Category Archives: Kenya motoring

Twitter Week: January 7

Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter in a top 5 format covering traffic and restaurant woes

5. Raring for the World Cup in South Africa: – ESPN to broadcast 2010 world cup in 3D http (via Business pundit)
– Thinking of driving to world cup in SA? AA of Kenya offer (i) car passport (ii) international driver license (iii) COMESA insurance; r/t @bugzville58 good idea you should though Kampala bus is also offering a trip for about 800 dollars one way.

4. Traffic in Nairobi was Good and then Bad: – Nairobi should remain like this: no traffic, or queues and faster bandwidth. Lets close Thika & Nakuru roads and #devolve the rest to shags

– Back to 5 day week and a matatu strike in Kenya to kick off 2010; ying yang: Nairobi public transit strike means booming business for taxis (good luck getting one this evening); r/t @tmsruge I was in the CBD today. All streets were a parking lot. No point taking either as you won’t get anywhere. #footing works best! ; Roads not so bad out of town 30min stationary then 10 min cruise home #matatustrike
– R/t @MoSande KE Matatus call off nationwide strike after PM promises to address their grievances. Normal service to resume immediately
– @inexes and i hear someone may be ending Mombasa vacation this evening #nairobitraffic; @karuoro someone just flew in from Mombasa holiday

3. Odds and ends: – From Nairobi Star: statehouse complains about Lucy worst dressed rank, while Atwoli is scandalized–says his peers in 150 wool class are Moi & Kirubi
– The Tamarind Group has taken over the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden Restaurant, which is renamed Tamambo KBCG
– Repeat of ‘House of cards’ showing on CNBC Africa. Documentary should be done on Nairobi or Nigeria shares bull run and bust
– Books first have buy pizza in happy hour, get one free. But also charge Kshs. 100 for take away pizza cartons – why?

2. Safaricom mandatory SIM registration, and costly 3G: – Via @kahenya solutions to improving mobile competition in #Kenya, and break #Safaricom domination of #3G http://tinyurl.com/y8bs9cl
– via @kainvestor #Safaricom forcing new users to register their sim cards, which can’t be activated unless registered with an ID ->safcom=Gok r/t @LarryMadowo Its now a legal requirement for ALL SIM card holders to be registered & #Safaricom move is only the 1st step but @LarryMadowo @kainvestor Safaricom already has 1/2 their subscriber details from m-pesa accounts
– Can’t find a reliable #zain #zap money transfer agent in Kenya? Try the local post office or #posta (via #introverted blog post)
– Consumers getting unhappy about #Safaricom #internet bundle costs http://tinyurl.com/yzxjt25 but they rarely leave @archermishale the word is out, be careful how you use expensive Safaricom data bundles – are they billing on supa ongea tariff?

1 It’s 2010: Happy New Year: Against sound advice, went out and got served a crap lunch. Remember waiters & kitchen staff are working, not celebrating the holidays
– Best food prayer I’ve heard ‘. . Also for the wonderful meal, bless the pockets that may have been depleted by it’
– Looking at the @KenyaBuzz year end calendar – Pole Dancing Competition at Tembo Disco Mombasa http://tinyurl.com/ya786td

Motoring Moment: Spare Parts and Bad Driving

Bad Driving today in Kenya, there is a matatu (public mini-bus) strike protesting at the new crackdown by policemen for bribes, noise pollution etc. Matatu’s get blamed for a lot of the bad & dangerous driving behaviour on Kenya roads. This used to be the case, but the bad driving trend has passed on, and you’re just as likely to see over-lapping and traffic gridlock caused by small cars (especially taxis), buses, ministers & other government VIP’s – who all over-lap traffic and engage in other risky road behaviour.

Shell Quitting BBC reports Shell petroleum will quit operation in 20 African countries disposing of refineries, storage and product sales. In 2008 Shell had already left some 15 African countries, and rumoured suitors for their assets included Oil Libya Morocco Oil in Northern Africa and Engen in southern Africa. Here in Kenya @coldtusker reckons KenolKobil would be interested if they could line up enough funding. Total of France are likely to snap up some stations after taking over Chevron, and the government will likely arm-twist a fraction of the Shell assets to go to parastatal National Oil Corp of Kenya (NOCK)

Read on Cars: also got the latest issue of AUTOnews published by the Automobile Association of Kenya – some gems in it:

In another world cup opportunity pitch, the AA of Kenya (aalicenscing@aakenmya.co.ke) is offering:
– Car Net a.k.a passport eliminates the hassle of lodging log-books or cash duty as you cross border points
– International Driver License that allows Kenyans to drive across borders
– COMESA insurance that covers Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Also, (in the issue), did you know there are 9 Kinds of Spare Parts? I thought there were just two genuine and fake, but according to the AA the 9 are:

9. Off cuts – whole chunks of cars from accidents or scrap
8. Imported used parts (also scrap from cars shipped to Kenya in mixed load containers)
7. Stolen parts (from chop shops)
6. Reconditioned parts – salvaged parts which vendors claim to have re-conditioned and tested (likely an impossible task)
5. Salvage parts – taken piece by piece from wrecked cars
4. Counterfeit parts – illegal parts branded as genuine
3. Non-originals – independent brands which copy established brands
2. Original equipment (OE) parts – independent parts approved by manufacturers
1. Genuine parts – made by vehicle manufacturers, brand new & guaranteed with warranty

Cheap Bikes are Good Business: Toyota Kenya sells Yamaha motorbikes including the kazi ngumu which costs Kshs 99,000 (~$1,320) and comes with 1-year warranty, 2 free service schedules, free registration, and a free helmet. Elsewhere in the issue, the Toyota Marketing Manager says the arrival of cheap (Chinese) bikes are boosting their (Yamaha) sales, saying low-cost brands offered an entry point, but as the motorcycle market has become established they can afford higher quality machines and turn to Yamaha for superior reliability, durability and performance…we are not worried about used imports, they are not a bad thing, certainly there are anomalies in standards and much duty evasion, but mitumba is a way for people to get started, and as they flourish they will look for better and newer products

From Twitter – the classic @roomthinker: You can buy a Toyota Vitz in 2 configurations: 128MB and 256MB #AVitzIsNotACar
– @ArcherMishale: Overheard on FB: In addition to #ToyotaFeets #Feetsubishi #Legsus, Kenyans will also be on #KNEEsanPatrol! LOL!!

– @MwaiKibaki: Kenyans should not listen to radio traffic reports. There have been no traffic jams in Nairobi since January 2003

2009 Nairobi Motor Show

The 2009 Total Kenya Motorshow was held over the weekend. Since the last motor show was held in 2007, much has changed in the motor industry, mainly the global economic downturn, Kenya electoral violence and the dip in the fortunes of car manufacturers & dealers.

Who’s missing? Kenya Revenue Authority, CMC (Ford, Land & Range Rover Mazda, VW, Audi)

who’s here?

GM Kenya the Hummer is now old news in Kenya, and the highlight of their display was a dressed up a Chevy Optra. The 1800 cc car that costs Kshs 2.46M was outfitted with a Government of Kenya Flag and made for a very elegant slap in the face of Government Ministers who have resisted giving up their fuel-guzzling Mercedes limousines that costs 3X as much. NTV reports that the Government is buying over 100 new VW Passat’s, but it will be interesting to see if the top leaders will hand over their Mercedes cars, and what will happen to the fleet afterwards.

DT Dobie: had the new E-Class Mercedes which costs EUR74k (~Kshs 8M) while the smaller C-class Kompressor cost 6.2M and the new B class costs 4.7M. Also an icon of Kenya roads, the 1200 Datsun/Nissan pickup has finally been replaced with the NP200, a 1.6 litre pickup that cost 1.2M. They are big in trucking and the award-winning Actros was on show at a cost of about Kshs. 9.9M for new trucks, which can take a few weeks to order and deliver. Many local transporters import used Actros trucks from Europe at about ½ the cost. The dealers also sell the Chrysler 300 for $72,600 (~Kshs. 5.5M)

Toyota Kenya Toyota is the most popular car in Kenya, and they often advertise the slogan the car in front of you is always a Toyota They had the Land cruiser VX cost Kshs. 12M, but the diplomats, local NGO’s and donor groups can have it for 7.58M. Also, the popular Prado costs 5.6M, with the duty-free price is 3.74M and the hardworking Hilux double cab costs 3.69M, with a duty-free price of 2.45M

Simba Colt: the long-time dealers of Mitsubishi are now the new franchise holders for BMW of which they brought a whole range of cars; these included all diesel models of the 530D at 90,300 euros (~Kshs 9.3M) which is about 1.3m more than an E-class Mercedes favoured by the Kenya Government), X5 diesel for 100,000 euro (~10.9M) and vying for the title of new status symbol in Nairobi (currently held by range rover sport)is the (ugly?) X6 whose diesel version is 95,000 euro (~10.4M). The company also had the usual stock of Mitsubishi cars and trucks including the Fuso prime mover which costs 9.04M

Subaru: Had several cars including the Tribeca which Kshs. 6.8 million, and the 2009 Forester that costs Kshs 4.15M. Also, car owners can order Subaru spare parts by phone, pay for them by M-Pesa and have them delivered.

Dealers for Indian Car companies were there for Tata, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland. Mahindra got a bad reputation in Kenya many years ago when the police acquired some sub-standard used vehicles through political middlemen that did not last long, and that image is yet to be cleaned up. They had a double cab pickup for 2.45M. Tata had many trucks and vehicles on display, and sales guys said that the Nano will be available in two months in Kenya, at a cost of Kshs. 250,000 (~$3,300 after our hefty vehicle taxes)

Dealers for China Car companies were also present. These included Transafrica for the increasingly popular FAW, Nelion (whose Beiben truck closely resembles a Mercedes Actros) and Abson Motors. You see many Chinese trucks on the road these days, mostly working on government building projects being done by Chinese road construction companies. -FAW prime movers cost about 5.9M, and are increasingly popular with transport companies because of their manual features (not too heavy on the electronics, computerization of the Euro trucks), while the company also had a new pick up truck, the admiral, which costs 1.4M

Auto accessory companies these included lots of anti-theft/car tracking (rivercress, stoic) companies, fleet management (AFMS), driving schools (Automobile Association of Kenya, GlenEdmund), body-builders like Sai Raj who even fibreglass boats and bus builders KVM – who lamented the shortcuts that other bus (body) builders use in construction e.g. use of arc welding, which results in weak buses that are easily shredded in road accidents, leading to high casualties.

Also present in a big way was G4S – as the former security company has diversified into a whole range of services including fire fighting, ambulances, home fires safety (extinguishers blankets), training (fire safety), vehicle tracking, all to go along with their traditional 24-hour burglary response

Auto financiers present were several banks (KCB, NIC, Bank of Africa, Diamond Trust (best bank in asset finance), Stanbic) and car insurers Heritage, CIC and CFC Life (who all had very aggressive salespeople)

Related past Total motor shows from 2005 and 2007
Ref: Euro = 109 shillings, US dollar = 76 shillings, M=million kenya shillings

Motoring Moment: Bentley, Roundabouts, Crime

an occasional post about cars in Nairobi

The Boys are Back: (and some girls too) The TV nightly news have run a series of stories highlighting the re-emergence of crime in Nairobi targeted at vehicles, and not just when they are parked in unsafe spots. Thieves also wade through slow-moving traffic jams in the daytime looking to snatch handbags, cell phones from unaware motorist, or even pry loose indicator lights (which can cost Kshs. 5,000 or ~$65), external mirrors, hubcaps, or anything that meets their fancy and may fetch a price elsewhere. Because of the abundant re-sale market for car parts, Toyota and Nissan are the main vehicles targets, for indicator lights, but of late I’m also Mitsubishi’s, Subaru’s, and even a Mercedes looking like they’ve been to a motor dentist


picture taken during a replacement, not a theft

some advice
– keep windows reasonably up though its hot
– don’t have valuables in sight
– leave reasonable space between car in front (don’t tailgate)
– be aware (don’t talk on the phone in traffic)

There are also other variations in crime , including people jumping on to slow moving cars to feign being hit (and later extort drivers claiming medical expense or quick cash settlements) or even crazier crime stories like this AK47 & technical that seems to be straight out of a Mogadishu playbook.

2009 Motorshow Total (Oil) Kenya have announced that the annual Nairobi motor show will be held at the end of August 2009. (some pictures from a past show (2007)). Great, now how about Nairobi also getting back the popular Air Show that stopped about three years ago?

Strange Cars: Robert Nagila, an NTV Reporter, went and dug out an old Rolls Royce (youtube video here) owned by the City Council of Nairobi , while eagle eyed @karuoro spotted a Bentley GT (twitpic) at the Village Market over the weekend.

Round about solution: Roundabouts are not popular with many Nairobians who believe they contribute to traffic jams. I, for one, believe they are a better option for Nairobi’s inconsiderate and careless drivers. Slate magazine has an article on story on roundabouts expalining why American should build more roundabout as they are safer than intersections. They are also more applicable to Nairobi since proposals to have huge freeways & fly-overs as envisioned in Vision 2030 drawings are far fetched as there is too little land available around the built-up and clogged Nairobi roads.

Garage Sale: The Government of Kenya has proposed a cutback in ministerial Mercedes and limousines, but Mars Group Kenya are not impressed by the proposed cost-cutting & tax raising sale measures.

TrackIt Overkill

KTN have been carrying a sensational three part series on car robberies, with a focus on Track-It. This is a company that installs tracking devices in cars to trace their location if reported as stolen and enable the car to be be recovered by either the company or police

For heavily stolen cars, tracking devices are recommended for owners. Some banks and insurance companies may even insist that they are installed as part of financial contracts. Fleet owners also appreciate using the devices which can assist in fleet management and monitoring

It’s a well researches story, they even obtained a list of alleged track-it customers including three members of parliament, who volunteered for their cars to be ripped apart and checked for the devices, which were apparently not found (KTN reported they found devices in just 50% of the cars they checked)

The saga has played out in an even more sordid as the managing director of that company was recorded on camera offering to bribe the journalists with about $12,000 after admitting it was true that his company had not installed tracking devices in some cars, despite charging their owners 45,000 ~ $560. The devices are small electronic units that are hidden, so that even car thieves won’t know

KTN have led with the story three nights in a row, Nairobi, but is it overkill? urely there are more pressing matters that can be covered in the news. The car theft story has led ahead of political and other events of the day.

Car theft is not a new thing; car jacking have been covered, bus passengers are robbed or terrorized, chopped up cars are fund in agricultural fields and industrial sheds every other week. To spin this story out of three prime time nights is over kill.

Also over looked in the story, and a fact alluded to by the embattled Trackit owner is business competition in the story in the business competition. The owners of the standard/KTN may also be linked to a rival company, industry leader – Cartrack. It would be unsual to KTN to acknopwlede a corporate link, but if thers’s one it should be stated. Maybe it would have been better if another media house e.g. NTV had broken this story, but I doubt if they would have made it a three day special.

e.g. Intel recently posted a query on @twitter on which of the two companies to subscribe to. But after this story is completed and based on the behavior of the Track it boss, that company is finished.