Car manufacturer Toyota has begun assembling vehicles in Kenya, in a move intended to stabilise the company as the bus and truck market leader, and help steal market dominance.

The launch of Kenya-based assembly sees Toyota take on rival General Motors East Africa which currently holds the largest share of the Kenyan new truck and bus market.

“There is a huge market as about half of the Kenyan motor vehicle market is commercial, mainly made up of pick-ups, trucks and buses,” Naoki Takeuchi, managing director of Toyota Kenya said according to Business Daily.

“According to our line of schedule, we expect the first unit to come out on February 19,” he added.

The Toyota vehicles are now being manufactured in Mombasa, at the Associated Vehicle Assemblers plant, and vehicles will be produced under the Hino range – as the Toyota subsidiary tests Kenya as its inaugural African market.

The company will at first aim to have an output of 40 vehicles per month; 30 trucks and 10 buses, with the long-term goal of doubling this production over the coming year in the hope of becoming the main supplier of vehicles to the East African region.

Toyota has been pushed down in terms of market ranking over the past two years, as government plans to eliminate mini-bus taxis – known as matatus – negatively affected sales growth for the company.

As such, in rankings for 2012, Toyota had managed to claw back 24 percent of the market in Kenya, while General Motors lead – largely thanks to its Isuzu model trucks and buses – with 27 percent of the market share.

Toyota’s move to focus on the truck and bus market means direct competition for General Motors as Toyota attempts to steal the sector thus far dominated by the dominant rival.

Kenyan-based vehicle manufacturers currently operate out of the country’s three manufacturing plants, namely, Associated Vehicle Assemblers, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers and General Motors East Africa – the company having a bespoke assembly plant.