Kenya is likely to shake off economic effects which slowed sales of motorbikes and three wheelers in the country according to new projections by diversified automotive distributor, Car and General.
According to the firm, the two categories dragged last year due to availability of second hand bikes which had been repossessed by financiers as customers faced spending squeeze.
“One when you look at this year, there is a bit of recovery because a lot of those bikes that were available in the market, the second hand that were repossessed, had already been sold. Two, a lot of Kenyans to some extend have adjusted to the housing levy through restructuring loans. More passengers are also willing to take boda boda again,” said George Rubiri, C&G General Manager.
According to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the total number of newly registered motorcycles declined to 72,868 last year compared to 76,451 the previous year.
The firm also expects demand for electric and internal engine combustion motorbikes to be sustained by continued stabilization of the local currency against the dollar and lower fuel prices.
C&G projects sales to grow gradually to 8,000 bikes per month from the current 4,000 bikes per month before picking to 15,000 bikes per month.
The automotive dealer which is currently leading in E-bikes market in Kenya also keen on growing its EV market share from the current 110,000 bikes available in Kenya through partnership with ARC Ride despite challenges in developing batteries.
“The price of the battery is very high. For an electric bike, the cost of the battery is $800-$1000. It might drop to $600-$700 but that is the issue. The fact is this does not affect the end user because we are doing the battery swaps,” said Vijay Gidoomal C&G Chief Executive Officer.
Gidoomal further backs government policies and incentives to continue driving the uptake of electric bikes in Kenya to support local development of batteries and rollout of charging stations across the country.
“The industry approach overtime needs to be driven to an extent by government policy. At the moment that’s lacking. The truth is industry will be driven by competitive advantage. The bike that will win will be the best bike for the customer. The customer will make the decision,” he added.
Through its lending arm, Watu Africa, C&G says it has extended credit to the tune of Ksh 5 billion which has supported the uptake of bikes and other products such as smartphones.
