Enter the Gelandewagen
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SEEMS that Daimler-Benz leased their Land-Rover compeor centuries ago. Certainly the :hides have not been heard of Britain since the prophets of )om forecast that this new goiywhere vehicle — the Ge-idewagen — would spell the id of Land-Rovers' domination the British market.
The purpose-built factory conructed in Graz, Austria, by iimler and Steyr, has a cepa:y of 11,000 units a year. Waitg lists for vehicles are -igthening and other richer arkets are being investigated iere the possibilities of asseming completely knocked down s would ease pressure on the '8Z factory, boost capacity at iimler assembly plants around e world, and bring a welcome lip to the export figures back in uttgart.
But by far and away the most -iportant development for iimler is the increasing interest the car shown by military rces around the world. Already e German border protection ithority has taken delivery of 10 specially designed and conructed vehicles, and a major outh American army is Ased to sign an order for ,veral thousand units.
To this end, Daimler is inten/ely developing the vehicle r military and paramilitary iplications. A long wheelbase ckup version is to be aniunced shortly, and work is un1 way on a military, short wheelbase, soft top version with a fold down windscreen and dramatically reduced weight.
The area of weight reduction has come in for particularly close scrutiny as the requirement for air lift capability and parachute deployment has been called for.
Ernst Gdh ring, Daimler's head of commercial vehicle research and development, said recently: "We can build a bare and basic military jeep type of vehicle, and it could have an aluminium body for light weight. If we do, it will be to the specific requirements of military customers."
It appears as if the Germans are prepared to leave the British market to Land-Rover, but challenge the Solihull company for the far more lucrative and specialised military markets.
Daimler is well-placed to do this around the world, but had capacity problems, unlike LandRover, and cannot afford to disregard al/civilian markets.
Small changes to make the Gelandewagen easier to operate are already under discussion. For example the combined wiper/indicator/horn stalk, which was a direct transfer from the Mercedes lorry programme, will be replaced because it's too heavy to handle easily. The foot-operated windscreen washer will become electronically controlled.
The low-capacity Austrian factory represented a test-the-water exercise for Daimler. Now that the company has found it to its liking and begun developing its second generation of models, it will be looking for more capacity.
It could still be some time before the range is released in Britain.
• Richard Laurence