Automotive

Vanderhall to introduce high-riding electric four-wheeler

Vanderhall to introduce high-riding electric four-wheeler
The Navarro appears shaped more like a street-legal 4x4 but optimized for off-road more like an off-highway vehicle (OHV)
The Navarro appears shaped more like a street-legal 4x4 but optimized for off-road more like an off-highway vehicle (OHV)
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The Navarro appears shaped more like a street-legal 4x4 but optimized for off-road more like an off-highway vehicle (OHV)
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The Navarro appears shaped more like a street-legal 4x4 but optimized for off-road more like an off-highway vehicle (OHV)
Vanderhall makes clear it isn't going into the off-road space halfheartedly with a "Venice off-road edition," powering over that nonstarter with the Navarro
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Vanderhall makes clear it isn't going into the off-road space halfheartedly with a "Venice off-road edition," powering over that nonstarter with the Navarro

Up until this point, Utah-based boutique vehicle maker Vanderhall has made its name on breezy turbo and all-electric three-wheelers. It's now turning some attention away from pavement and toward the vast, sharply undulating stretches of world-famous off-roading around its home state, teasing the all-new Navarro for the first time today ahead of a 2021 launch. The new off-roader will put the immediate torque of electric drive technology inside a big-tired, high-riding four-wheeler with airy design and barely-there overhangs.

Vanderhall is taking a dramatically different direction, and it shows no signs of merely dipping its toes in the water. In fact, its teaser video at first suggests it's playing it safe with an off-road edition of its Venice three-wheeler, smashing that idea into a flaming pile of wreckage with a 15-ton slab of concrete that serves as a platform for the shadowy Navarro to drive out on.

"The four-wheel, all-electric, off-road Vanderhall Navarro will have many groundbreaking technologies and firsts for any production powersports model," promises R. Scott Bell, Vanderhall COO.

At first glance, the silhouette looked to us like an all-electric Ford Bronco or Hummer competitor, owing to a more automobile-style cabin, belt line and tires. But upon closer inspection, the non-existent overhangs, high-flared fenders and cut-out doors suggest more of an off-highway side-by-side. And Bell's mention of "powersports" leads us to believe the latter is the right interpretation.

Vanderhall makes clear it isn't going into the off-road space halfheartedly with a "Venice off-road edition," powering over that nonstarter with the Navarro
Vanderhall makes clear it isn't going into the off-road space halfheartedly with a "Venice off-road edition," powering over that nonstarter with the Navarro

Vanderhall is withholding further information and proper photos until secondary announcements in October and January, so for now we just have two teaser photos and the quick video look below. The head-on angle shows how the Navarro's high-arching fenders swoop inward toward a narrow front-end topped by hexagonal headlamps.

The company will provide the next drop on October 19, when it plans a fuller reveal with more information and multimedia materials. On January 4th, it will fill in any missing specs and information to complete the reveal. Preorders will open up in summer 2021, and the Navarro will be built at Vanderhall's newly expanded production facility in Provo.

Vanderhall unveils one of its greatest ideas yet...

Source: Vanderhall

2 comments
2 comments
Eddy
Might have a slight problem with the similar name, I think Nissan had that name with one R on one of their vehicles.
Daishi
@Eddy It doesn't look like the Nissan Navara is sold in the US though so they may not have a US trademark on the name and Vanderhall Navarra is likely going to be in the US or mostly in the US. I'm sure that means something to the lawyers but they might still be happy to get paid to figure out exactly what it means. Nissan also famously bullied the owner of Nissan.com who has a last name of Nissan and owned the domain since Nissan was still going by Datsun in the US. They probably could have just bought the domain for less than it cost them to fight with the guy but that's not how corporate lawyers work. Outside of that though this is a pretty interesting move by Vanderhall.