Toyota Kenya registered gains in market share last month, eating into the pie of Isuzu East Africa, the largest auto dealer in the country.
Fresh industry data released yesterday indicates that Toyota Kenya gained 4.59 percentage points raising its market share to 26.03 per cent last month as its unit sales went up over Isuzu East Africa.
Isuzu’s market share dropped by 5.46 per cent to stand at 29.08 per cent last month, from 34.54 per cent in June.
Toyota Kenya sold 290 units last month, up 28.32 per cent from June when the auto dealer sold 226 units.
This contrasts with Isuzu East Africa which sold 324 units last month, a 10.99 per cent drop from June’s 364 units.
Simba’s unit sales — including Renault cars and Mitsubishi commercial vehicles — increased 41.13 per cent in July to 176 from 124 the previous month.
DT Dobie unit sales rose 7.69 per cent last month to 56 units from 52 in June.
Sales of new motor vehicles jumped 10.3 per cent in the year to July compared to last year’s estimated at 10,973 units.
Dealers attributed the uptick to the delivery of orders that were suspended last year due to the General Election uncertainty.
“The end of election politics, the rainy season which is expected to boost food security and the delivery of the National Police Service tender are all opportunities for increased sales,” said the report.
“There is also pent-up demand from 2017 deferrals.”
Early this month, Toyota Kenya launched Sh3 million seven-seater sports utility vehicle targeting new car enthusiasts who love four-wheel drives.
The launch of the Rush came hardly two months after the company introduced the new-look Land Cruiser Prado VX-L into the Kenyan market where it commands 47 per cent market share in the luxury vehicles segment.
At the time, Toyota Kenya said the low-priced four-wheel drive model came in the wake of multiple enquiries and a surge in the sale of new cars due to the improved economy that has boosted consumer spending power.
Earlier in May, Isuzu East Africa re-entered the passenger car market with the Isuzu mu-X, a sports utility vehicle, which it has priced at Sh6.6 million.
The company in 2017 exited the passenger car segment after Detroit-based General Motors terminated Isuzu East Africa’s Chevrolet franchise. The US firm also sold its entire 57.7 per cent stake in the auto dealer to Japan’s Isuzu Motors.
