According to the various sources on the internets
It all started when MO1 came back from somewhere abroad and ordered UON to
"Make a car no matter how slow or ugly"
For the 80s, the cars weren't that bad looking and at a top speed of 120kph, not that slow either
They used to go on speed runs from Nairobi all the way to Sultan Hamud averaging near top speeds
However just like any other engineering prototype they all had teething problems, but these would eventually be ironed out.
A corporation called NMC (Nyayo Motor Corp) was formed and funds and investors started being sourced to build circa 11 factories and other mambo jambo .... and therefore go commercial.
But I think the death blow came mostly because of 3 things:-
- Fall of Communism/Soviet Russia and its influence in the region meant that western funding to this island of capitalism in East Africa would go minimal.
- Pressure for the country to go fully democratic saw all political backing turn their concentration "elsewhere"
- Parliament at the time consisted of near zero professionals... except for lawyers who even today will have a hard time computing the benefits of industrialization. The info will simply go in thru one ear and out other.
- Disorganization
In the end, like a Star that goes Out With A Whimper to become a white dwarf, the Nyayo Motor Corp became
Numerical Machining Complex Ltd located at
Kenya Railways Central Workshops.
The current NMC also serves as the "main?" reseller of Autocad products in Kenya
The five cars are parked at the NMC workshops. I'm not sure whether they are available for public view.
Here are some links
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Good judgement comes from Experience.
Most of that comes from Bad Judgement.
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