Luxury car dealer Inchcape Kenya has taken over the New Holland tractor franchise from CMC Holdings, marking its latest expansion and diversification move.
Inchcape says it will start offering New Holland products which include spare parts and services to customers as from August 1.
CMC announced in January that it was shutting down operations after it had steadily shed motor vehicle franchises, to focus on agricultural equipment, whose manufacturers also had to look for new distributors in the Kenyan market.
London-based Inchcape Plc entered the Kenyan market in 2018 when it acquired RMA Kenya, inheriting the latter's rights to the Jaguar Land Rover franchise and soon thereafter snapped up the BMW dealership from Simba Corp.
Inchcape entered the mass market in December 2023, when it launched passenger cars, vans and pick-up trucks of the Chinese brand Changan.
Its latest deal with New Holland marks its first entry in the agricultural equipment sector, where competing brands include Massey Ferguson, Mahindra, Ford and John Deere.
“We are proud to build on our rich legacy of over 40 years of successful partnership with New Holland in Ethiopia, as we now expand into Kenya, a market where agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economic growth and advancement of the country and its people," Francis Agbonlahor, the managing director of Inchcape Africa said in a statement.
"This appointment is a testament of the trust that New Holland has placed in Inchcape... By bringing our global and local expertise, strong customer focus, and operational excellence into the Kenyan agricultural sector, we aim to better support and serve farmers with innovative and reliable solutions.”
CMC had distributed New Holland equipment for many years through its network of branches in major towns including Eldoret and Kisumu.
Farm mechanisation is growing in Kenya, helped by the establishment of county governments that have increased their spending to boost their agricultural sectors including through buying and leasing tractors.
“We are confident that with Inchcape, we have the perfect partner to support our farmers to a new level in Kenya... we want to maintain New Holland as the number one brand in the country," Özkan Eren, the Middle East & Africa New Holland Business Director said in a statement.
"With this new partnership our ties to Kenya become even stronger. We look forward to supporting Inchcape, our new partner, in their growth, confident they will offer the best products and service to our customers in the territory.”
