Electric vehicle (EV) company Tad Motors has unveiled its first five locally assembled cars made from parts sourced from multiple manufacturers in China, officially launching sales since it opened shop in Kenya last year.
The company, owned by the Ethiopian-born Dutch businessman Tadesse Tessema, has assembled two SUV models --Dhahabu and Amani-- and three sedans branded Taji, Makena and Fahari.
The SUVs will sell for Sh2 million to Sh2.6 million, while the sedans range from Sh1.3 to Sh1.6 million.
“We have worked with over 30 Chinese OEM (original equipment manufacturers). Most of the parts were made to specification by the different companies, apart from the bodies, which were made by one company,” Eng. Tessem told the Business Daily.
The cars will go on sale from January 2026, and all have a range of 250 kilometres and a charging duration of up to 4 hours.
Tessem said the company does not plan to build charging infrastructure, and that the models will only have AC on-board chargers that are compatible with regular wall sockets.
"The range is extendable, if one wants more, we'll be able to fit more batteries into the cars," he added.
Tad Motors opened shop at the Naivasha Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in June last year, with a $10 million (Sh1.3 billion) at current exchange rates) investment.
It secured four acres at the SEZ and targets to boost production to 3000 cars annually, with targets of sourcing over 80 percent of the components locally sourced and manufactured at the Naivasha plant by September next year.
"Based on our assessment of the market, the EV demand and what we've seen our competitors offering, we're going to control the market, especially when we begin local manufacturing. Our idea is to make EVs affordable to 'normal' people,” Tessem said.
The company targets to sell 80 percent of the output across the East African market and 20 percent international export. Tessema previously established a now-defunct car assembly plant in Ethiopia in 2005.
“Ethiopia is a large market of 140 million people, and the good thing is that only EVs are allowed to be imported there, so we expect to export a lot there," he said.
Tad joins the few companies that are locally assembling electric cars, as much of the output has so far been in two-wheelers and buses.
Autopax, the assembler of the Sh1.7 million AirEv Yetu hatchback in partnership with China's SGMW, is yet to mass-produce it with local components.
MojaEV has partnered with another Chinese manufacturer, Hozon Auto, to locally assemble the Sh4.5 million Neta V subcompact SUV and other models in Kenya.
Kenya has also lowered excise duty on EVs from 20 percent to 10 percent and exempted them from Value Added Tax (VAT) to boost their uptake and lower carbon emissions.
Beyond the EV sector, the government also exempts assemblers of all vehicles from the import duty of 35 percent levied on fully built vehicles.
Assemblers also pay a lower import declaration fee of 2.5 percent for their completely knocked down (CKD) parts headed to assembly plants, compared to the standard 3.5 percent.
The two percent Railway Development Levy (RDL) is also reduced to 1.5 percent for assemblers.
Still, a large chunk of the local vehicle production has been in commercial units such as pick-ups, trucks and buses. New vehicle sales have also been rising, buoyed by falling lending rates and stable foreign exchange rates.
New vehicle sales rose 24.56 percent in the first nine months of 2025 to 9,924 units from 7,967 in the same period last year, a six-year high, per Kenya Motor Industry Association data.
The majority were commercial vehicles like heavy-duty trucks, mini-buses and pick-up trucks assembled at Isuzu.
