“It’s a crime, almost, that only 20 percent of the world’s population has access to a motor vehicle,” says Sir Torquil Norman, ex-fighter pilot, lawyer, economist, banker and retired toy magnate. But he didn’t just rant about it. He set down the criteria for a new kind of vehicle for the developing world. It had to be ultra-simple, ultra-cheap, ultra-robust and ultra-repairable.
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For design and development, he engaged Gordon Murray. Yes, Murray of five championship-winning Formula One cars and the McLaren F1. “I’m more proud of this than any other vehicle I’ve done,” says Murray. Better have a go then.
The OX has been designed with rough, rutted, washboarded gravel roads in mind. It has only front-drive, for simplicity, ground clearance and lightness. But supple suspension and helpful weight distribution give it immense traction, as Top Gear found on a test track normally reserved for 4x4s.
Murray says the inspiration for the dynamics came from the Renault 4, once a much-loved off-roader in Africa and Southern Europe.
Will this get built? Where will this show up if so, and how modified?
Edit: BBC article with short video:
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37285399