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Mercedes, Range Rover double new high-end car dealer sales
Inchcape Kenya's Range Rover L460. The luxury cars are popular with wealthy families, companies which purchase them for directors and some government arms such as the Judiciary.
Orders for new luxury cars more than doubled in the first quarter ended March, driven by increased demand for Range Rover and Mercedes models.
Industry data shows purchase of the new high-end cars in the formal market, whose price per unit can top Sh30 million, jumped to 17 units in the three-month period compared with seven cars a year earlier.
The luxury cars are popular with wealthy families, companies which purchase them for directors and some government arms such as the Judiciary.
The 142.86 percent surge in sales of new luxury cars by dealers Inchcape Kenya and CFAO Motors Kenya signals a rebound from a slump in previous two consecutive years on tough economic conditions, characterised by weak shilling, increased taxation and high interest rates.
The recovery in the January-March 2025 period came against a backdrop of stable shilling against major international currencies such as the US dollar and falling cost of financing.
Data from Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) shows Inchcape Kenya closed deals for 11 new high-end cars in the review period, an 83.33 percent climb over six units the year before.
Inchcape sold five Range Rover models compared with two last year, while orders for Land Rover Defender were two compared with one in the first quarter of 2024.
The dealer, which in June 2024 inked a deal with NCBA to fund customers to purchase new cars to the tune of 90 percent financing, also sold three BMWs—unchanged from last year.
The company sold one Jaguar car compared to zero last year, according to the KMI report.
CFAO Motors, on the other hand, closed deals for six new Mercedes Benz cars compared with one a year ago.
The luxury car dealers have endured a long slump, with orders far below a decade ago when they would move more than 100 units in a year.
In the first quarter to March, orders for the high-end cars outperformed the sales in the entire formal vehicle market.
Total sales of new vehicles jumped 47.89 percent in the review period to 3,298 units from 2,230 units in a similar period a year ago, largely lifted by renewed demand for commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses.
Market leader Isuzu East Africa recorded the largest growth in orders amongst three major dealers and assemblers —alongside CFAO Motors and Simba Corp— which control nearly 90 percent of new vehicle markets.
Isuzu —which sells pick-ups, buses, trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs)— sold 1,648 units in the three-month period ended March 2025, a 65.13 percent growth over 998 vehicles a year earlier.
Analysis of the KMI statistics show Isuzu sales were largely boosted by trucks and buses which accounted for nearly three-quarters (73.60 percent or 1,213 units) of the volumes purchased from the Mombasa Road-based dealer and assembler.
The increase helped the Japanese-owned automotive manufacturer tighten its grip on the new vehicle market to 49.97 percent in the first quarter from 44.75 percent in the prior year.
CFAO, which sells multiple brands such as Toyota, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Hino under one roof following the merger of Toyota Kenya and DT Dobie operations in May 2023, increased sales 27.02 percent to 959 vehicles.
Its market share, however, shrank to 29.08 percent from 33.86 percent last year, the data shows.
Simba Corp, which holds franchises for Mitsubishi, Proton, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra, also shed share in the market to 9.13 percent in the review period from 11.43 percent. This came despite Simba Corp growing sales 18.04 percent to 301 units.
The Kenya Revenue Authority increased duty on shipping cars into the country from 25 percent to 35 percent from July 2023 after the East African Community Council of Ministers approved Kenya’s application to make the move.
Importation of vehicles further attract excise duty ranging from 25 percent to 35 percent depending on the size of the engine, in addition to the standard 16 percent VAT.
Excise tax is charged on the sum of landed cost of the car and import duty, while VAT is applied on the resultant value [the sum of landed cost, import tax and excise duty.
