The Ox truck: world’s first flat-pack vehicle to enter pre-production trials

The world’s first flat-pack truck has been confirmed for pre-production trials, in a bid to provide developing countries with cheap transportation.

Created by legendary Formula 1 car designer Gordon Murray and commissioned by oil giant Shell, the Ox truck will be made in the UK as an assembly kit, with testing due to begin in India later this year, reports Autocar.

Six Ox kits, along with their 2.2-litre Ford diesel engines, can fit into a standard shipping container, the magazine says. Assembling the vehicle does not require “special tools” and takes a team of three people approximately 12 hours to complete.

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The truck, which will be deployed in areas with bumpy road surfaces, will offer enough ground clearance to overcome challenging terrain, says CNet. It will also feature short overhangs to prevent the vehicle from getting stuck on rocky tracks.

While most off-roaders come with an all-wheel drive system, the Ox will have a two-wheel drive set-up, according to the news site. This will reduce costs and make the build process easier, while still delivering similar levels of grip to an all-wheel drive layout.

The Sun reports that the vehicle can seat up to 13 people and carry 1,900kg (1.9 tons) of cargo, “almost twice the payload of most regular pickups”.

There’s no word on how much the Ox truck will cost, but Top Gear expects a price of between £10,000 and £15,000.