German carmaker Volkswagen has announced it will scale up its operation in the auto assembly of passenger vehicles in Kenya, in a partnership with a local automaker aimed at selling more cars across Eastern Africa by end of the year.

VW South Africa said in a statement it would scale up five more models there, purely driven by market demands in collaboration with local carmaker Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM), in which CFAO is a major shareholder.

Volkswagen South Africa Chief Executive Martina Biene noted that the world's biggest carmaker by numbers believed in Kenya's potential to develop "a very big fully-fledged" automotive industry.

"The East African Community has got the potential, and VWGA will make Kenya the East Africa Hub. We will deepen our investment in the region expanding from ICE, Hybrid, and electric vehicles to passenger vehicles progressively,” said Biene.

“As a responsible OEM, we will invest in recycling, vocational training, deepen localization, create green jobs, and ensure we are growing sustainable supply chain enterprises.”

After meeting VW executives in Nairobi on Tuesday, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said: "I am happy to welcome back the Volkswagen Group, currently the largest car manufacturer in the world, back to Kenya."

Mudavadi said that Kenya was keen to industrialize as a country and acknowledged the role auto manufacturers play in realizing an industrialization strategy. Kenya is open for business.