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).

History

Originally the Uri was designed and built by Ewert Smith, a local

Angora goat Angora may refer to: Places *Angora, the historic name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey *Angora, Philadelphia ** Angora (SEPTA station), a commuter rail station * Angora, Minnesota * Angora Township, Minnesota * Angora, Nebraska * Angora L ...

farmer based in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

designed the Uri all-terrain truck in 1995. Smith named the vehicle Uri, a

Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in ...

Nama word for "jump", and small scale production began in

Witvlei Witvlei ( af, White marsh) is a village in Okarukambe Constituency in the Omaheke Region of central-eastern Namibia. It is situated on the B6 from Windhoek on the way to Gobabis. It is known for producing high quality meat. History The or ...

, Namibia in 2001. Tested in the Kalahari desert, the African agro-, police, military and mining industries ( De Beers/Anglo American Diamond Mines) ordered many of these trucks. 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 Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Since 2008, UVM was as a subsidiary of the South African defense contractor Ivema (Pty.) Ltd. As of 2015, the vehicle is produced by Uri Purposely Built Vehicle (PTY) LTD of Rustenburg, also in South Africa whose cofounders, Andre Squire and Raymond Squire, purchased over all intellectual property in 2015. 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

The Uri is broadly divided into two broad ranges Road and Mining in both 4×4 and 4×2 versions.

Uri Desert Runner

Specifications The vehicle is built of mechanical components from Toyota. * 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

The 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.

Notes

External links

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 )). {{Automotive industry in South Africa Military history of Namibia Vehicle armour Armoured warfare Military technology Military vehicle manufacturers 1939 establishments in South West Africa