Dongfeng vehicles from China arrive in Kenya with local EV assembly

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2026

Dongfeng Motor, a Chinese automaker, has started preparing to build its first electric cars in Kenya.

The automaker, which has its headquarters in Wuhan, Hubei province, has been producing ICE light commercial vehicles and pick-ups at its Nairobi location, but it has now entered the electric vehicle competition that is propelling Kenya to the top of the climatech map.

In partnership with Associated Vehicle Assemblers Ltd. (AVA), a car assembly company based in Mombasa, and ePureMotion, a Kenyan electric vehicle technology company, Dongfeng will manufacture the automobiles.

AVA was founded in the tourist city of Mombasa in Miritini, and it currently assembles 67 different ICE car models from 21 OEMs across nine nations. Among them are FUSO, Mahindra, Toyota, Scania, and Proton.

In addition to lowering the cost of conducting business with battery electric vehicles (BEVs), ePureMotion is well recognized for selling EVs to the general public and leasing them to taxi operators. Additionally, it creates and distributes charging stations for its customers.

Global EV manufacturers like Dongfeng are avoiding the high cost of establishing their own plants by partnering with car assembly companies like AVA and electric vehicle technology companies like ePure.