Chinese trucks present threat to Britain’s traditional export markets

With no real automotive manufacturing of its own, Africa has long been an open market for exporters. The British excel at supplying viable African markets with older vehicles to the point that supply from the UK is now under threat. Many exporters have said there are fewer trucks to send.

Competition is on the up. In 2010 Chinese truck manufacturers stepped up their presence in Africa, with Sinotruk entering the Kenyan market taking a competitively priced truck into what is a growing commercial market.

This was followed by fellow Chinese truck manufacturer Foton, which switched from importing pre-built vehicles to setting up an assembly plant in Nairobi. It can churn out 10,000 units of prime movers, tippers, buses, pick-ups, and light commercial trucks a year.

This puts it head-to-head with new-builds from Mercedes, Iveco, Mitsubishi and Nissan, and last year Foton announced plans to open another assembly plant in Uganda.

We Europeans like to extol the virtues of build quality, reliability and comfort; qualities the Chinese products are often accused of lacking. Yet it could be volume and price that win this contest.

China has pumped billions into the African infrastructure, and one key area has been transport. It stands to reason that the Chinese will want something to show for it.