Tanzania 2023. Vehicle Market Still Has To Recover From The Pandemic Being Down 10.3%

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The 2025 Toyota Land Criser 250
The 2025 Toyota Land Criser 250

Tanzanian vehicles market hasn’t yet recovered and still decreasing. In 2023 sales have been 2,826 (-10.3%). The market gained momentum in 2022, after two previous negative years, but was not able to maintain this trend throughout 2023. 

Market Trend and Outlook

Tanzania’s vehicle market in 2023 lost value, being down 10.3% with YTD figures reaching 2,826 registrations. December, similarly to the whole year, lost 13.4% reaching only 175 new sales. 

Looking at cumulative data up to December 2023 brand-wise, the leader Toyota reports a 22.2% growth while holding 23.4% market share, followed by Ashok Leyland which lost 36.3%. Isuzu reports the worst performance, increasing 181,7% in yearly sales.

Medium-Term Market Trend

The new light vehicles market in Tanzania is stable in the range between the 2,000 and the 3,000 annual units, still penalized by the easy access of imported used vehicles.

In the last decade, the market performed between the lower peak of 2,035 units in 2016 and the higher of 3,314 in 2013, with 2018 at 2,258 units.  In 2019 the light vehicles market has lost 20.2%, mainly due to a very low Q4, ending the year with only 1,914 sales, the lowest level since 2010.

The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 caused the global automotive market to collapse. This being said the effects on Tanzania’s vehicle market were limited with respect to other countries. In fact in 2020 sales fell only 8.5% to 3,021.

In the following year new light vehicle registrations remained flat compared to the previous year, totaling 3,005 (-0.5%).

Sales finally grew in 2022 reaching a total of 3,153, 4.3% more than the prior year.