Category Archives: Kenya motoring

Chevrolet Tembea Kenya – Part II

The Chevrolet TrailBlazer that is being used to support for the Tembea Kenya Maina Kageni Road Trip Tour is a 2015 model new vehicle, that General Motors is showcasing around the country. In line with the current Chevrolet theme of finding new roads, the Trail Blazer caravan has been to many places likes Lamu, Lukenya, Amboseli, Nyeri, Baringo and Nakuru.

And while new highways and roads are built around Kenya, the reality is that there are many parts of the country still unpaved and road maintenance is poor as it’s only done every few years. This means that drivers often encounter potholes, mud, wet roads, and high bumps in Nairobi and other towns all the time, and a tough vehicle with a high clearance is ideal.

Chevrolet is a strong brand worldwide for GM which remains the USA’s largest automaker with 18% in 2015. In Kenya, General Motors East Africa (GMEA), was started in 1975 as a joint venture between the Government of Kenya and General Motors Company, and is one that is currently 18% owned by Centum, and which is a leading exporter of new vehicles to countries in the greater East Africa region.

And while in Kenya it seems that every other car is a Toyota, GMEA is actually the leading supplier of new vehicles into the Kenya market with about 6,700 new units (33%) supplied in 2015. GMEA assembles, markets and sells Chevrolet, Opel and Isuzu vehicles and parts in Kenya and the Eastern Africa region. In Kenya, their Isuzu brand is strong, dominating the bus, truck, and pickup market, but they don’t want to rest on their laurels – hence the introduction of the Chevrolet Trailblazer in the growing SUV category.

The 2.8-litre diesel, automatic model Chevrolet Trailblazer used in the Tembea Kenya campaign retails for about Kshs 5.1 million ($50,000) [but can be had for much less for embassies and government offices who don’t have to pay Kenya’s hefty new vehicle taxes].

The Trail Blazer is available in 8 different colours and has 7 seats spread over three rows. Some of the nice features it has include individual overhead lights & A/C setting for each row, side steps, leather seats, a rearview view camera with parking assist (useful at Nairobi malls), anti-theft / immobilizer system, a touch screen infotainment system that links to the phones via Bluetooth or USB, multiple, charging ports, steering wheel controls, and two setting of four-wheels drive (4WD) that the driver can adjust by simply twisting a knob.

The TrailBlazers come with a 5-year service plan or over the first 90,000 kilometers which is virtually the life of a typical car owner in Kenya. Servicing is set for every 15,000 kilometers, and owners also have the comfort of a warranty and roadside assistance over the first 120,000 kilometres.

Last week, GMEA signed a deal with Kenya’s leading asset financier, NIC Bank, to enable buyers of Chevrolet and Isuzu vehicles to get up to 95%, at an interest rate if 15.5% which can be repaid over 6 years. This promotion lasts till the end of March 2016 and is available at all GMEA locations across the country.

Chevrolet Tembea Kenya – Part I

Tourism in Kenya has taken a beating over the last few years, so the Kenya Tourism Board has launched several #TembeaKenya (i.e. visit Kenya) campaigns to promote domestic tourism.

Last Friday, saw the start of the Malindi leg of the Magical Kenya Maina Kageni Road Trip Tour, which is one of the promotions to highlight local tourist attractions. Through this one, the popular radio host has visited several counties in a caravan of Chevrolet TrailBlazer vehicles provided by General Motors – East Africa (GMEA) and fueled by Shell fuel (Vivo Energy).

Emali stop over

The drive to Malindi (and Watamu) started at the GM Nairobi office at about 4 a.m. and the fleet of Chevrolet SUV’s took off on the dark highway towards Mombasa. The early start was to avoid the heavy traffic along the highway, and we met the first signs of that a half-hour later at the Machakos turnoff which was full of trucks parked on both sides of the highway. The first stop was at a petrol station in Emali town at 530 a.m. for refreshments.

Soon after, as the sun rose, we had the first view of the construction of the standard gauge railway (SGR). However, on the road trip, you don’t see as much of the new railway as you do when you are on the RVR Mombasa train. But we still saw two trains on the new railway, with another near Voi town where the highway is adjacent to the new highway for several kilometers.

Overtaking trucks near SGR at Voi

We stopped in Mbuinzau for some drone shots and to wait for some late-starting vehicles. This part of the country was very green with fields of banana and maize on different sides of dry river beds. The many small towns we passed through had empty stalls which would likely be busier later with sellers and buyers on the roadside.

We stopped at Mtito Andei for almost two hours. This is the traditional mid-point stop between Nairobi and Mombasa, and also the turn-off point for many visitors who would then proceed to either Tsavo East or Tsavo West national parks which have many lodges like Kilaguni, Ngulia, Voyager, Finch Hattons and Severin.

We then continued at a rapid pace, overtaking lots of trucks that sped on the highway in the daytime as well as late night and the caravan made good time at speeds of about 120 kilometers an hour.

There are few road signs on the highway to know which town you’re passing, and sometimes they’re confusing e.g in Mackinnon town, where there’s a bridge being built for the new railway to pass over the road, there’s a sign that says “86 kilometers to Mombasa” next to another one that says “96 kilometers to Mombasa”. This also used to be the first point where you’d spot a coconut tree, but it seems coconut trees are now being grown further away from the coast, to the north-west around Lake Victoria and even near Mount Kenya, where you can find a coconut farm in Meru.

It’s now much warmer here and the roadside was dotted with local produce like paw paws, charcoal sacks of charcoal, and sisal.

Taru diversion

After that, we passed the first stretch of bad road after Mackinnon. This is the road under construction with two diversions on both sides of Taru, a mushrooming town with lots of buildings right next to the road. The road is narrow, with bumps, many trucks to overtake as well as impatient drivers. There should be ample space for traffic to pass on the highway, but if there’s any blockage, or it rains, or drivers overlap, then the highway can still easily get blocked.

This happened in October and November last year, and local leaders expressed concern when there were highway delays of several hours that inconvenienced motorists, food supplies and tourist movements.

Hersi FB map bypass to North Coast

The delays at places like Taru, Mariakani and Likoni got so bad in December, ahead of the busy tourism season, that Mohammed Hersi, who’s the chairman of the Kenya Coast Tourism Association and a veteran hotelier (unofficial ambassador for Mombasa tourism) posted several maps on Facebook of alternate routes that tourists could use to access parts of the South and North coast and avoid these choke points.

We took one of these, turning off at Mariakani about 35 kilometers from Mombasa to proceed toward Kilifi. There’s poor signage marking the turnoff, and we asked for directions and were told to use the bypass and avoid the main highway which had much more traffic, even now.

Kilifi bypass

The bypass was very smooth, and we made good time on it. It has no lane marking, no signs or bumps, and there kids running next to the road which had many fast stretches.

It went very well but for the last 12 kilometers to the Takaungu turnoff on the Kilifi highway, which have not been tarmacked. The rough road stretch was okay for the cars, and there was no need to deploy Chevrolet four-wheel drive, but that will probably be a necessity in a few month’s time when the long rains start, and also on the main highway around Taru unless the contractor is able to complete his work.

The driver of one Chevrolet TrailBlazer who had earlier made two side-trips around Mtito was a bit worried about his remaining fuel, but the car computer calculated that, even though the fuel light was now on, the car could still do another 80 kilometers and he was able to arrive in Malindi without making a fuel stop.

We had started at Nairobi at almost 4 a.m. and got to Malindi at 3:30 PM, completing the 570-kilometer journey in about 9 hours (after excluding the 2 hours of stops).

The Total Motor Show 2011 in Nairobi

The Total Motor show took place this last weekend in Nairobi (Friday 9th to Sunday, September 11, 2011). It was interesting as usual, but this time it was at KICC unlike the last one that was at the Ngong Racecourse. With the weaker shilling, and higher petrol prices, there was a noted change in some vehicle prices and more companies offering more efficient vehicle management solutions.

Some notable moments:

Companies like CMC (Ford, Jaguar, Volkswagen) and Toyota did not display prices, but it was a shock to hear that a Toyota Corolla 1.8, cost Kshs 3.3M ($36,000) which is about three times the price people pay for used import models.

Public Service Vehicles: Companies like General Motors have their Isuzu’s ready to ride on the Government’s plans for larger PSV vehicles and they had a pimped out matatu – the NPR that costs Kshs 4M ($43,000), and an Isuzu FRR model (Used by many Citi Hoppa’s operators and which costs Kshs 5.8M ($63,000) and a 62- seat bus that was Kshs 9.4M

Trucks: These were a plenty, but the trucking “king of the road” is the Mercedes Actros; new models of these can be bought via D.T. Dobie at a cost of €93,500 (~Kshs 12.2 million) and each order is customized to the buyer’s requirements before it is built. The popular Mitsubishi FH215 is Kshs. 5.1M

Luxury: Head to head in the luxury department were BMW (from Simba Colt) and perennial market leader Mercedes (from DT Dobie) who had a range of cars, priced with and without duty/tax (an option for diplomat’s, Government and NGO buyers). BMW had the X3 at €60,000 )Kshs 7.8M) while Mercedes had the ML350 for €110,000 (kshs 14.3M). BMW had the 3-series for €47,000 (~Kshs. 6.1M) while the C200 Mercedes was €60,000 (or €34,000 duty free), and BMW also had the 5-series on show for €60,000 while Mercedes had the E200 for €78,000 (~Kshs 10.1M) or duty free for €48,000 (~Kshs 6.25M)

Pick-Up/SUV: DT Dobie has the Nissan NP 200, launched at the 2009 motor show at Kshs 1.2 million, but which now costs Kshs 1.87 million and CMC had a new Volkswagen pickup that was not priced. Mitsubishi had an L200 double cab at Kshs 4.1 million, an update of the popular Pajero at Kshs 6.5 million, while Mahindra had pickups ranging between Kshs 2.4 – 2.9 million.

With rising fuel-prices, fuel saving solutions on offer include Stoic (touting to save up to 40% on fuel prices) and Fuel max (sold by Kiprin Enterprises – and enticing with savings of up to 50%). Other energy savers were Solar-powered lanterns called Total Sola from sponsor Total. Better driving solutions were offered by Glen Edmunds driving school for defensive driving while Scania had one for long distance truck drivers that are purported to save 6 litres per 100 kilometers driven (from the current average of 40 litres over 100 kilometers) and which also brings better tyre and break wear

Other: Toyota also sell Yamaha motor bikes including a 106CC model which comes with a free helmet, reflect jacket, registration and one year warranty (or 6,000 km)

Car Tracking: Companies included Rivercross tracking (who also install a fuel monitor that warns when truck drivers may be selling diesel from their trucks) as were other companies like Retriever, and Cyber Trace.

Online Classifieds: Car buyers and sellers had cheki and dealfish (which is free for buyers & sellers)

Banks: Banks in the auto finance sector were represented at the show including NIC, KCB, Equity, Imperial, Co-Op, Chase and CFCStanbic. Co-op have PSV financing (aimed at Sacco’s) and school bus financing (unique application requirement are board of governor approval and minutes, and ID, fees structure of school.

Apprentice: A motor show surprise was a twitter conversation with @karuoro and @mediamk on the prevalence of former D.T. Dobie mechanics who are specialists in Mercedes.

– @bankelele: I know about 3 garages run by ex-DT Dobie mechs (it’s like a badge of honour)
– @mediamk: those mechs are amazing, I wish this was the case across different industries (as) apprenticeship is a good way to grow an industry.
– @karuoro: “The industry leader is obliged to be a net supplier of talent to the industry” – Linus Gitahi (@LGTwits) …I think quite a number are licensees.

The D T Dobie apprenticeship mechanic program is open to all Kenyans, male & female, who are less than 22 years and obtained KCSE C+ in English physics and mathematics. Though subsidized it will cost Kshs 50,000 ($550)per year for three years after which staff will be bonded for 3 years. They also accept self-sponsored applicants who will pay Kshs 140,000, and the application deadline is 30 April 2012.

Motoring Moment: Thika Road, Commuter Trains

Discovering Thika road: Took a road trip up Thika Road to hang with the Kuweni Serious crew last weekend. Chinese contractors are converting the road into a super highway and the dramatic transformation (follow Thika Road blog ) has plenty of soil hills, deep valleys, closed roads, missing roundabouts etc. It was a fun trip, but as it is said every day, don’t drive on Thika Road if you’re a stranger, or it’s dark, or the road is wet.

The journey is made more dangerous by Matatu’s and some road regulars who make their way anywhere they see fit – by driving in the wrong land, making U-turns in traffic, over-lapping patient motorists etc.

The highway defies belief, and when it’s done it will probably need other roads to be closed off or expanded. e.g Outer Ring Road and a bypass to Mombasa Road. The large volumes of traffic need to enter and exit cleanly and without delay otherwise there will be more situations like the one at Riverside Drive and (current) Museum Hill Roundabout where traffic waiting to enter these smaller roads spills over backwards onto the large highway causing more jams.

The on-going rains make it more difficult and with all the un-drained water, some cars are probably washed daily only to end up covered in red mud. For users of public vehicles, the rains mean added journey times and increased fares on Matauts.

More Commuter Trains: However there is some relief for commuters who live along Thika Road since Rift Valley Railways (RVR) has upped the number of daily consumer trains in Nairobi from 8 to 18 which collectively serve Kahawa, Dandora, Embakasi, Ruiru, Kikuyu, and Kitengela/Athi River

The addition of the early morning trains has slashed some commuters’ fares by almost 2/3 e.g. some Embakasi residents who take the train paying Kshs 30/- per trip compared to the previous Kshs 70 – 100 per trip by Matatu. Also, the train is more dependable, and takes 25 minutes to complete the journey, unlike driving in a car or matatu, which usually takes over an hour in ‘rush hour’.

Ultimately having dependable train travel may lessen the burden on the roads (fewer Vitz card) and while there is talk of having a train to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, it is not a government priority or feasible in the short to medium term.

Commuter trains aside, the reason that the concessionaire, Egypt’s Citadel (operating as Kenya Uganda Railway Holdings) invested was for cargo and the train transport while significantly cheaper than the Kshs 120,000 ($1,500) to transport a container by lorry from Mombasa to Nairobi ($3,600 for Mombasa to Kampala) needs to emphasize this aspect and demonstrate more reliability to business owners. This will relieve the burden on the roads.

Oil Shipment: As the international price of oil is expected to go up owing to instability in the Middle East, in Kenya there is a small dispute between oil companies led by Shell and Kenol pitted against NOCK – National Oil Corporation (NOCK), a Kenya government state agency that imported the latest shipment of diesel on behalf of all the oil companies. After some postponed arrival delays, and tales of missing phantom ships [MT Volga, MT Adden, MT Ratna Sheruti, MT Ratan Namrata], which resulted in a partial cancelation by Shell, a shipment finally arrived on March 1.

However that did not put the matter to rest since NOCK has announced that they would bill the oil companies using the higher March prices instead of the February price. And where is the diesel? NOCK says it has all been sold, but the other oil companies say they have not bought it, and won’t be buying it owing to the higher price being demanded.

Fuel Relief: Some slight relief for motorists comes from Kenol who have discounted the price of petrol and diesel by 2 shillings on Tuesdays and Fridays – so petrol today costs about Kshs 100 (~$5.30/gallon) under Deal Poa promotion, and for holders of Kenol corporate fuel cards, they enjoy a 2 shilling discount every day, which doubles to Kshs 4 on Tuesday and Friday

In Car Beverage: My current in-car beverage is Nestea iced tea that you can make in a supermarket. How? (i) Buy a Kshs 20 Nestea satchet (ii) Buy a one litre bottled water for Kshs 40 – 60 (any brand) (iii) pour the sachet contents in the bottle & shake (iv) you have a litre of iced tea for less than $1.

Motoring Moment: Ugly Cars, Overlappers, Thika Road

Overlappers are one of the most irritating nuisances of driving on Nairobi. Over-lappers are drivers who are too impatient to wait their turn in traffic, so they swerve into the lane for oncoming traffic or onto pavements & footpaths, and speed away, only to nudge/cut-in/force/beg for their way back into their assigned lane when they run out of road or meet another car. The habit is believed to have started with Matatu (minibus) drivers who used to be acknowledged as the worst drivers in Nairobi, but has spread to other including ordinary drivers, taxis, buses, governments & diplomatic vehicles.

So we’ve started a new site – Overlap.co.ke ( #overlapKE ) – to rank serial over-lappers and point out over-lapping hot-spots for over-lapping . The police may not be anywhere or have an interest in the reckless road behaviour of some motorists, but there are ordinary motorist who are fed up with the impunity that is symbolized by over-lapping and can send in reports to identity the worst offenders.

Car Use Verification: Odometer tampering is suspected to be a not rare occurrence employed to increase the value or enable the importation of the 5 to 8 cars brought in to Kenya from Japan, Singapore, and Dubai.

However for vehicles shipped from Japan, @Karuoro of Huduma Bora points to the JEVIC(Japanese Vehicle Inspection) site which wary drivers can use to confirm the details of the vehicle they are about to buy, including identification/serial numbers and odometer readings at the time they left Japan.

Road Rage incidents are thankfully still only isolated incidents despite, the build up of traffic gridlock. The use of Police Officers to control traffic is both praised and loathed in different measure. – and a few weeks ago, a truck driver got involved in a major fist fight (longer than several boxing matches) with a traffic policemen.

It was captured on camera (above), and when played on TV caused some debate with different viewers siding with the policeman and others with the driver who was later charged in court.

Thika Road: It’s transformation to a super-highway courtesy of engineers from China continues, and they are changing the landscape from Nairobi to Thika – going by the changes at Museum Hill, University of Nairobi, and Globe roundabout. You can follow the changes with this useful Thika Road Blog.

Ugly Cars: via @diasporadical comes two lists of ugly cars that may be less desirable than the controversial Toyota Vitz which is equally loved and loathed around Nairobi. My (least) favorite, it’s the Toyota Will V1, of which there a few around Nairobi, but this odd shaped car does not appear to have an (too embarassed?) manufacturer’s badge.

Bankelele

Nairobi writer on Banking, Finance, Technology, and Investments