Marathon Motors, established in 2009, is the leading importer of Hyundai brand cars into Ethiopia. Recently, after extensive talks and collaboration with Hyundai Korea,
the importer opened a car assembly plant in the country with an investment of half a billion birr. The first cars rolled off the line in October 2018. Even though production has been relatively slow so far, the plant has a full
production capacity of 36 cars a day.
Hyundai and Marathon are making cars available to the Ethiopian market that have been specifically engineered for the country’s climate, altitude and driving conditions, without compromising safety features. However, Marathon’s journey to building the plant, and indeed the whole company, has not been an easy one. Their path has been dogged by issues of electricity provision, government support and foreign currency shortages, as have many businesses in the country. The Company’s founding CEO & Managing Director, Melkamu Assefa, discusses the decade journey of the company and the brand he represents.( Read the PDF Version)