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Isuzu Motors South Africa in Port Elizabeth, a subsidiary of Isuzu Motors Limited, which, in turn, is a majority shareholder of Isuzu East Africa, has announced that they have started to export Isuzu D-MAX pick-up kits in knocked down (KD) format to an affiliate manufacturing facility in Kenya.
This is the first in a series of initiatives that will seek to drive Isuzu's strategy to boost regional trade exchange and grow its overall volumes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since the brand currently holds a respectable 44.5% market share in the new vehicle market in Kenya, it was decided that infrastructural investment of this reach and magnitude was more than warranted.
The East African operation has previously only focussed on truck and bus assembly, and the new export programmer would serve to give the Kenyan operation more flexibility in order to remain competitive. This is largely due to the fact that the import tariffs on the KD kits are far less than importing fully assembled bakkies from South Africa. Additionally, the initiative will also serve to create employment in Kenya, without limiting the employment opportunities at the plant in South Africa.
According to Isuzu Motors South Africa CEO and Managing Director Michael Sacke, the brand's popularity in East Africa is based on the performance and reliability of its vehicles, as well as overall customer satisfaction. He is quoted as saying that their team put the project together in a very short amount of time, and anticipates that it will result in a mutually beneficial working relationship for the plants in Kenya and South Africa. According to Sacke, the first vehicle kits have already arrived in Kenya after the Kenyan team completed their comprehensive training in PE last year to prepare for operations on their end.
DID YOU KNOW?Isuzu bakkies may have been around in SA in some shape or form since 1972, but it was only in 1978 that the first Isuzu-branded bakkies rolled off the assembly line at the South African Kempston Road plant.
Keep an eye on our website and social pages and be the first to know when more information about this inspiring initiate becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with the knowledgeable sales team at your nearest REEDS branch if you would like to learn more about the Isuzu trucks we currently have in stock. Better yet – book a test drive, so you can experience the unbeatable handling of our range of bakkies and commercial trucks for yourself
