Skip to main content

Volkswagen launches mobility solution in Rwanda

Volkswagen has launched its mobility solution in Rwanda in a bid to expand its reach in Africa's automotive industry. The package includes a car-sharing service, ride hailing service and a local vehicle assembly plant. The car-sharing service will mainly be aimed at companies in the capital Kigali, while the ride hailing service will follow later this year. Meanwhile, the assembly plant will be used to develop the latest Polo and Passat vehicles. Volkswagen says it intends to build up to 1,000 vehicl
July 17, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
994 Volkswagen has launched its mobility solution in Rwanda in a bid to expand its reach in Africa's automotive industry. The package includes a car-sharing service, ride hailing service and a local vehicle assembly plant.


The car-sharing service will mainly be aimed at companies in the capital Kigali, while the ride hailing service will follow later this year.

Meanwhile, the assembly plant will be used to develop the latest Polo and Passat vehicles. Volkswagen says it intends to build up to 1,000 vehicles per year depending on demand and the success of the mobility fleet, with an annual production capacity of up to 5,000 units. The German automotive manufacturer is expected to spend $20m.

Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen South Africa, says the package is tailored to the region: “We intend to harness the opportunities for growth and create new opportunities.”

Volkswagen is already active in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Algeria.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ertico prepares for World Congress 2015
    December 15, 2014
    Hot on the heels of the 21st ITS World Congress in Detroit, Ertico - ITS Europe is already writing session proposals, contacting speakers and putting together the demonstration programme for the 2015 ITS World Congress. This will take place from 5-9 October in the French city of Bordeaux, one of the most advanced cities in Europe in terms of ITS adoption, and will have the theme of ‘Towards intelligent mobility – Better use of space’.
  • Kapsch says US purchase will have world-wide impact
    June 3, 2014
    Peter Ummenhofer, head of the ITS Business Unit at Kapsch TrafficCom, discusses what the recent acquisition of US ATMS specialist Transdyn will mean for the company and the ITS sector. Even a brief perusal of Kapsch’s portfolio lends credence to the company’s assertion that it is more than ‘just a tolling systems and services supplier’. Over the past few years, the company has added road safety enforcement to its offering with significant commercial vehicle operations capabilities, including weigh in motion
  • Cambridge Mobile Telematics expands in Europe
    March 8, 2023
    US firm predicts significant growth in European countries for telematics policies
  • Fasten your seatbelts: it’s going to be a bumpy ride
    June 26, 2018
    A spat has broken out between two major US transportation organisations over how best to pay for road use: the ATA says tolls are ‘fake funding’ while IBTTA has scorned ‘scare tactics and falsehoods’… Much has been made of the state of US roads: everyone agrees that funding is needed – but who should pay? And how? Chris Spear, president and CEO of American Trucking Associationsm(ATA), believes finance is facing a cliff edge: the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), historically the primary source of federal revenue