Why the number of Kenyans buying luxury cars is on the decline

david nganga

July 17, 2017 11:22 AM

Sales of car brands such as Jaguar and Porsche has significantly dropped over the past year.

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The number of Kenyans buying luxury cars has gone down in the past one year if data provided by the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) is anything to go by.

The statistics reveal that sales of new luxury cars in Kenya dropped 10.6 per cent in the first half of the year.

High-end cars such as Porsche and Mercedes experienced a decline in sales to stand at 118 units in the period compared to 132 a year earlier.

Additionally, the total sales in the new vehicle market dropped 19.8 per cent to 5,738 units in the same period.

The significant drop in sales of these vehicles is attributed to tighter credits, uncertainty over the upcoming general election and business slowdown.

“Banks are not lending as easily as they used to and the elections have also inspired a wait-and-see attitude,” noted a luxury car dealer.

The data noted that there was an overall drop in sales of all luxury cars save for BMW and Mercedes Benz whose sales rose 144.4 and 21.8 per cent respectively to stand at 22 and 39 units.

At 58.8 per cent, sales of Jaguar experienced the most decline followed by Jeep GrandCherokee’s 50 per cent to four units.

Porsche orders fell 43.3 per cent to 17 units while those of Land Rover dropped 19.4 per cent to 29 units.

Key players in the luxury car segment are betting on new models, competitive pricing and enhanced service and warranties to woo the rich and middle class clients in a market that is facing competition owing to the entry of more players.

One of those entrants is transport firm Multiple Group, who were appointed the local dealer of luxury car brand Bentley.

david nganga