Porsche pulls ahead of Mercedes in Kenya sales

Sales of new Porsche vehicles have exceeded those of Mercedes in the first five months of its presence in Nairobi, marking a strong start to the luxury car maker’s local dealership.

Data by the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) shows that Porsche Centre Nairobi sold 82 units of its models in the period up to end of September.

This saw Porsche–which opened its Nairobi showroom in May— beat the previous luxury cars top seller DT Dobie’s Mercedes, which stood at 53 units.

“We sold most of the units to individuals,” a Porsche official told Business Daily.

Mercedes has dominated Kenya’s new luxury car sales charts for decades, riding on demand from wealthy individuals, directors of private firms and government departments like the Judiciary.

The rise of Porsche is mainly driven by individuals seeking trendy, high-performance cars. Buyers of Porsche models previously imported them from Europe and other foreign markets.

“The sales reflect a pent-up demand for the brand,” said the Porsche dealer.

The Cayenne SUV model –priced at between Sh10 million and Sh14 million— accounted for most of its sales, moving 79 units.

Its performance helped push total new luxury car sales to 291 units between January and September, setting a new record and beating the previous full-year sales.

This marks a strong recovery in the industry that took a hit in 2009 when the government banned the purchase of fuel-guzzling luxury models for top civil servants in a bid to reduce wastage of tax payers’ money.

The sales in the nine-month period surpassed the whole of last year’s 248 units by 17.3 per cent, setting the stage for a higher performance by the end of the year.

Increased demand for the cars, whose prices can top Sh25 million, is seen as a reflection of rising incomes and consumption among Kenya’s rich and middle income households.

READ: Demand for luxury cars soars in Kenya

Porsche now has a market share of 28 per cent, matching that of DT Dobie which also sells the Jeep Grand Cherokee luxury SUV.

DT Dobie’s market share stood at 57 per cent in 2013, with the dealer joining the list of rivals that have ceded ground to Porsche.

Bavaria Auto, which sells BMW cars, saw its market share drop to 12 per cent from 15 per cent in the same period. The market share of Jaguars, Land Rover Discovery and Range Rovers however rose to 32 per cent from 28 per cent.