Stonefield ire at MoD
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• Following Land Rover's withdrawal from the Ministry of Defence heavy duty utility truck (TUHD) contract race, Michael Hendrie, managing director of Stonefield, one of the two remaining contestants has bitterly attacked the MOD for the delay in awarding the contract.
"The MOD's behaviour has been execrable, and appalling to both sides," he says, "It doesn't matter whether Boughton or we win, I just wish we had never entered the contract race in the first place."
Stonefield and Reynolds Boughton have now submitted their final best offers, and have been waiting for over six months for the army's choice of vehicle, which was supposed to be announced on January 1 this year. The decision could be crucial for them, as large civilian and military sales could rest on the outcome, as well as the MOD contract itself. The Stonefield and the Reynolds Boughton vehicles are military style, purpose-built 4x4s, powered by Perkins Phaser diesel engines.
The original contestants included Land Rover, and Esarco with their 3.5 litre 100kW Buick-derived V8 petrol engined vehicles. The two companies have since pulled out with Land Rover claiming that it "could not produce a diesel-engined version (of the vehicle) that could do the job properly."
Sources have indicated, however, that the forward control composite framed Land Rover was simply not up to the job, with a payload capacity at the bare minimum of MOD requirements, and insufficient strength in the bodywork.
The petrol engined Land Rover (named the Llama) will now probably be dropped, and Land Rover admits that "although something might come out of the woodwork, it is 99% certain that there are no plans," for the vehicle.
All may not be lost for Land Rover, as the MOD's leisurely decision making may be an indication that defence budgets are under review again, and the contract will not be awarded to either Stonefield, or Boughton.
If this happens, the army may ask Land Rover to uprate the specification of the military Land Rover instead of purchasing a purpose-built 1.5 tonne payload 4x4 vehicle. El In spite of recent stories confirming that Iveco Ford has entered the race for the fourtonne truck contract from the MOD, the issue is still uncertain. Ford pulled out of the race when it merged with Iveco early last year, and neither the MOD, nor Iveco Ford Truck is willing to confirm that the Cargo-based prototype is in the running again.