AN electric off-road vehicle intended to go anywhere is set to become the first car to be mass-produced in Scotland for 40 years.
The Munro MK_1 will be the first car to enter mass production in Scotland since the Chrysler factory in Linwood, near Paisley, closed in 1981.
The new 4x4, being built by Munro Vehicles, already has orders coming in from around the globe. Deliveries of the MK_1 are expected to begin in 2023.
The car, which will be priced from about £60,000, can run for up to 16 hours on a single battery charge.
The company is hoping to increase capacity when it moves from its current headquarters in East Kilbride to a purpose-built factory in central Scotland, where production will increase to more than 250 cars per year initially, leading to the creation of 300 jobs. It is hoped the new site will eventually produce 2500 vehicles per year.
The idea for the car came from Munro Vehicles co-founders Russell Peterson and Ross Anderson.
The pair were on a camping trip in the Highlands, when the car they were driving was struggling with the steep climbs and they came up with the idea of an electric 4x4.
Peterson said: “It dawned on us that there was a gap in the market for an electric-powered, four-wheel-drive, utilitarian workhorse.
“We envisioned a vehicle with ultimate, go-anywhere, off-road ability, unrestricted by road-derived underpinnings that limit the all-terrain ability of vehicles such as the 4x4 pick-up trucks that have come to dominate the market.”
