Nairobi News

Anyone interested in the newly unveiled Eliud Kipchoge 1:59 Limited Edition Isuzu D-Max will fork out atleast Sh9million to purchase this vehicle which comes with a whole range of new structural and system additions.

The top of the range vehicle, in honour of the world’s greatest marathoner of all time, Eliud Kipchoge, was unveiled on Thursday in Nairobi.

During the launch, in which sat an audience of 159 people, Mr Kevin Ochieng, the Marketing and New Markets Officer, Isuzu East Africa, said the new limited edition D-Max truck has four personas intertwined into one, the first persona being Eliud Kipchoge himself. Kenyans’ personas took the second while the unlimited audience took third place. The fourth persona was the D-Max vehicle itself.

The normal D-Max trucks retail at an average price of between Sh3.6million and Sh4.5million while the 2023 model retails for between Sh5.3million and Sh5.6million.

So here is why the limited edition of the vehicle will be so much expensive.

According to Mr Ochieng, the limited edition D-Max will come with an array of new additions tailor made to celebrate Kipchoge and mirror his personality. The limited edition truck will come in Isuzu’s iconic desert orange color which will only be available for the Kipchoge edition. It will also spot the Kenyan flag on its grills as a nod to Kenyans and matte black rims borrowed from the black in the Kenyan flag.

The truck will have five of Eliud Kipchoge’s personas as well as logos associated with him around the truck including his signature and the 1:59 time he clocked in unofficially breaking a world record by completing a marathon in under two hours.

In the interior, owners of the vehicle will find Kipchoge’s signature on the rocker door panels just before the enter the vehicle as well as on the back of the center console. On the mats, drivers will be able to spot Kipchoge’s name on the top left and since the first vehicle will belong to Kipchoge, the mat will be engraved Kipchoge 001. Subsequent buyers will have the mats serialized and engraved with 002-059.

Onto the vehicle specs, the limited edition D-Max truck will now come with an Intelligent Driver Assist System that will “help the driver and machine become one.” In this system, the driving and the driver experience will be synchronized. According to Mr Ochieng, in the event that a driver needs to engage emergency breaks, the vehicle will autonomously do it and the driver will not skid or come to a break next to another road user.

Additionally, the new truck will be able to see obstacles in front of the driver and via the Forward Collusion Obstacle Alert, the vehicle will alert the driver to exercise caution. The vehicle will tell the driver how to proceed or it will automatically do it itself.

Thirdly, the vehicle will come with Misacceleration Mitigation in which the vehicle will alert the driver of inputting the wrong commands such as putting it into drive (when there is a wall in front of the parking spot) instead of reversing. The car will not move until the driver inputs the correct gear.

Mr Ochieng also revealed that the limited edition truck will also come with an Adaptive Autocruise Control system in which the vehicle will ensure that the speed in which it is driven matches up to the vehicle being driven in front of it. It will either automatically increase of decrease its speed while in traffic.

The truck will also come with lane assist feature. This is the Electric Steering Control System which will warn and alert a driver to go back into the correct lane when he veers off. Additionally, the truck will also have automatic adjustable headlamps in which the vehicle will adjust the brightness or dimness of the head lamps in relation to time of day, weather and oncoming traffic. The vehicle also has a Blind Spot Monitor System which will alert the driver that there is an obstacle next to it such as a boda boda.

Eliud Kipchoge has been Isuzu East Africa’s brand ambassador since 2017, and they have awarded him vehicles on different occasions such as when he broke a world marathon in 2018.

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