New motor vehicle dealers registered a 14.84 percent drop in sales last year when rising interest rates and weakening of the Kenya shilling made it more expensive for customers to make showroom purchases.
Data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMIA) shows that the dealers, including Isuzu East Africa, CFAO Motors and Simba Corp, sold 11,370 units in the local market in the year ended December 2023.
This was down from 13,352 units sold the year before. The formal dealers battled one of the toughest business environments last year when the shilling depreciated by 21.19 percent against the US dollar.
Isuzu’s sales declined to 5,340 in the review period from 5,968 in 2022. The dealer, which sells its namesake commercial and sports utility vehicles, however, raised its market share to 46.96 percent from 44.7 percent.
