For all his shortcomings when it comes to fashion and style, President Uhuru Kenyatta has established himself in the public consciousness as a consummate car enthusiast with a taste for burly,  muscular, high-performance machines designed to tackle the roughest of terrains anywhere in the world.

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He has flirted variously with the overhyped Range Rover and the iconic Japanese-made Land Cruiser 200, commonly known as the Land Cruiser V8, as if uncertain which one to adopt as his official ride, an obsession that has fundamentally changed the character of the presidential motorcade as Kenyans have known it.

In fact, his presidency has been a theatre in which the two brands have engaged in a vicious, full-blooded civil war and the Land Cruiser V8 appears to be winning.

The Land Cruiser 200 is a massive car, weighing about 2.7 tonnes with a bold front grille, boasting mind-blowing off-road capabilities thanks to its 4.5-litre V8 engine.

What's more, it is equipped with a high-end digital camera to keep its driver visually informed, not to mention its all-leather upholstery.

It the priciest vehicle in the Toyota line up, going for about 14 million Kenyan Shillings according to estimates.

The Land Cruiser that Uhuru rides in could be pricier as it has additional security features to keep the head of state safe and shield him from an attack.

As soon as he assumed the reins of presidential power, President Uhuru Kenyatta made no effort to hide his contempt for the Mercedes Benz, a German-made machine which has over the years enjoyed the limelight as the official getaway car of the Kenyan head of state and come to symbolise the presidency.

Car enthusiasts who have observed presidential motorcades since Kenya gained independence contend that the Uhuru presidency was the beginning of a vicious onslaught on the Benz.

To them, the German machine is undergoing a slow but sure purge and it is just a matter of time before the presidential motorcade is dominated by the Land Cruisers.

His predecessors, Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki rode on the wheels of the Benz for the duration of their presidential tenures.

Mr. Kenyatta has in the course of his presidency sought to project himself to the Kenyan as an energetic and tech-savvy presidency and his embrace of the Land Cruiser V8 is seen by many as part of his efforts to change the character of the presidency.

And what a better car to choose than the V8 to do that.

When the history of Kenya's presidential motorcades is written, the name of Uhuru Kenyatta will feature prominently as one who took the presidential motorcade by the scruff of the neck and brought it to the modern age.