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General Motors East Africa (GMEA) Tuesday, launched a Grand Sale offering spare parts for Chevrolet, Hummer, Opel and Isuzu vehicles in a move that seeks to increase use of genuine spare parts in a market flooded with counterfeits.
Speaking at the GM Assembly Plant, GMEA Managing Director Rita Kavashe said the latest initiative is aimed at safeguarding the market with the hope it gets access to genuine spare parts.
“According to our research, only 23 per cent of service parts sold in the market are genuine. This means that 77 per cent of the market operates in a grey area characterized by non-genuine, counterfeits and second hand parts. Our Grand Sale starting this Friday aims at encouraging the use of genuine spare parts,” said Rita.
Also read: Car dealers blame death toll on fake auto parts
The number of road accidents on the roads are mainly blamed on counterfeit spare parts which cause failures in vehicles. This is a significant aspect as the end of year festive season begins and an increase in road travel is expected. She also added that counterfeit dealers rob the KRA of tax revenue.
“Counterfeit spare parts pose serious danger to road users. Statistics indicate that over the years, counterfeit parts have contributed to failures and breakdowns of vehicles in ways which sometimes, have resulted in road fatalities.
It is also estimated that billions are lost annually to the counterfeiting menace because perpetrators pay little or no tax, revenue, which could be used to grow the economy by going to the exchequer,” she said.