President Ruto says Kenya to make 'own Mercedes'

President William Ruto on Monday exuded confidence about Kenya producing a locally made high-quality car similar to the German luxury vehicle maker Mercedes-Benz.

Ruto was speaking during the commissioning of the Cemtech Limited clinker plant in West Pokot, where he dismissed people who underestimate locally-made products.

“I hear some people tell me sometimes, Mr President, goods manufactured in Kenya are not of very high quality, and I tell them it is better we drive a Datsun made in Kenya than a Rolls-Royce made elsewhere,” the president said.

Datsun is a now-defunct Japanese automobile manufacturer brand by Nissan, whose modest pick-up trucks were common in Kenya although not locally made. Rolls-Royce on the other hand was a British luxury car manufacturer.

While seemingly referring to Kenya’s only home-grown automaker Mobius Motors whose first car was unveiled in 2014, Ruto added; “Slowly, we are going to make our own Mercedes. We will slowly refine ours until we are there.”

He made a case for patriotism and believing in Kenya, saying, “My countrymen and women, we must believe in ourselves and our country... We cannot continue to be slaves of other people merely because we do not want to make the hard decisions and invest in our own country.”

The first Mobius compact SUV, Mobius I, was met with mixed reactions from Kenyans, with some criticising its stripped-down look despite its Ksh.1.3 million price tag then.

The automaker, founded by a British businessman called Joel Jackson, has since followed it up with Mobius II and Mobius III models, which are spruced-up but still rugged SUVs priced at Ksh.1.5 million and Ksh 3.9 million respectively as of 2022.

Kenya’s car market is dominated by used imports from Japan and the government has been striving to boost local vehicle assembly, attracting investments from global automakers such as Volkswagen.

Even so, the sale of new vehicles in Kenya dipped 15 per cent last year.

Data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association last month showed that individuals and businesses bought 11,370 units in 2023, down from 13,352 units sold in 2022.

Dealers attributed the drop to high inflation and the depreciating shilling, which shot up the prices of products as well as production costs.