry in the 1990s with policies that encouraged cheap second-hand imports.
French carmaker Peugeot and Germany’s Volkswagen have recently resumed car assembly locally, joining other brands based in Kenya including Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi.
