Vehicle sales plunge as cash woes bite

Dar es Salaam. Vehicle sales nearly halved between 2015 and last year, a managing director said.

CMC Commercial Ltd managing director Antony Haji told journalists here said yesterday that cash crunch had also hit the vehicle business hard.

He cited Tanzania Motor Corporation figures as showing that sales fell from more than 5,000 units to less than 3,000 during the same period.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to sign a partnership agreement between CMC Commercial Ltd and Iveco.

The two parties agreed to run a joint international business for dealership and servicing of Iveco trucks made in Italy.

According to him, $4 million (Sh 8.8 billion) has been invested for distribution, servicing and business development of Iveco trucks in Tanzania.

$500,000 (Sh1.1 billion) of the sum has been spent on constructing an Iveco services centre.

“Although we are facing business hurdles, we are determined to invest more because we are optimistic to recover the running costs and also we think that anything can happen to brighten economic prospects as time goes on,” he said.

“We are happy to announce that Iveco customers will get vehicle maintenance services at affordable costs due to construction of service centre at Chang’ombe. We have been certified to offer dealership, importation and distribution of Italian brand of Iveco trucks.”

Already, Iveco has constructed a new motor assembly plant in Pretoria for smooth distribution of trucks in other African countries, he said.

The national commercial manager for CMC Commercial /Iveco, Mr Mike Raath, hopes the trucks services centre will reduce costs of moving huge cargo and facilitate construction projects.

The new partnership will also increase competitive strength of CMC Commercial Ltd in vehicle trading against Chinese and Indian dealers because Iveco products minimise fuel costs, according Mr Raath.