Foton Motor Comes back to Kenya with Four Dealers

Chinese automaker Beiqi Foton Motor has made a comeback in the local market by appointing four new dealers after its first distributor Foton East Africa went bust last year.

The new dealers, including Pewin Motors and Roton Africa, have been appointed on exclusive regional basis, replacing Foton East Africa which ceased operations after its vehicles were seized by the taxman and its assembly plant put on auction by a bank for default.

Pewin Motors is Foton’s dealer in Nairobi, Roton Africa in Mombasa, Lochab Bros in Eldoret and Kylin Motor in Kisumu. The four dealers will report to the multinational’s local representative subsidiary Foton Motor Kenya Limited.

The automaker Thursday unveiled two models — Sauvana (an SUV) and Auman GTL (prime mover)— at an event presided over by the firm’s top executives and local Chinese Embassy officials.

The multinational makes a wide range of vehicles spanning SUVs, tippers, heavy and light duty trucks.

“We are back to Kenya and our plan is to be fully operational in Nairobi by March this year and launch operations in Mombasa before the end of the year,” said Foton Motor Kenya president Apple Sun.

“We have plans to expand our operations to other countries in East Africa. We have partnered with Simba Motors in Tanzania and we are now looking into Uganda and Rwanda markets.”

The firm has signed an assembly agreement with Mombasa-based Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA) and it expects to have at least four units ready to hit the market every day. (www.chinatrucks.com)

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