Scania East Africa will officially begin serving customers from March 1, 2014 through a fully fledged office based in Nairobi/COURTESY
Scania East Africa will officially begin serving customers from March 1, 2014 through a fully fledged office based in Nairobi.
Previously, Scania has been represented in the region by Kenya Grange Vehicle Industries Ltd, but will henceforth operate in this market as a full regional office.
Scania Group Trucks Vice President Christopher Podgorski says the company wants to position itself with the rapidly improving road network, growing middle class population large demand for bus transportation in the country and the region as a whole.
Podgorski says going forward Kenya will have a more mature transport industry and Scania wants to be part a part of this development process.
“Kenya is a stable economy, she has all the micro economic indicators showing that she has a brilliant future; stable political scenario and we want to add value to the transport system, we believe this is the ideal moment for a second wave of development of Scania in Kenya,” he said.
Podgorski said the investments will be used to acquire stocks and working capital, with plans to open another facility in Nairobi in the near future.
On his part, Scania East Africa Managing Director Per Holmstrom says that they plan to employ about 150 Kenyans in their new office.
Holmstrom revealed that Kenya Grange Vehicle Industries Ltd will be their dealers in Uganda and Kigali having invested Sh432 million ($5 million) in a new facility in Uganda.
“That facility will help serve our customers from Juba going all the way to DRC Congo,” Holmstrom said.
He said that the group has a 50 percent market share in the region in trucks and buses and this investment will see them grow their market share significantly.
“We will offer various forms of service solutions that ensure Scania vehicles used by our customers are always repaired correctly and with the right parts and generate the best uptime and fuel consumption” said Holmstrom.
Holmstrom said with many infrastructure projects in the country and the East African region, the market provides great opportunities for the transport industry.
