France’s PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars, has signed a deal with the Kenyan government to open a vehicle assembly plant in Kenya this year.
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and France’s Economy and Finance Minister Michel Sapin signed the deal on Saturday at the State House in Nairobi. The facility will primarily assemble the Peugeot 508 and 30008 models in Nairobi, Kenya. PSA will build the facility in collaboration with Kenya’s URYSIA limited, which is the importer and distributor for the Peugeot brand in Kenya since 2010.
President Kenyatta said that the $11 million investment by PSA Group comes at a time when Kenya is focused on industrializing its economy through such investments.
“My government has worked so hard to make our nation the region’s hub for investment and industry. We have worked to remove barriers to Kenyan investors, who want to invest in their own country. The investment signed today by the Peugeot Group to locally assemble motor vehicles in our country at a plant which will be announced in due course is most welcome,” President Kenyatta said.
“It will create thousands of jobs we need for our young people; it will teach them new skills; and it will hasten the growth of associated industries,” the President added.
According to a press release on PSA Group’s website, the assembly project is expected to begin in June 2017 with an annual volume of over 1,000 units in order to meet the expectations of the Kenyan market.