GM beats rivals in market share growth on Q1 sales

General Motors East Africa (GMEA) expanded its market share to a new high of 30 per cent in the first quarter, amid flat sales in the overall new vehicle market.

This was driven by significant market share losses by its top rivals including Toyota Kenya and DT Dobie.

Total sales in the industry stood at 4,301 units in the period compared to 4,287 a year earlier, according to statistics from the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI).

GMEA was, however, one of the few motor dealers that grew sales, boosting its market share to 30 per cent from 23 per cent in the same quarter last year.

The dealer of Isuzu and Chevrolet brands sold 1,297 units in the period compared to 970 units a year earlier, making it the largest dealer.

Toyota’s market share fell to 24 per cent from 34 per cent, reflecting its drop in sales from 1,459 units to 1,042 units.

The dealer’s stronger performance last year was helped by a contract to supply the police service with 1,100 vehicles. Toyota had also gained from high sales of its Hino brand of buses recently introduced in the Kenyan market.

READ: New vehicle dealers eye record sales in 2015

Simba Corporation, which sells Mitsubishi trucks and BMW cars, also saw its market share drop from 17 per cent to 15 per cent.

DT Dobie’s loss of its Nissan franchise to rival Crown Motors saw its market share decline to three per cent from eight per cent.

The dealer which sells Mercedes cars and trucks is betting on its recent acquisition of the Greatwall and Volkswagen dealerships to grow sales in the coming years.

CMC Holdings joined GMEA in growing its market share to nine per cent from eight per cent, riding on the popularity of its Ford pick-ups.
The dealer managed to grow its market share despite losing the Volkswagen franchise to DT Dobie.

The market share losses by majority of the top dealers saw the combined share of small firms including Tata Africa and Porsche Centre Nairobi rise to 19 per cent from 10 per cent.

Motor dealers said they expect the industry’s full-year sales to reach 19,000 units —which will be a record high and will beat the previous peak of 17,499 units last year.

“We are projecting sales to reach 19,000 units this year,” GMEA’s chief executive Rita Kavashe told the Business Daily in an earlier interview.

She attributed the outlook to multiple factors including increased government spending on infrastructure projects.

Dealers are also racing to launch new models in anticipation of high demand, raising competition in the market where most purchases are made by the government, private companies and wealthy Kenyans.