Uganda’s Kiira Motors has been one of the most amazing stories of the rise of African automakers, Ventures Africa reports.
Made in Africa by Africans, Kiira has produced eco-friendly vehicles including a two seater electric car, a five-seater sedan hybrid that uses both lithium batteries and gas, and a 35-seater solar-powered bus.
Africa’s small new car market is dominated by giant global automakers like Toyota. Used cars dominate African roads.
In 2014, roughly 1.9 million new vehicles were registered in Africa for 1.1 billion inhabitants, according to Best Selling Cars Blog. That’s just 1.67 new vehicle per 1,000 people, compared to 2.56 in India and 18.16 in China. Geographically, the market distribution is uneven: eight out of 10 new cars are sold in just four countries — South Africa, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. The remaining 50 African countries in 2014 recorded less than 400,000 registrations for new car sales.
It is in this environment that made-in-Africa auto makers are trying to compete.