Kenya is a Toyota country where the car in front is most likely to be a Toyota.
Nairobi lasses call jamaas who drive Toyotas ‘Katoyo,” a derogatory way of meaning they’re kawaida blokes.
David Magee’s How Toyota Became Number One recounts the extraordinary rise of the world’s leading auto maker.
Magee discovered that lean production, the philosophy of ‘Kaizen’ (a system of perpetual improvement where waste is minimised systematically) and ‘Genchi Genbutsu’ (belief in practical experience over theoretical knowledge) are what made Toyota a global success, dating back to Kiichiro Toyoda who founded Toyota in 1937.
But there was a time in Kenya when the car in front was a Datsun, or the ubiquitous Peugeot; whose saloon type was used as a family car and the station wagon as a long-distance matatu.
The rise of what Okuyus called ‘Fijoti’ began with Nick Nowicki and Paddy Cliff winning the East African Safari Rally in a Peugeot 404 in 1963.
The car that won the rally became very popular back in the day, and Bert Shankland and Chris Rothwell’s two back-to-back victories from 1966 and Nowicki and Cliff reclaiming lost glory in 1968 in a Peugeot, cemented the car’s image as the indomitable tarmac lion.
Indeed, the Peugeot later became the number one getaway car during bank robberies executed by notorious crooks Daniel Gachui and Nicholas ‘Wakinyonga’ in the 1970s.
The last driver to win the safari rally in this make was Jean-Pierre Nicolas in a Peugeot 504 V6 Coupe in 1978.
Less than 10 years later, Toyota’s ascent began with Bjorn Waldegard and Hans Thorszelius winning the 1984 Marboro Safari Rally in a Toyota Celica TCT, ending the era of the ‘Fijoti’ which remained a long-distance ‘matatu’ popularised by ‘Wepesi’ plying the Western route in 1990s Kenya.
