Brand new car sales in Kenya have fallen for the third year in a row, driven largely by the high cost of loans. New numbers from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) show that there was a 2.74 per cent drop in brand new car sales in Kenya in 2024.
This drop saw the total number of brand new cars sold fall from 11,370 units in 2023 to 11,059 units in the financial year ended December 2024.
The data further showed that out of the four major dealers of brand new cars in the country, CFAO Motors was the only one that recorded growth in the year 2024. The company sells car brands including Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and Hino.
According to the data, the motor vehicle seller sold 3,789 units from the 3,689 units it sold in the previous year.
Isuzu, which leads the market, on the other hand sold 5,156 units in 2024. This was a drop of 3.45 per cent from the 5,340 units it sold in the previous year. In the same vein, Isuzu recorded a drop in the market share that it controls from 46.97 per cent to 46.62 per cent.
Simba Corp sold 977 units after suffering a drop of 8.69 per cent, while Tata had an even bigger drop in sales of 16.44 per cent with 432 units.
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Isuzu currently has the largest market share in the sale of brand new vehicles in Kenya, followed by CFAO Motors. Last year, CFAO Motors saw its market share grow from 32.45 per cent to 34.26 per cent. The company’s growth accelerated following the merger of the operations of Toyota Kenya and DT Dobie in May 2023.
Simba Corp, which is behind motor vehicle brand such as Mitsubishi and Proton had its market share decline from 9.41 per cent to 8.83 per cent while Tata’s market share decline from 4.55 per cent to 3.91 per cent.
