China’s automobile conglomerate Chery Group Holdings visited Uganda last month for a business meeting with the Uganda government.
The group, led by the company vice president landed in Uganda in mid April 2025.
Top of their agenda was meeting the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, with whom a plan to build East and Central Africa’s biggest car assembly plant was discussed.
The Chery Group is China’s biggest car exporting company, with 21m exports to the world in the year 2024.
Established in the year 1997, Chery group has grown to be China’s leading center for research and development in the information, automation, and sustainability spaces.
The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja who met them alongside the leadership of the StateHouse Local Content Unit welcomed them to Uganda;
” Your coming to Uganda is an open-door cheque. The country is secure. Your money is secure. We have peace and security of both property and people.”
Further, she enticed the group with the goodies Uganda offers for Foreign Direct Investment;
“Uganda has so many investment benefits. We give you a 10yr tax holiday. We can even give you free land. Plus, you will be able to access the EAC, COMESA markets, and even the African free trade area of over 1bn people.”
Uganda is steadily picking up in the changing automobile industry with the global shift to sustainable energy.
The Electric Mobility Policy of 2019 and the 2021-31 National Electric Mobility Roadmap outlines plans to adopt electric vehicles and the development of the infrastructure to support it.
Already, the government has invested heavily in Kiira Motors company in a bid to develop local industry, and a competitive edge in innovation in the electric vehicle squere.
According to a statement from the State House Local Content Unit, Chery Group’s investment will be a shot in the arm towards job creation for Uganda’s millions of unemployed youth.
“The assembly plant will also be a source of revenue for Ugandans through the absorption of local goods and services. The other angle very important to the country is the benefit of technological and skills transfer to Ugandans, a major requirement in the local content policy.”
China’s automobile industry has caused a stir in the global market with their superior technology against established brands from Europe and the United States of America.
Africa’s most developed economies of South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya all have motor vehicle assembling as a major industrial output.
