Rwanda becomes newest addition to VWSA’s Africa expansion
Volkswagen SA's joint venture aims to establish a Rwandan motor industry and stimulate growth in vehicle assembly
Barely two months after starting production at a low-volume car assembly plant in Kenya, Volkswagen SA (VWSA) is in discussions with Rwanda about a similar operation there. However, unlike the Kenyan joint venture, which is limited to building vehicles, VWSA’s Rwandan deal could extend to car-sharing and other forms of urban mobility. Production at the Kenyan plant, just outside Nairobi, started in earnest in January. The facility, owned by Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers, receives partly assembled Polo Vivo kits from VWSA’s Uitenhage assembly plant in the Eastern Cape. VWSA MD Thomas Schaefer said on Thursday his company expected to send 1,000 Vivos to Kenya in 2017. This annual number would eventually rise to 5,000 as the Kenyan government made good on its promise to reduce the local market’s reliance on used Japanese imports by raising import duties. Rwanda is similarly reliant on dumped used cars, but Schaefer said government officials had made clear their desire to encourage a loca...
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