TOTAL KENYA MOTORSHOW 2011 THE BEST BY SMILES!

The Total Kenya Motorshow 2011 was a resounding success – all the stands were fully booked, the quality
of displays hit a new high, and attendance over the three days almost doubled to 17,000.

And, best of all, the event broke all known records for…smiles!

Exhibitors were delighted at the new elegance of the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the efficiency
of KMI's organization, and the enthusiastic turn-out of spectators – many of whom were serious buyers.
Spectators thrilled to the motoring banquet laid out before them – from the sleekest dream machines to the toughest workhorse trucks and everything in between – all immaculately presented on spot lit stages of deep pile carpet or in outdoor action tableaux.

Here was the complete motoring smorgasbord – every shape and size of vehicle, all the accessories and
services that support them, fact-packed information videos, salesmen on hand to answer every question
– all together in the space of a relaxed stroll. Convenient, Comfortable. A peerless chance to see it all,
to touch, to try, to compare one with another, whether just to behold or whether to bargain and buy.

If the star of the show was measured by eye-popping surprise and the number of photos taken (with friends
on the bonnet) or fingerprints left behind, it was CMC's Jaguar XK V12 – an aristocrat of muscle cars; a
package of poise and power to make the novice's jaw drop and the connoisseur's soul tingle. Even the
latest HSE Range-Rover parked right beside it looked, well, meek, alongside such force and grace.

But if the Jag turned your head once, there was lots to turn it again, for only a few paces away were the
limousines of Mercedes Benz and BMW, the all conquering Toyotas, stylish Fords and Mitsubishi's. GM's
Chevrolet in a pastiche of the brand's 100-year history and – standing as elegantly and prestigiously as any
other, and winning the event's Gold award – Subaru's Tribeca, Legacy, Outback and Forester.

Gold award winners in other zones included Foton trucks, Gud Filters, NIC Bank, Pirelli and DT Dobie
(Nissan pick-ups and SUVs). Silver awards went to Toyota EA (twice), Ganatra, Cica Motors, Auto
Assured, Amity and Oriel. Bronze honours went to DT Dobie (Mercedes), Tata, Cheki, Diamond Trust,
Dealfish and Leighton. Show chairman Nawaz Popat noted that even stands which did not win awards
were of universally high quality – "standards have never been higher".

Below the Plenary Hall centerpiece was an Aladdin's cave of parts and accessories, and outside between
ranks of flags and amid gardens and fountains there was nothing less than a festival of fascination – complete
with a marching band, a food court the size of a football field, and a fun park for children.

The displays ranged from buses and trucks and earth-moving equipment to 4WDs, pick-ups, motorcycles
and tyres, many displayed in their real-life action settings. Among those was a cornucopia of service systems
from vehicle tracking to road rescue and advanced driving lessons, banking and insurance, and garage
equipment. A feast indeed.

Among many highlights was the array of increasingly stylish, luxurious and high-performance double cabs,
which also serve to illustrate how important seeing all the options in one place can be: there was Toyota's
Hilux, Nissan's Navaro, Mahiundra's Scorpio, multiple options from Ford, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, JMC, and
Tata,…at no other time or place can buyers compare them so fully and readily, see their similarities, judge
their qualities, assess the nuances of difference in their specifications…and prices!

That was the heart of Total Kenya's message: they back the show precisely to give motorists this unique service and perspective.

This was the 11th Total Kenya Motorshow, which started at the KICC in 1993 and ran there until 2005 before two experimental "outdoor" events with lots of action at the Nairobi Racecourse in 2007 and 2009. The show was welcomed "back home" this year by the new management of KICC, and on the experience and results of 2011, that combination now looks good to run and run.

The event was officially opened by Minister for Transport Hon Amos Kimunya, who noted that the formal
motor sector was the essential foundation of any national road transport system. He said recent years of
challenging competition from used imports had made the formal sector stronger, and pledged future policy
balances to ensure fair competition and profitable investment in the formal sector so Kenyans individually
and the Kenya economy as a whole could enjoy the new-vehicle benefits of superior technology,
performance, safety, reliability, durability, fuel economy and exhaust purity.

The success of the show underlines that Kenya's motorists value quality and high standards and, in every
sector, should be defended from anything less. The bargain basement has its merits, but in addition to –
not instead of – options which are better and the best.

TOTAL MOTORSHOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED

All stands at the Total Motorshow at the KICC, from September 9- 11 was fully booked. Once again the show was by far the biggest motor exhibition in East and Central Africa, featuring some 30 makes and more than 200 different models of cars, SUVs, 4x4s, motorcycles, pick-ups trucks and buses, and a full array of auto components, accessories and services

There was also  a non-stop schedule of action events. The show was organized by the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) and sponsored by Total Kenya.

Exhibitors included, Toyota Kenya, D.T. Dobie, CMC, Oriel, Mahindra, Pirelli, Bavaria Auto, General Motors, Hyundai, Subaru Kenya, Simba Colt, Tata Africa, Transafrica Motors, Foton EA, CICA, Farmtrac, Crown Berger, Auto Assured, Amity Equipment, Glen Edmunds Performance Driving School, Gud Filters, Sameer Africa, Cybertrace, Dealfish, Kenya Grange, KCB, Equity Bank, Car Track, NIC, Ace Autocentre, CFC/ Stanbic Bank, Transport & Lifting, Chase Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, Romageco, Imperial Bank, Bank of Africa, Rivercross, Cheki Kenya, S3-Auto Services, Retriever, Stoic, Gathani, Sherwin Williams, Uni-filters, Yamaha and Total Kenya,

Show Chairman Nawaz Popat said "our aim is always to showcase the quality and diversity of Kenya's motor industry, and to offer the most comprehensive one-stop-shop for both commercial operators and private buyers."

The first day, a Friday, was a corporate and media day, with a serious business focus and at the weekend the emphasis was on private motorists and families. Buyers were able to see and compare every new vehicle on the Kenya market with plenty of refreshments and entertainment.

The Total Kenya Motorshow has maintained its position as the biggest auto event in middle Africa. Despite the spectre of global recession the 2009 edition at Nairobi's Ngong Racecourse had more stands, more action and more spectators than ever! All the biggest names in the market were on display, featuring the latest models of every class of motor vehicle from little motorbikes to giant trucks, with supporting accessories, components and back-up services arrayed in 70 "showroom" stands.

There was a non-stop timetable of action events ranging from bulldozers literally moving the earth to aerobatics proving the sky is not the limit. There were stunt driving demonstrations, 4WDs tackling an obstacle course while firefighters bombarded them from high ladders, motorcycle scramblers leaping their machines over yumps, all to the stirring strains of marching bands and the thumping rhythm of rock groups on the central stage.

Spectators flock to the show in ever greater numbers – over the 3 days of this year's event some 18,500 visitors came for the action attractions, for the chance to see every make and model on the market side by side, to get behind the wheel in test drives, to talk to technicians, negotiate special show prices…and there were half-a-dozen banks exhibiting right on the spot to help them clinch the deals.

Total's formula of displays and action delivers not only a one-stop shop for business bargains but also a family fun day. More than 2,000 children came through the turnstyles and – depending on their age - thrilled to swoops and loops of aircraft, the roar of motorsports action, and the feel of the wheel of the cars of their present dreams…and future purchases. For the very young there were bouncy castles and other entertainments, and even a fully supervised crèche.

At the official opening, show chairman Nawaz Popat said: "In a year when the promotional budgets of motor companies were likely to be very tight, the viability and value of the motorshow had to be seriously reassessed. We are here today because that assessment showed Kenya's motor industry to be committed and determined to uphold its services and standards no matter how tough the times, and showed the motorshow to be a vitally important link with the motoring public – it would not be the first thing to go in a cost-cutting year, but the last!"

Naresh Leekha, chairman of the Kenya Motor Industry Association which co-hosts the event, said: "One of the reasons Kenya's motor industry can be so positive, even in the most difficult economic times, is because we have had a lot of practice. For us, a little thing like a global credit crunch does not make conditions much more difficult than they have always been. It is when we have a year that is NOT tough that there will be something to talk about."

He added: "As you consider the value to you of the products you see here today, keep
one corner of your mind open to the very many and very large values to Kenya's
entire road transport economy, and investment, and jobs, and taxes, and skills,
and overall social and standards development, that this thing called 'the formal
sector' and 'the motor industry' represents."

Total's Corporate Affairs manager Maurice Kanjejo said: "Kenya is very blessed to have a strong commercial environment that is resilient enough to ride a global economic storm. It is something very special in this region, and Total has both contributed to, and benefited from, its development and strength. We hope to continue to both give and gain, and to continue to work in Kenya, with Kenya, and for Kenya, for many years to come."

Describing the market as a "commercial forest", he added: "The formal sector always plants (with investment) before it cuts. And it always ensures that it continues to plant and nurture – with jobs and skills and standards and taxes – more than it harvests in profits. Kenya's very special commercial environment has taken as long to grow as a big tree. It has borne much fruit. It is valuable but also vulnerable…if we allow it to be attacked by the "chain saw" of short-term opportunists who wish to harvest without planting, who wish to plunder the market, chop down the trees, without a care for the rules of sustainability – who disregard the importance of brand and franchise integrity, of quality standards, of safety, of social welfare, of fair competition…

"We look forward to seeing long-term investment principles and standards being championed by government policy, and uncompromisingly enforced. If that is done, then this show is a symbol of the environment that will result." The attendance figures at the Total Kenya Motorshow are not great in world terms; Kenya, after all, contains just 0.1% of all the vehicles in the world and represents just 0.02% of the global new vehicle market each year. But for a show in a market with annual new vehicle sales of 10,000 to attract a crowd of 18,500 is – proportionately - like a show in London or Paris attracting more than two million visitors.

Show director Gavin Bennett said: "Exhibitions are more than just showcases and customer catchments – they provide a really convenient one-stop-shop service to consumers, they lay long-term foundations of brand image and awareness, and they are a great symbol to the wider world of a country's dynamism and investment climate. The scale and quality and popularity of the KMI-Total Kenya Motorshow, its prestige and regional preeminence, is not just a sales promotion – it is a national promotion."

TOTAL MOTORSHOW 2007

Nairobi once again staged the largest motor expo in middle Africa – with an unprecedented level of displays and action events. The Total Kenya Motorshow held from September 7-9, at Ngong Racecourse, was organised through the Kenya Motor Industry Association (KMI) and featured every leading motor company and related service in the Kenya market, and several international exhibitors. The action programme included everything from aerobatics to golf, from stunt driving to marching bands, and from extreme 4WD demos to dancers. There was even brewing of some bio-diesel…using fruit and veg. And a live pop group.

There was a hole-digging race involving heavy-earth-moving equipment. And in holes on a slightly smaller scale, 2,007 indigenous trees were planted by the sponsor's Eco Challenge Programme. Visitors also joined in. In the huge array of motor company stands, several new models were launched with the legendary Hummer and Subaru's B9 Tribeca among them. The new attractions owed much to the new venue.

The motorshow venue completely avoided the tangle of city centre. It was at the Ngong Racecourse, mid-way between Dagoretti Corner ("The Junction") and Karen Shopping Centre ("The Crossroads") There were clear signs on the main road. Just turning in and driving straight on through the main gates and You were there.

Exhibitors' and officials' cars were well accommodated in three tiers of parking well inside the grounds, leaving the huge main carpark (on the left) completely clear (and free!) for spectators. If that filled up, there was an even bigger overspill area in the middle of the racecourse, accessed directly through the main car park. You simply could not fail to find a place, within a few strides of the turnstiles.

The exhibits were spread throughout the Racecourse Complex, on the lawns, between the trees, in the parade ring, and in the wide expanses in front of the main Grandstand and the Gold and Silver Rings. The whole area was about 100 metres wide and nearly a kilometre long, so there was plenty to see.

There were full public catering facilities to suit every taste, including a central  Food Court offering Indian, Mediterranean and Vegetarian cuisine, snacks as simple as sausage and chips, and a there was a posher restaurant for those who fancy executive dining. In addition, title sponsors Total  demonstrated their Bonjour Shops and refreshments in very practical ways at both ends of the display area – in the parade ring and out on the 4WD demonstration course.

Slap bang in front of the main Grandstand there was a "spotlight" circle, which was the focal point of all announcements, ceremonies and a regular parade of special product features brought in from the surrounding stands. Seating in the Grandstand was also an ideal vantage point for overlooking the show and enjoying the periodical Marching Band displays.

At the far end of all the exhibits, in an area known as the Bull Ring, the organizers set up a 4WD demonstration course including steep climbs and descents, tricky traverses, clambering over rocks and through mudholes, and a trundle through a forest. Throughout the show the major motor companies demonstrated the off-road ability of their vehicles in a cycle of ride-and-drive (or just watch) displays.

From time to time the earth-moving equipment will intervene and turn a "difficult" 4WD course into something impassable…nearly. Then the pros stepped in and showed what 4x4 drivers with real bush experience can get their vehicles to do. And if you thought that's wild, wait till you saw the monsters of the Rhino Charge in action.