Daimler Trucks Asia and its Kenyan partners Simba Colt and AVA (Associated Vehicles Assemblers) have begun CKD production of the all-new Fuso range at the AVA assembly plant in Mombasa, Kenya.

The kits for the Fuso trucks are now imported from Japan. Previously the complete vehicles of the new Fuso 2523C heavy-duty truck were imported from India. 

Speaking at the celebratory function, Marc Llistosella, president and CEO of MFTBC and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, said: “This start of production in Kenya underlines our commitment to further developing the African market as part of our global growth strategy. It also marks another significant development of Daimler’s business on the continent just weeks after the grand opening of the Daimler’s regional center in Nairobi, which brings us closer to our commercial vehicle customers in East, Central and West Africa.”

Erich Nesselhauf, managing director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, added: “We have been successfully exporting completely built-up, all-new Fuso vehicles from India for almost three years – and now we enter the next stage with the assembly of vehicles in Africa, for Africa.”

The project to add the Fuso 2523C heavy-duty truck to the AVA assembly plant’s portfolio was completed in a record time of only five months. Further models from the range will be added subsequently.

Simba Colt Motors has been a partner with Fuso for 48 years, making it one of the oldest general distributor relationships in the Daimler group worldwide. AVA has been the partner for the assembly of Fuso products imported from Japan since 1982.