URI Purposely Built Vehicles, officially URI Purposely Built Vehicles PTY LTD, is a South African automotive company who manufactures the Uri off-road vehicle. The company makes two models - URI Desert Runner and URI Mining Vehicle. The first is a simple, reliable and passable jeep in civil, military and police modifications (the army and the police make the company almost the entire turnover).
 | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995  |
| Headquarters | South Africa |
History
editOriginally the Uri was designed and built by Ewert Smith, a local Angora goat farmer based in Windhoek, Namibia designed the Uri all-terrain truck in 1995. Smith named the vehicle Uri, a Khoisan Nama word for "jump", and small scale production began in Witvlei, Namibia in 2001.[1] Tested in the Kalahari Desert, the African agro-, police, military and mining industries (De Beers/Anglo American Diamond Mines) ordered many of these trucks.[1]
The original manufacturing company was called Uri - Automobiles, production was then taken over by Uri International Vehicle & Equipment Marketing (Pty.) Ltd. (UVM) located in Waltloo, a north east suburb of Pretoria, South Africa. Since 2008, UVM was as a subsidiary of the South African defense contractor Ivema (Pty.) Ltd.[2] As of 2015, the vehicle is produced by Uri Purposely Built Vehicle (PTY) LTD of Rustenburg, also in South Africa[3] whose cofounders, Andre Squire and Raymond Squire, purchased over all intellectual property in 2015.[4]
The vehicle was originally used in rally, but the designer found out that there could be a market in agriculture, police, military, and the mining industry.
Variants
editThe Uri is broadly divided into two broad ranges Road and Mining in both 4×4 and 4×2 versions.
Uri Desert Runner
editSpecifications
The vehicle is built of mechanical components from Toyota.[5]
- Motor options are Toyota 2 liter or 3 liter five-cylinder turbodiesel or 2.2 or 2.4 liter four-cylinder petrol engine.
- Gearbox is five-step manual.
- Length: 4450 mm
- Width: 1680 mm
- Height: 1855 mm
- Weight: 1425 kg
URI Mining Vehicle
editThe URI Mining Vehicle is designed to operate in underground mines. The Uri Mining Vehicle is available in two different low-profile cab heights, a 1.4 meter high cab and URI 1.8 meter high cab.[6]
Notes
edit- ^ a b "Official Guess the car Thread (Please see rules on first page!)".
- ^ Autokatalog 2003, 2004 and 2005 (Vereinigte-Motor Verlage GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart)
- ^ http://upbv.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/EME-Affidavit-URI-Purposely-Built-Vehicles [dead link]
- ^ "About – URI – UPBV". Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
- ^ http://www.elfnet.hu/kikapcsolodas/sokkerekkerek/kulonlegesmarkak/uridesertrunner.php Hungarian
- ^ "URI Mine Vehicles – URI – UPBV". Archived from the original on 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
External links
edit
- Manufacturer's Website (English)
- Namibia Economist: Uri the perfect toy for a farmer or a villager
- Popular Mechanics Russia (The article "Cars of the Black Continent" was published in the magazine "Popular Mechanics" ( No. 9, September 2014 )).