Civvy Street for PSV 21-tonner
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• The British firm which designed the prototype for a 3,000-vehicle order from the Pakistani army is devising a civilian version of the 21-tonner for the third world.
PSV International of Char!bury, Oxon, claims to be the only UK firm offering a full design and sourcing of components service for manufacturers in the developing world.
The nine prototypes of the 4x2 and 6x4 military trucks it has designed have been assembled by TDC Vehicle Engineering in Karachi and are cur
rently being evaluated by the Pakistani military (CM 31 January-6 February).
Now PSV is designing a civilian version, the Yasoob, which it hopes TDC will build for export, or sell in kit form to other countries. It is likely to come up with 24-tonne and 16-tonne models, similar to the military vehicle but with more GRP in the cab and a sleeper option.
"We want to design trucks for anywhere that hasn't got an industry of its own and that cannot magic foreign exchange out of a hat to buy complete vehicles from abroad," says PSV director Jim Boswell. "We're looking at South America, Africa, the Far East and China."
PSV sources components for its designs from the major manufacturers. The Yasoob prototypes include Cummins and Caterpillar engines, GKN and Rockwell axles and Eaton and ZF gearboxes. The Pakistani military will ultimately choose the permutation it wants.
"Eventually we hope to produce off-the-shelf designs," says Boswell, a former engineering director with Duple Metsec, who set up PSV with designer John Worker and ex-Foden engineering director Tony Twemlow in 1989.
The Yasoob military truck is their first major project.