Photo: Fering
Ben Scott-Geddes is not the kind of engineer you want to take lightly. His credentials as a member of both McLaren and Ferrari's engineering teams alone should be a testament to that. But if you need more convincing, just see what happens when the man's given the reigns of his own car company.
Perhaps not all that many people in the auto industry expected Scott-Geddes' brainchild, the Fering Pioneer all-electric 4x4, to ever leave the concept phase. A well sorted and undoubtedly handsome-looking prototype off-roader that, while conceptually interesting, didn't have the corporate legs to find its way onto dealership floors. Well, prepare to have these notions dropped in the garbage.
In spite of the challenges, the Fering team has just announced the all-important phase one of the Pioneer 4x4s development has been completed successfully. With nearly all the aspects of the truck's drivetrain, suspension, and key interior components nailed down, the company is now ready to move to stage two, the final before full-fledged production.
In this second phase of development, less time will be dedicated to the Pioneer's more general mechanical points in favor of dialing in the styling and level of refinement. This being a sort of delightfully English take on the American GMC Hummer EV, it means lots of time spent driving over less-than-ideal terrain.
"Driving over the obstacles showed the very good natural ability of the Pioneer in severe off-road conditions," said Ben Scott-Geddes in a recent press conference. "It was able to traverse all the physical standard obstacles we tried without any issue, including those intended to challenge much larger and extreme military vehicles. The off-road capability is exceptional, proving our design philosophy of low overall weight, large diameter tires, and long wheel travel works brilliantly."
Expect the Pioneer 4x4, with its 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque and 50 miles (80 kilometers) of electric range, to hit British showroom floors sometime in either late 2023 or early 2024. Larger scale batch production will follow in 2025.
In spite of the challenges, the Fering team has just announced the all-important phase one of the Pioneer 4x4s development has been completed successfully. With nearly all the aspects of the truck's drivetrain, suspension, and key interior components nailed down, the company is now ready to move to stage two, the final before full-fledged production.
In this second phase of development, less time will be dedicated to the Pioneer's more general mechanical points in favor of dialing in the styling and level of refinement. This being a sort of delightfully English take on the American GMC Hummer EV, it means lots of time spent driving over less-than-ideal terrain.
"Driving over the obstacles showed the very good natural ability of the Pioneer in severe off-road conditions," said Ben Scott-Geddes in a recent press conference. "It was able to traverse all the physical standard obstacles we tried without any issue, including those intended to challenge much larger and extreme military vehicles. The off-road capability is exceptional, proving our design philosophy of low overall weight, large diameter tires, and long wheel travel works brilliantly."
Expect the Pioneer 4x4, with its 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque and 50 miles (80 kilometers) of electric range, to hit British showroom floors sometime in either late 2023 or early 2024. Larger scale batch production will follow in 2025.
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