The plan is in line with the company’s vision of transitioning to electric mobility
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA
The Car & General company has announced plans to introduce an electric two-wheeler motorcycle and a three wheelers tuk-tuks to the market.
According to Vijay Gidoomal, the group chief executive officer said the plan was in line with the company’s vision of transitioning to electric mobility.
He said that the company is looking to start the process early with the introduction of electric two-wheeler and three wheelers set for this year and 2024. Electric tuk-tuks from the group are expected to hit the market first.
“We expect electric three wheelers to hit the Kenyan market by June as two wheelers follow later on,” said Mr Gidoomal.
The company also announced that its profit before tax for the financial year ending September 2022, dropped by 23% from Sh887.2 million to Sh679.46 million.
This was due to a number of factors including the Ukraine-Russia conflict which it said caused significant inflation, exchange rate fluctuations as well as dollar shortages and logistic challenge.
Other factors were the last year’s elections which saw a drop in profit mainly due foreign exchange losses and other logistical issues.
“The Tanzania shilling has been relatively stable, for instance. The Kenya shilling is the one which is depreciating. In 2022 we saw a devaluation of the Kenyan shilling to December, but now the reality is; we see that there will be a little bit more stability in 2023. Hedging is the only way we can reduce the devaluation of the shilling now.
“One of the reasons we couldn’t hedge was because of scarcity, what we are hoping is that if there is some stability, people will release the dollars that they are holding,” said Vijay Gidoomal.
