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SBM Bank Kenya will lend buyers up to 95% of the price of a new Jetour sport utility vehicle under a partnership with Global Motors Centre, the Chinese carmaker’s official distributor in Kenya.
The deal, signed on Monday, October 26, at the Jetour showroom in Nairobi, means a buyer would put down as little as 5% of the purchase price and repay the rest over up to 72 months.
Which models are covered
The financing applies to four Jetour models sold in Kenya: the Dashing, the X70 Plus, the T2 and the T1. The bank is bundling the loans with comprehensive motor insurance, and it will also finance the insurance premium so buyers do not have to pay it upfront.
The offer is open to individuals, professionals, business owners and companies buying personal vehicles or adding to their fleets.
“By offering up to 95 per cent financing alongside integrated bancassurance, we are removing major financial hurdles for professionals, business owners and corporate entities, enabling them to upgrade their fleets or personal vehicles under highly flexible terms,” said Eric Wambua, SBM Bank Kenya’s director of corporate and institutional banking.
Abdallah Zubedi, a director at Global Motors Centre, said tying vehicle sales to financing and insurance would let Kenyans “acquire new vehicles seamlessly, affordably, and fully supported by reliable financing and insurance structures from day one.”
Chinese brands gain ground
The partnership comes as Chinese makes push into a market long dominated by Japanese brands and imported used cars. Industry figures cited by the two companies put the Chinese share of reported new-vehicle sales at 7.46%, up from 0.49% five years ago.
New-vehicle sales rose 12.2% year on year between January and April 2026, helped by cheaper credit after eight straight cuts to the Central Bank Rate, which now stands at 8.75%.
Still, the second-hand market remains far larger. Kenya sells an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 imported used vehicles a month, most of them Japanese models brought in through Mombasa. Buyers weighing that route can compare duty on common models in our guide to KRA import taxes on popular Japanese cars, or see how to import a car from Japan to Kenya.
What buyers should check
A 95% loan cuts the deposit, but it does not make the car cheaper. The total cost will depend on the interest rate the bank charges, arrangement fees, the insurance premium and how long the loan runs. A six-year term lowers each monthly payment but adds to the interest paid overall, and the car will lose value faster than a long loan is paid down. Neither company has published the interest rate on the facility.
For businesses, the deal offers a way to add vehicles without tying up working capital, which matters at a time when many firms are absorbing higher costs. A recent Central Bank survey found that two in three Kenyan firms paid more for inputs in the third quarter.
SBM’s asset-finance push
Asset finance is a key part of SBM Bank Kenya’s growth plan. The lender, a unit of Mauritius-based SBM Holdings, more than doubled its pretax profit to KSh911m in the nine months to September 30, 2026, from KSh411m a year earlier, as we reported earlier this month.
Total income rose 33% to KSh5.44bn and customer deposits grew 29% to KSh97.3bn. Bad loans remain a weak spot, with non-performing loans at 16.9% of the book.
Customers interested in the offer can visit the Jetour showroom or an SBM branch. Our list of SBM Bank branches in Nairobi and their contacts has addresses and phone numbers.
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