Lumiti Khabuchi

NAIROBI, KENYA – Motor vehicle manufacturer General Motors East Africa's (GMEA) last year registered a growth in its market share from 19.5 percent to 20.1 percent despite a global recession that also affected the industry.

Announcing the performance, the company's President for Africa Edgar Lourencon expressed optimism of further growth for GMEA which is expected to record more sales volumes this year, especially in the area of public transport.

"We will be launching our new 33 and 37 seater-Isuzu buses in the middle of this year. These vehicles are in line with the Public Service Transport reforms which are currently underway in Kenya and also a demand from customers for higher occupancy vehicles," said Mr Lourencon.

GMEA assembles Isuzu commercial vehicles and buses at its Nairobi-based East African plant.

This announcement came even as the parent company, GM, remained positive on its growth prospects on the African continent. While Africa also suffered the effects of the global recession last year, Mr Lourencon said he expects the market to bottom out by the third quarter of 2010. He said sales are showing improvement in markets like South Africa where the downturn started sooner than the rest of Africa.

"We are confident that the market will not deteriorate any further," he said adding that this year, they would be looking to strengthen the sales volumes and market share positions in most of the African markets they operate in.