According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to remain one of the fastest growing regions in the world. While Africa’s economy is soaring past most regions with an annual growth of about 5% due mainly to increased agriculture production, infrastructure investment including transportation, ports and energy as well as buoyant services led by tourism, telecommunications and financial services, the continent’s middle class is expected to swell to approximately 300 million people.
Additionally, the World Bank projects private consumption in the region to remain strong in 2015-17; particularly with the continent’s burgeoning middle class looking to splurge on new passenger vehicles and for most, their first such purchase.
Last year, Africa was projected to see sales of new 2 million cars with major auto players such as Toyota, Tata Motors and General Motors looking at the continent for growth opportunities. According to Zawya, there are approximately 21.6 million passenger vehicles operating in Africa; making the continent’s nearly 1.2 billion population a very attractive prospect for global automobile manufacturers to penetrate.