TVs Motors begin assembly of motorcycles in Kenya

Indian 2 & 3 wheeler maker TVs Motors has just begun production at its assembly plant in Kenya, after concluding trial production of its star city motor cycle in the newly set up assembly unit.The star city is the first TVs motorcycle to be assembled in Kenya. While TVs Motors has already been selling its motorcycle and three wheeler in the Kenyan two wheeler market for the past decade or so.

Currently, TVS Motors's market share in the Kenyan two wheeler market stands at 27%, a figure that it hopes to boost to 40%, with the commencement of assembly operations. Notably, TVS Motors is the second Indian two wheeler major to set up an assembly facility at Kenya. Weeks ago, Hero MotoCorp made an announcement about its factory in Kenya, a market in which sells a wide range of motorcycles, from the entry level commuter Dawn to the premium Karizma. 

TVS Motors has tied up with Car & General, Nairobi, for the distribution of its two wheelers in Kenya, while Abson Motors, Mombasa, will handle distribution duties of TVS three wheelers in the African nation. In Kenya, TVS's motorcycles are sold and serviced through a 75+ dealer network and a 300 strong after sales service network, respectively. TVS has trained 2,500 mechanics to service its motorcycles sold in the Kenyan market. 

In the next couple of quarters, the company plans to launch two new products in Kenya. The Indian two wheeler major is looking outward to boost volumes even as its marketshare in the Indian market has been dipping steadily. TVS had tied up with BMW Motarrad to build high end sportsbikes in the sub-500cc category. The first crop of the TVS-BMW motorcycles are expected to be ready for launch in the next couple of years.

Both companies will sell the new range of jointly developed motorcycles under their respective brand names and distribution set-ups. For the Indian two wheeler market, TVS Motors will launch six new products including a three wheeler by the end of 2014. These products will not include those developed under the TVS-BMW collaboration. Both scooters and motorcycles will be among the five new two wheelers that TVS plans to launch in the next 18 months

Source: team-bhp

Buying used cars in Kenya

There are two types of used cars in Kenya, the ones that have been locally used and those that have been used abroad. Used cars especially those imported from Japan are becoming increasingly popular by Kenyans across the board. Hundreds of thousands of used cars are shipped into Kenya through the port of Mombasa from Japan and other parts of the world like the UK every month. Kenyans rush to motor dealership centers that the major car manufactures have set in Kenya. As a matter of fact used cars in Kenya make up well over 90% of all cars on Kenyan roads. Therefore it is important to learn a few tricks in order to go for the best deal.

Challenges in buying used cars in Kenya

Buying used cars in Kenya poses quite a number of challenges. This is absolutely true for cars that have been used locally. The greatest challenge is determining the mechanical soundness of the car. Unless you take the car to a qualified mechanic, most people cannot be able to detect by their own whether the used car has any serious mechanical problem. Mechanical issues such as slow engine knocks, engine mixing oil with water, leaks and many others can only be detected by an expert.

Where to look for used cars

Where exactly do you go searching for a used car for sale in Kenya? Well, this question may seem pretty straight-forward until you actually step out to look for one. Most people find it convenient to search for used cars online. This is one of the easiest and fastest ways of checking out various alternatives of cars. However, this is also fraught with challenges as conmen also use the same media to swindle people of their hard-earned cash. Additionally, some vehicles may look really good on picture even though they are beaten out in reality.

Another way is to visit used car yards which specialize in used cars for sale in Kenya. There are hundreds of cars spread across Nairobi selling both used imports and locally used cars. Most of these yards are located along Ngong Road, Mombasa road, Kiambu road and Thika road. Used car yards provide variety of cars where the owner can view the car physically. However, sometimes one has to take real long walks before finding a unit that meets their taste and budgetary limitations.

Talk to friends. Friends who have successfully purchased clean used cars for sale in Kenya before can prove really useful as they can advise you on most likely places to find the car you desire. If they purchased the used car from a car dealership and nothing has gone wrong, then probably you should begin by talking to that particular dealership.

Necessary due diligence when buying used cars

What due diligence must you undertake before buying a used car for sale in Kenya? Before you purchase any used car for sale in Kenya, you must carry out the necessary due diligence to ascertain the ownership of the car, the mechanical road-worthiness as well as conformity of engine and chasis numbers to the ones registered at KRA.

 The following steps may be useful before buying a used car for sale in Kenya:

 Have a qualified mechanic check out the car

Conduct a KRA search and cross-check the details on the logbook against what is in KRA and the car

If there is a reasonable level of doubt, take the car for verification at flying squad

Know the owner and obtain information on their location, contact details and possibly their place of work

Are used cars in Mombasa the cheapest

 Most people hold the belief that used cars for sale in Mombasa are the cheapest compared to other used cars for sale in the rest of Kenya. This is true only for used imports but not for locally used cars. Mombasa boasts hundreds of used car yards that deal only with imported used cars in Kenya and this explains why the prices are lower. However, for locally used cars, prices are somewhat similar to Nairobi and the rest of the country. 

Different types of cars

There are so many different types of cars out there that could be so confusing when deciding which one to buy. Do you need a full size SUV or a crossover, and what the heck is the difference between the two? Read on to understand the difference between the two.

Convertible

Any car with its roof retractable is a convertible. Sometimes these are cloth tops but other times they could be hardtops.

Coupe

This is a  type of a car with full size doors, a fixed rooftop rather than a convertible top, a trunk and no lift or tail gate. They are relatively smaller than sedans and typically have a small back seat. Coupe are sportier cousins to sedans.

Sedan

If you add two more doors to a coupe you will have a sedan. Their back seats can accommodate 2-3 people and come in a variety of sizes. Smaller sedans are great for those people who don’t need a huge back seat or truck while large sedans are good for families.

Some manufacturers confuse and call their sedans coupe, but for those of you who don’t spend their entire life in a marketing department, cars with four doors are called sedans.

Hatchbacks

Hatchbacks were all the rage in the 1980s, but quickly went out of favor. They’re back — in a big way, even from luxury manufacturers — but you won’t find the word “hatchback” in any of their marketing materials, because the term isn’t exactly the sexiest thing in the world.

Hatchbacks can have either two or four doors, and have a rear cargo hatch that blends into the body’s lines. They offer much better cargo volume than their sedan counterparts because of the cargo area’s flexibility, but don’t have the boxy look of a station wagon.

Station Wagon

Station wagons were once the favorite family vehicle. Crossovers are often doing the job today, but there are still wagons on the road. Wagons are closely related to their four-door sedan cousins, offering five-passenger comfort, along with a liftgate and a cargo area that opens into the passenger area.

Wagons generally have drivelines that mirror the availability of coupes and sedans in the same line: front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive.

 Minivan

Minivans came along in the 1980s to fill the gap between big, body-on-frame station wagons and full-size vans. Like the crossover, they’re exclusively based on a similar car platform.

Minivans have seating for up to seven people, and now treat the rear seat passengers as well as those riding up front, with separate temperature controls, media options and first-class-style seating. For a while the minivan market was stagnant, but in recent years, manufacturers have upped their game, providing every amenity a luxury car offers, plus an on-board vacuum to clean up Cheerio spills.

Van

Quietly, the van market has completely transformed in the last half-decade. Before 2010, van manufacturers were essentially selling the same body-on-frame trucks that they did in the 1970s, mostly to contractors and church groups looking to haul 15 people without much consideration for fuel efficiency, package efficiency or ease of use.

As car manufacturers have become more global, though, the van market has changed completely. New models of vans have arrived in Kenya that have been sold in Africa for years, that are not only more fuel efficient, but are easier to drive and easier to work with than their ladder-frame, V-8-powered American counterparts.

Vans are also available in much smaller sizes than ever, allowing small businesses to zip in an out of their communities without the massive girth of the vans of the 1970s.