Chinese wheels really start rolling in East Africa
By Wang Chao (China Daily) Updated: 2014-07-15 06:57Foton also plans to introduce a new model to the Kenyan market, a multipurpose vehicle designed for small business owners.
Beijing plans to mark the company's expansion in Nairobi by donating two Foton Tunland pickups to the Masai Mara National Reserve, which will be used to support its wild animal protection initiatives.
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It opened its Kenyan sales operation in March 2012, and the Tunland is already popular in the country.
Huo said Foton's new Kenyan plant will play an important role in expanding into key East African economies. "We will use Nairobi as our manufacturing base and gradually radiate to the whole East Africa region. This also means Foton is transforming itself from being purely a trade company into a local vehicle producer."
The vehicles will be assembled and customized to suit local requirements.
"In China, the commercial vehicle market is already saturated after 30 years of development, so there is little room for sales improvement. To gain a bigger market, we have to look beyond our borders," Huo said.
Foton has three main parts to its export business: fully assembled vehicles; local assembly of imported parts and local production, which means the company buys many components locally and avoids high import tariffs.
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