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Ugandan state auto firm Kiira Motors Corporation earlier mentioned that it will begin producing buses by July and aims to put out 1,030 units this year, as it moves forward to arrive in the market now served by big players like Isuzu, Man and Taata.

The east African country anticipates to ride on the publicly-owned KMC to contest with neighbours including Kenya and Rwanda to build domestic auto industries and take a hold of a share of mounting demand for new vehicles in the region.

"We have had discussions with business partners, we are now looking at 1,030 buses by the end of this year", stated KMC Chief Executive Officer Paul Isaac Musasizi.

KMC, founded out of engineering projects by students at Makerere University, has been putting efforts in researching solar, electric and other vehicle models. The bus is said to be its first commercial product.

It presently operates on a $40 million government grant, but expects to sell shares to private equity investors once production starts. The firm targets to yield products both electric and diesel-powered versions of the 47-seater Kayoola Couch bus, Musasizi stated.

When charged fully, the electric version will be able to go 300 kilometres before the battery needs a recharge.

Musasizi mentioned that they anticipated to produce 30,000 buses in total by 2030, all at a sprawling plant being accomplished in Jinja, an industrial city in Uganda's east.

Presently the bus market in the country is mostly served by the Isuzu, Scania, Man, Yutong and Taata brands. Musasizi stated KMC would endeavour to become a local manufacturing partner instead of competing with the global players.

"We are setting up a state of the art infrastructure plant here, we are attracting competitors to come and we contract-manufacture for them to assist this market and even regional markets."

Posted on : 27 Jul,2024 | News Source : ABNews