After 13 years of ambition and struggle, Mobius Motors Kenya is shutting down amid overwhelming debts and a fierce tax battle with the Kenya Revenue Authority, marking a somber end to its pioneering journey in the automotive industry.
Shareholders on Monday, August 5, 2024, resolved to liquidate the company, with Nicolas Guibert, a Mobius director, confirming KVSK Sastry’s appointment as the liquidator to manage the wind-up process.
“At a meeting of the shareholders held on August 5, 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,” Guibert said in a public notice.
The company also invited its creditors to a meeting to vote on whether to approve the shareholder’s nominee as the liquidator, as required by section 408 of the Insolvency Act.
“Notice is hereby given that a meeting of creditors will be held on August 15 at 9 am at Mobius Factory … to consider, and if thought fit, to pass a resolution approving the shareholder’s nominee as the liquidator of the company,” the notice added.
While Mobius Motors did not disclose the reasons behind the move, the company has been struggling with rising debts and a heated tax dispute with the KRA.
In 2018, KRA moved to demand Sh85.74 million from the Kenyan company related to capital received from its parent company between January 2014 and December 2016.
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The company appealed the claim to the Tax Appeals Tribunal, warning that paying that sum would lead to its collapse, but lost the case.
Mobius’s financial statements at the time showed that as of the end of August 2020, the company had a debt pile of Sh649.2 million and a shareholders’ deficit of Sh389.1 million.
Founded in 2011 by British entrepreneur Joel Jackson, Mobius designs, manufactures and sells vehicles built for the African mass market.
The company’s first model, the Mobius II, debuted in Kenya in 2015.
The no-frills SUV, priced at Sh1.3 million (about $13,000), was designed for the modest budgets of customers and cost roughly half as much as an imported second-hand SUV.
In 2019, the company released the next-generation Mobius II with extra features, followed by the Mobius III in 2021, which was priced at Sh3.9 million.
The Mobius III features a 4-cylinder, a 2000cc engine. It includes a 6-speed automatic transmission, 4-wheel drive, power steering, and safety features such as dual airbags.
The company, backed by Britain’s Playfair Capital, hoped to edge out SUV imports from Japan while still appealing to customers seeking both style and functionality.
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