(Ecofin Agency) - After a 40-year break, German car maker Volkswagen will restart assembling cars in Kenya. The Wolfsburg-based group announced on September 7 that it would establish an assembly unit in Thika (40 km North-East of Nairobi), to serve all East African nations.

The news came through the Managing Director of Volkswagen South Africa, Thomas Schafer, after meeting with Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s President.

“We believe that Kenya has got the potential to develop a very big fully-fledged automotive industry. The East African Community has got the potential, and today is the first step in this direction that we want to take with our passenger cars,” Schafer said

Kenya’s leader however indicated that the plant would initially produce Vivo models and later expand its range of production. He added that the first car should be out before the end of the year.

Volkswagen, which has assembled cars in Kenya in the 1960s and 1970s, will thus be joining Isuzu, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi, who are also in Kenya.