Let car dealers pass tax benefit to users

A number of car dealers have announced plans to assemble vehicles in Kenya to cut costs and also to benefit from tax incentives provided by the government. Simba Corp has announced it would start assembling Mahindra double cabin pick-ups locally, a day after Toyota Kenya, which currently assembles Land Cruiser pick-up trucks, Hino trucks and Toyota Hilux in the country, said it would also add more models into its car assembling line locally.

Other firms that have been assembling vehicles locally include Volkswagen, which in 2017 started assembling its Polo Vivo in Kenya and the French firm Peugeot that assembles two passenger car models locally. Others include Renault Trucks that opened a local assembly plant in Thika. The vehicle dealers are exempted from the 25 per cent import duty levied on fully-built imported vehicles, an incentive that gives room for assemblers to produce cheaper vehicles.