Car market in Africa: Growing and robustly

African auto market is robustly growing. Despite personal car ownership still being low, for example, 25 cars per 1,000 Kenyans compared to 786 in the United States, the market paint a very positive picture for automakers.

Suzuki is to deliver its hundreds of Alto compact cars in Kenyan capital Nairobi to drivers for ride-hailing company Uber Technologies. It has signed a loans and discount deal with the Japanese carmaker and South Africa's Stanbic Bank in early 2018.

The Alto deal in Kenya will extend to Uganda and Tanzania with offers of car financing for top-rated Uber drivers at a price of just over $8,000, lower than the usual $9000. Suzuki's strategy has propelled it from the bottom of sales tables in Kenya, where it languished for decades with emerging brands from China, to the top five. Suzuki sold 523 Altos in Kenya this year.