Chinese wheels really start rolling in East Africa

Foton has already started such local production lines in Russia and India.

In the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, where import tariffs are relatively low, the fully assembled option is the most feasible.

Kenya's tariffs on vehicle imports are considered in the mid-level category, so the Foton Kenya plant will ship parts from China and assemble them locally.

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"The fully assembled car import tariff is 45 percent," Huo said, but if the company assembles locally, the tariff can be vastly reduced. "It also allows us to create jobs locally."

Foton plans to build 16 assembly plants overseas this year and another eight next year, bringing its overseas plants to 52 spanning the Middle East, Southeast Asia, North Africa and Central America.

Zhao Yufeng, assistant general manager of Foton, said Africa is a perfect export destination for China's surplus vehicle production.

"Taking commercial vehicles (trucks and pickups) as an example: the European, American, Japanese and South Korean markets are almost saturated with their own domestic products, and the Chinese market has now passed its golden growth days, so we have to find an outlet for the capacity we currently have."

China is now producing more than 1 million medium- and heavy-duty trucks a year, compared with Europe's 300,000.

Zhao predicted that China-made trucks will become increasingly popular in developing countries.

"I can imagine a world market where the heavy-duty, cab-behind-the-engine trucks (often called long-nose trucks) will be confined to the American market; Europe will continue making high-end trucks. But in South Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, and West Asia, where consumers are more price-sensitive, European products will be too expensive, and many will turn to Chinese trucks."