Motoring: Car dealer eyes bigger space to grow

CMC Motors Showroom in Nairobi.

Vehicle dealer CMC Motors has opened doors to a bigger showroom as it moves to relaunch its local assembly plant.

CMC’s involvement in vehicle assembly started in 1974 after acquiring a 33 per cent stake in Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KMV), a local assembly plant based in Thika.

KVM has an annual assembly capacity of more than 9,000 vehicles. The refurbished KVM plant, in which CMC has assembly lines, is expected to shore up production and create more jobs.

In Thika, KVM assembles Renault Trucks, Eicher Trucks and Buses, UD Trucks and the recent addition for Ford Ranger and Everest.

But even as it prepares to relaunch KVM with an eye of making more locally assembled vehicles available to the Kenyan public, CMC has opened the doors to its newly refurbished showroom located in their Lusaka Road headquarters.

The new showroom will accommodate Ford in line with the American car manufacturer’s global vision of a greener and cleaner environment.

According to CMC Regional Sales Director Patrick Amenya, the new showroom maximises green energy. The showroom will be launched in April by global Ford representatives from the US, Mr Amenya said.

The dealer spent Sh250 million in the project, which accommodates 15 Ford trucks.

CMC Corporate Sales Manager Kagwiria Mbiti says Kenya has earned its place as the Ford’s regional hub. “With it comes the training academy where we train technicians and engineers from 10 African countries including Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mauritius under a comprehensive internship programme,” said Ms Mbiti.

Mr Amenya says CMC estimates an increase in Ford retail network in 2020. “We intend to upscale the after sale support for the brand to penetrate all key towns in the country. The local assembly will serve to improve the building capacity in technology,” he said.

CMC has been embroiled in a protected battle with the Interior Ministry over the Sh12 billion motor vehicle leasing scheme for the police. High Court Judge John Mativo ruled in January 20, 2020 that the Interior ministry was at fault for canceling a tender won by the motor dealer and ordered fresh tendering process.