Volkswagen South Africa, which is planning to expand into Kenya, is hoping that the country's automotive industry will resemble South Africa's in 10 years, despite Kenya's thriving used-car market. VWSA MD Thomas Schafer said this week that three conditions were needed to be in place to achieve production of about 300,000 cars a year. The government needed to reduce the number of used cars being sold, consumers needed to start buying more new cars and major banks needed to provide more funding. Only 5% of vehicles sold in Kenya are financed. The number of vehicles sold per year is 19,000, of which about 3,000 are new passenger cars and the rest used cars. VWSA wants to start manufacturing about 1,000 cars by December 21, taking up about 30% of the Kenyan new-car market share. The company has invested €2-million (about R31-million) in Kenya and will start full production next year. Schafer said the Kenyan government was in a dilemma in terms of restricting used vehicles completely. T...
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