Reva builder to make Tomcar offroader

The Tomcar at DefExpo 2012.

It looks really cool. @KabirTaneja on Twitter asked me about it. “I want one,” he tweeted.

The Maini Group, manufacturers of the Reva electric car, have acquired the Israeli company that builds the offroader, Tomcar, and plan to offer it to the armed forces for missions in difficult terrain.

The Tomcar comes in several configurations, two-seater as well as four-seater, and can be powered by a 750 cc or 1000 cc petrol engine or a 1400 cc diesel engine, sourced from Europe. The vehicle has hard point for weapon mounts for firing a 7.62 mm GPMG from the co-driver seat as well as a mount in the rear for an HMG, grenade launcher or ATGM launcher. The company says it’s air-transportable by An-32 and Mi-17 aircraft and is para-droppable as well.

S.A. Mohan, CEO of Maini Materials Movement, says they’ve transferred the entire assembly line from Israel to their facility in Bangalore and have built two vehicles, so far, which they plan to demonstrate to the armed forces and paramilitary forces. His most important sales pitch is that the Israeli Defense Forces use the vehicle, which is also deployed by the British Army in Afghanistan, besides being in service with the US Customs and Border Patrol.

At the moment, they do not plan to offer it to the civilian market, but that could happen, too, says Mohan. But right now, they’re interested in offering it for the Indian Army’s Light Strike Vehicle requirement.