Fresh cash injection saves Africar production
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• Despite suffering from a disappointing reaction from finance institutions in the city, the remarkable 'Africar — an all-terrain vehicle designed for operation in third world countries — has been saved by an injection of private capital, and it will be in production by the end of the year.
First seen by many on the Channel 4 documentary A car for Africa, the Africar has evolved out of managing director Anthony Howarth's experience of 25 years as a photographer working in 112 different countries.
The vehicle is designed around a steel roll cage from which the doors, engine and suspension are hung. The body is manufactured from plywoodreinforced plastic panels, with aluminium and steel reinforcing where needed.
The engine is a supercharged, through-flow horizontally-opposed two stroke multi-fuel unit, which can run on petrol or diesel. Two bore sizes and two or three bore engines will be offered, although the threebore (six piston) engine will be standard at first.
The gearbox is a conventional four-speed unit, with a twoor three-speed syncromesh transfer box giving eight or twelve effective gears. The Africar is basically frontwheel driven, but a variablepulley belt drive to the rear augments this, and allows a full differential effect at each of the axle.
Leading arm front/trailing arm rear suspension gives over 300mm of ground clearance, and a Citroen-type self-levelling system gives a rising rate suspension effect.
Africar will be offered in a variety of different wheelbases and axle configurations as the modular system of production gives great flexibility.
Payloads range from 0.5 to three tonnes, and driveline configurations range from 4x2 to 8x8 on the larger models.
Prices range from £4,250 including VAT for the 0.75 tonne GVW 34kW (45hp) 4x4 petrol Africar, up to £12,250 including VAT for the threetonne GVW 69kW (92hp) 8x8 diesel Africar. Tanker, ambulance, panel van, mini-bus and high performance versions are also available on request. The Lancaster-based company hopes to sell some of its models in the UK, and it is now taking advance orders.