Kenyan automaker Mobius Motors has announced its closure. The company’s Director, Nicolas Guibert, declared a creditors’ voluntary insolvency notice on Monday, following a stakeholder meeting earlier in the day.
Liquidation, which means ending a business and distributing its assets to creditors, occurs when a company cannot pay its debts. Guibert stated that KVSK Sastry will oversee the liquidation process.
The notice read, “At a meeting of the shareholders held on 5-Aug-2024, it was resolved to place the company under liquidation as per Section 393(1) (b) of the Insolvency Act and to appoint KVSK Sastry as the liquidator to wind up the company.”
A list of creditors and proxy forms will be available for inspection on Friday, August 9, at Mobius’s head office at the Sameer Business Park in Nairobi.
During liquidation, the company’s remaining assets are used to pay creditors and shareholders according to the priority of their claims.
Founded by British businessman Joel Jackson, Mobius Motors unveiled its first car, the Mobius I, in 2014. The compact SUV received mixed reactions from Kenyans, some criticizing its basic design despite its Ksh.1.3 million price.
Mobius Motors later introduced the Mobius II and Mobius III models, more refined yet rugged SUVs priced at Ksh.1.5 million and Ksh.3.9 million respectively, as of 2022.
Kenya’s car market, dominated by used imports from Japan, has seen efforts by the government to boost local vehicle assembly, attracting investments from global automakers like Volkswagen. However, new vehicle sales in Kenya dropped 15% last year.
Data from the Kenya Motor Industry Association indicated that 11,370 units were sold in 2023, down from 13,352 in 2022. Dealers blamed the decline on high inflation and the depreciating shilling, which increased product and production costs.
