Mobius, maker of low-priced SUVs for startups, to shutdown

Mobius Motors, a Kenya-based automaker backed by Playfair Capital, has entered a voluntary liquidation after efforts to rescue the company for nearly one year failed. Mobius has been struggling to settle suppliers and pay salaries as debts from its operations rise.

“At a meeting of the shareholders held on 5 August 2024, it was resolved to place the company under liquidation as per Section 393(1) (b) of the Insolvency Act and appoint KVSK Sastry as the liquidator to wind up the company,” Nicolas Guibert, Mobius director, said in a notice.

Kenya’s Insolvency Act 2015, allows companies to wind up if the board resolves “by special resolution that it be liquidated voluntarily.”

Mobius, which raised $56 million across five rounds, manufactured low-priced SUVs targeting SMEs in infrastructure, agribusiness and supplies operating in remote areas, and needed vehicles that could withstand rough terrains.

Founded in 2009 by Joel Jackson, a British national, while working in Kenya, Mobius pioneered a stripped-down SUV model “built for African roads” in 2014. The first model cost $10,000 (KES1.3 million), below the market prices of standard SUVs in Kenya.

The startup built 50 units of its first model.  It released Mobius II and Mobius III in 2018 and 2021 respectively, as successors of the first model, but failed to capture the Kenyan car market flooded with second-hand imports from the UK, Japan and other Asian countries.

The company’s production was tied to pre-orders with a refundable deposit of $384 (KES50,000), which could mean the uptake of its models was low in the market.

Mobius began mass production in 2015 after getting the backing of Playfair Capital, a UK-based VC. It also received funding from Chandaria Industries, a Kenyan-based manufacturer, DFC, a US government development corporation and PanAfrican Investment, a private investment firm.