Munro Vehicles has revealed its second model, the MK_1 Pickup, today at the Fully Charged Live North 2023 event. The “ultra-capable” pickup, unveiled in Performance guise in Munro yellow paint, from Scotland’s “only volume production car company” follows the Munro MK_1 Truck (SUV) launched in December.
Designed, engineered, and built in Britain, the Munro is the first light vehicle to enter production in Scotland in more than four decades. Like the truck, the pickup is targeted at the specialized niche of customers operating in sectors such as mining, construction, utilities, agriculture, and defense to meet decarbonization targets “without compromising on performance.”
“We launched Munro to fill the significant gap in the market for an electric-powered, four-wheel-drive, utilitarian workhorse,” Munro CEO and Co-Founder Russell Peterson. “Our vehicles are designed and engineered without compromise from clean sheet principles unimpeded by any existing architecture. The result is a rugged construction created for decades of service delivering ultimate, go-anywhere, off-road ability.”
As with all models and variants of the Munro MK_1 range, the pickup combines the rugged reliability and easy repairability of a full-time 4×4 mechanical drivetrain with a state-of-the-art electric powertrain. The pickup’s rear bed accommodates a 1050-kg Euro Pallet payload.
The Performance model has a 3500-kg maximum braked towing capacity for hauling cargo from farm implements and livestock to construction and disaster relief equipment. Outputs of 280 kW and 700 N·m (516 lb·ft) enable the Performance pickup to sprint from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in 4.9 s. A 220-kW electric motor and a choice of Utility and Range variants are also offered.
The pickup has a range of more than 190 mi (306 km), enabling it to operate off-road for up to 16 h on a battery charge. Replenishing the 82.4-kW·h battery from 15% to 80% using a 100-kW DC charger takes 36 min.
“Priced from £49,995 Ex VAT with deliveries commencing later this year, we have already secured more than 200 orders for the MK_1 Pick-Up, three of which have come from FTSE 100 companies and ten from FTSE 250 companies,” said Peterson. “With a full two-year order book for both the MK_1 Pick-Up and the MK_1 Truck, Munro is having to expedite its search for larger premises to meet customer demand.”
Positive feedback on the truck and pickup and pre-orders equating to the next 1.5 years of production have given company leaders confidence that the vehicles Munro has created are precisely what the market wants.
“We can play a key role in assisting those operating in challenging environments such as mining, construction, utilities, agriculture, and defense to meet imminent decarbonization targets,” said Peterson. “This represents a significant global market opportunity and one which, with our financial partners, we are poised to fully exploit as we take the next strategic step and move towards the pre-production prototype stage.”
Munro was founded in 2019 by CEO Peterson and Head of Powertrain Ross Anderson to manufacture “the world’s most capable all-electric 4×4” for commercial and private customers. The company will build 50 vehicles in 2023 before transitioning to a new purpose-built site near Glasgow in 2024. With the creation of 300 new jobs, production will be ramped up to 250 vehicles per year with a strategic roadmap to deliver 2500 units annually by 2027.