Motor vehicle dealer Isuzu East Africa has crossed100,000th production milestone since the commencement of operations in 1977, the company said on Monday.
The commercial vehicle assembler in the region celebrated the milestone at a ceremony to unveil the vehicle held at its Nairobi assembly plant.
Isuzu EA Managing Director Rita Kavashe said the 100,000th vehicle was a demonstration of the huge vote of confidence that customers have in Isuzu products.
“As our way of saying Asante, we shall be announcing a raft of rewards for our customers over the next three months so that we can celebrate this milestone together,” added Rita.
Isuzu EA assembles and sells approximately 5,000 units of assorted trucks, buses, pickups and SUVs annually, supported through an extensive dealer network across East Africa.
In the first half of the year, Isuzu was second in the number of units sold with a 34.4 per cent gain to 2,413 from 1,795 a year earlier.
The production of the 100,000th vehicle by Isuzu East Africa reinforces the possibility of Kenya as a primary source of locally assembled vehicles for the Eastern African region.
Kenya’s three assembly plants have a combined potential output of 34,000 units per year but instead are producing a paltry 6,000 units, accounting for less than 20% of the production capacity.
The Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMIA) estimates that local assemblers operating at full capacity would create an additional 50,000 jobs and contribute over Ksh 50 billion in taxes every year.
