The Kenyan government plans to gradually tighten the age limit for imported vehicles, with the goal of completely banning the import of used cars by 2030. This policy has sparked strong opposition from used car dealers. According to the new proposal, Kenya plans to lower the age limit for imported used cars from the current 8 years to 5 years by 2027, further reduce it to 3 years by 2029, and ultimately achieve zero imports by 2030. Through the platform of the Kenya Automobile importers Association (CIAK), local dealers have expressed clear opposition to the above plan. Dealers point out that the production capacity of local assembly plants is far from meeting market demand, and there is currently a significant gap between production capacity and the level required to replace the used car market. Data shows that Kenya's annual demand for light vehicles exceeds 100000, and local assembly can only meet 30% of this demand. Specifically, the country's annual assembly capacity (mainly relying on imported fully assembled parts) is about 30000 vehicles, and the overall installation capacity is about 46000 vehicles, which still has a significant gap compared to the actual demand.
