President Uhuru during the launch of Volkswagen production line at Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Limited in Thika on December 2016. [Photo: PSCU]Production of locally assembled vehicles sunk lowest in September compared to similar periods over the last seven years. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ Leading Economic Indicators for October 2017, September recorded a total of only 475 vehicles assembled, compared to 623 vehicles during the same period in 2016, a 23.7 per cent decline.Sales were also affected this year owing to a multiplicity of factors including the prolonged electioneering period, effects of the interest rate caps on their customer base and the drought experienced at the start of the year.“It was a difficult year for the industry and among the biggest fears for our staff was the possibility of job cuts as the sector shrunk,” said Duncan Muhindi, communications manager, Isuzu East Africa in a recent interview as quoted by Star.Muhindi, however, added that the company does not plan to fire any employee despite suffering from shrinking customer base as the small and medium enterprises, their biggest customers, suffered effects of the interest rate cap that came to effect in October 2016.The highest recorded number of vehicles assembled on a single month was in 2015 October, with 1,139 units made, while the month before, 1,029 vehicles were assembled. The same year posted the highest number of locally produced vehicles as the industry posted 10,181 units to the local market.The data for the total production of assembled vehicles in 2017 stands at 4,286 for the nine months up to September.

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