General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa sales volumes continue to grow

The General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa (GMSSA) region sales volumes for the first six months of 2012 continue to show solid year on year growth.

"When taking a look at the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year, the Sub-Saharan Africa region's sales between January and June 2012 grew by an outstanding 58%," said Rita Kavashe, Exports Director for General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa and Managing Director of General Motors East Africa Operations.

Kavashe said all three Sub-Saharan Africa sub-regions showed outstanding growth in their particular markets over the first six months, as well.

"The Sub-Saharan Africa left hand drive markets, which includes countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Senegal, among others, showing the highest growth rate for the region, with sales nearly doubling in size, growing 92% when compared to the sales figures between January and June 2011," she said.

Kavashe said the top performing products in the left hand drive markets include the Chevrolet Cruze, Sonic and Spark.

"The recently introduced Chevrolet N300, which replaces the N200 series, has also proven extremely popular in the left hand drive markets, where it is currently available in the seven-seater passenger model, the N300 Move, and the Cargo Van configuration known as the N300 Max," she said.

Kavashe said General Motors also showed significant growth in the South East Africa right hand drive markets, which includes Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe, among others.
Sales for January to June 2012 grew by 49% in this sub-region compared to the same period last year.

"Key products in the South East Africa right hand drive markets  include the Isuzu Pickup as well as the Chevrolet Cruze and Aveo," she said.

Kavashe said the General Motors East Africa sub-region, which includes countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, grew by 26%, specifically showing growth in demand for both the Isuzu Pickup and Isuzu buses.  

"This has been attributed to large infrastructure projects taking place in the region, as well as the Kenyan government's current phasing out of 14 seater minibus taxis popularly known as ‘matatus'." she said.

Kavashe attributed the growth to continued efforts by GMSSA to increase the vehicle range in the Chevrolet stable across the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

We have been actively launching new products across the continent, introducing vehicles such as the  Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback in Angola, the Aveo Automatic launch in Ghana and the Chevrolet Spark and Utility in Zimbabwe, to name but a few," she said.

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