Isuzu East Africa is planning to start producing up to 11,000 vehicles in Kenya annually. This was revealed by Isuzu East Africa chief executive officer Rita Kavashe. The announcement comes as Isuzu marks the production of 100,000 vehicles since its inception in 1977.
Ms. Kavashe said that the ambitious number will be an increase from the current 40 per cent capacity that the firm has been utilizing. “Our installed capacity is to produce close to 11,000 vehicles annually. Our capacity utilisation currently is about 40 percent where we are producing about 5,000 trucks. We have the capacity to scale up regionally in terms of production capability. Isuzu has been strong in the commercial vehicle market,” she said in an interview with a local daily.
Ms. Kavashe added that Isuzu has invested more than Sh. 2 billion in capacity expansion over the last few years. “We have invested nearly Sh. 2 billion over the last three years in capacity expansion in terms of plant assembly reorganisation and retooling for our seventh-generation models. This includes the establishment of Kenya’s first-ever Electro-Deposition Paint facility. This type of plant allows you to dip the entire cabin into the paint and remove it without any manual process. This year, we are looking to invest an additional Sh. 500 million to prepare our plant to comply with stricter emissions standards. In the medium term, we estimate investments in excess of Sh. 2 billion,” she said.
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Isuzu currently has nine dealers across East Africa. Associated Motors (AM), Central Farmers Garage (CFG), Thika Motor Dealers (TMD), Ryce East Africa Ltd (RYCE), Africa Commercial Motors Group (ACMG), Kenya Coach Industries (KCI), AutoXpress Limited (AX), MAC East Africa (Kampala, Uganda) and Al Mansour Ltd (Dar es salaam, Tanzania). “Our model is that we have a plant and we sell the vehicles through our dealer network. Where there are opportunities, we will expand with our current partners or add more,” she said.