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Mobius Motors reports 300 pre-orders for the second model

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Mobius Motors showroom in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Domestic mass market carmaker Mobius Motors says it has received 300 pre-orders for its second model to be produced at the newly built Sh500 million Nairobi factory.

Darshan Chandaria, the founder and managing partner of Chandaria Capital, which bought a major stake at the carmaker, said the orders will keep the firm busy for the next 14 months, signalling growing demand for locally manufactured vehicles. said the orders will keep the firm busy for the next 14 months, signalling growing demand for locally manufactured vehicles.

“We anticipated 100 pre-orders for the second version of Mobius II but Kenyans have paid deposits for 300 units indicating a growing appetite for the ‘Made-in-Kenya’ goods. We have trained personnel to man the newly installed specialist machinery at our plant,” he said.

Mr Chandaria spoke in Nairobi during a breakfast meeting for the upcoming seventh edition of the Africa CEO two-day forum to be held in Kigali, Rwanda between March 25 and March 26.

Founded in 2009 by British entrepreneur — now Nairobi-based — Joel Jackson, the soon- to- be-made Kenyan all-terrain vehicle with an 1800cc engine comes in three models with the most expensive being Mobius Adventure, available in black, dark blue and light blue for Sh1.58 million inclusive of tax.

Cargo, available in black only, is the entry model and focuses on the functionality of transportation with a starting price of Sh1.3 million. The Adventure model, available in black and dark blue with three additional rear seats is available at Sh1.45 million.

Mobius received a Sh500 million loan from the US government’s development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) to set up a new factory that will see them build a scratch-to-finish assembly plant.