Imagine a place where 2 million kilometers of roads have become virtually non-functionalafter decades of poor maintenance and neglect. Fixing them will cost more than the entire region spends each year on its roads and, as a result, people pay 75 percent more for their daily goods. That's what it's like trying to get around and move products in Sub-Saharan Africa.
And that's also the environment for which Mobius One was born. The bare-bones SUV designed by Mobius Motors is the first of a new series of mass-market vehicles--rugged, safe and affordable for more rural Africans--that the Kenya-based company believes will serve as a vehicle for "local entrepreneurs to mobilize the developing world." Now on its second prototype, Mobius Motors is trying to create a viable alternative to the imported vehicles that rarely leave the cities for Africa's hinterlands where rugged transport is desperately needed.The problem is that vehicles in Africa tend to fall on one of two extremes: extremely expensive luxury SUVs or smaller and cheaper vehicles that can't traverse rugged terrain. At the same time, Africa does not have an indigenous industry to produce its own cars. In 2009, only about 416,000 vehicles, or 0.6% of global production, were built in Africa, according to the company. With initial cost estimates at about $10,000, Mobius hopes it will be able to serve that missing middle. The company's strategy: replace an emphasis on comfort and extras with pure functionality.
The car is the brainchild of Joel Jackson, a former management consultant who had spent his fair share of time waiting for treacherous and unreliable minivans or motorcycle rickshaws plying Africa's back roads. His idea was to "re-imagine" a vehicle for the African market: simple, cheap, and incredibly rugged. In essence, Mobius decided to reengineer the (now) luxury Land Rover by eliminating air conditioning, power steering, ABS, and even glass windows, while focusing investment on springs, shocks and wheels. Off-the-shelf systems such as engines, brakes, and steering are built around a a tubular steel frame to further reduce cost and maintenance.
And the car has a second off-road purpose, says Jackson. "Mobius aims to empower transport entrepreneurs across Africa not just with more appropriate vehicles, but with the financing and business advice needed to operate a sustainable transport centric business," writes Jackson by email. For entrepreneurs, it's more than just a car, but a business on wheels. It could be used as a school bus, mobile medical center, or public transport. "Beyond selling more vehicles into an undeserved market, Mobius aims to empower latent entrepreneurial talent across Africa. We support entrepreneurial buyers with business advice and financing to use their Mobius cars to operate myriad transport services in their communities," he writes. "Our vision is a more connected, more mobile Africa."
While it won't be showing up on American roads anytime soon--something about the Western ambivalence for the utilitarian value proposition of such utilitarian vehicles --you will be available to pick one up in Kenya soon. It is scheduled to come in all the most popular colors of East Africa: white, silver, black, blue, red, and green.
Ever wonder how HUGE the continent of Africa is? Check this.
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COMMENTARY: Good roads are central to mobility, unfortunately Africa has some of the most degraded roads on earth. Our vehicle is designed specifically for these roads, unlike most other cars. Erosion, rocks, pot holes and loose ground are all contributing factors in the degradation roads. Without proper maintenance, roads can quickly become impassable by most vehicles, especially after heavy rain which occurs semi-annually in countries like Kenya.
The vast majority of vehicles in Africa today are imported from more developed countries such as Japan, UAE, India and China. These vehicles are designed for a very different demographic of predominantly urban consumers in relatively wealthy countries with good road infrastructure. In contrast, vehicles that are driven each day on Africa’s degraded roads are not built for their environment. Because these vehicles are not affordable or functional for most areas throughout the continent, transport entrepreneurs cannot operate ubiquitous and effective transport services and thus millions of transport end-users remain immobile.
Instead of targeting the bottom of the pyramid directly (i.e. selling vehicles to the extreme rural poor who cannot afford any capital outlay), Mobius Motors sells its products to the middle classes who then offer services to the bottom of the pyramid. This is a well tested method employed to deliver services within a sustainable market based structure, examples include maize mills, water taps as well as existing public transit vehicles such as auto rickshaws, minivans and motorbikes. Our vision is a transport platform that empowers local entrepreneurs to mobilise the developing world.
Annual transport expenditure in Africa is estimated at over $60bn, yet there is still no appropriate form of transport for the degraded roads that plague much of the continent. Furthermore, transport spending by those at the bottom of the pyramid (annual household income less than $3,000) accounts for 39% of the African market (World Resources Institute). This demographic represents a vast market-based opportunity to provide affordable, practical and safe transportation for those that need it most. Solving a dire social problem with an even greater market opportunity.
While the majority of vehicle manufacturers do not target the poorest consumers, there are various companies such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra in India who produce extremely economical vehicles. Critically however, they target emergingurban markets and thus simply offer more basic versions of traditional vehicles, retaining many of the aesthetics of a “developed world” vehicle, made affordable by reducing functionality (reducing carrying capacity, suspension, wheel size etc.).
Instead of accepting the developed world vehicle fundamentals, Mobius Motors is embracing a new set of fundamentals – safety, practicality and affordability – fit for the developing world of the future. This change directly undermines the primary customer purchase criteria of the existing automotive industry and thus is not currently adopted. While there are no other commercially viable producers of tubular steel frame vehicles in Africa, our primary competitors are Piaggio and Mahindra, both manufacturers of the auto rickshaw and our seconday competitors are Tata and Nissan, manufacturers of low cost vehicles imported into Africa.
Mobius core operations cover the design, manufacture, sale, and monitoring & evaluation of our vehicles. Mobius utilizes off-the-shelf parts in all of our vehicles to heavily simplify operations. The company strips out all non-essential components in the design of its cars to minimise both manufacturing costs and complexity. This is particularly crucial to conceptualise a vehicle that can be easily manufactured in Africa, for Africa. Indeed, localised manufacture is a key facet of our social business to stimulate employment and domestic economic growth.
Design includes all front-end activity to determine how the vehicle will look and perform. The company's highly iterative design process is based on ongoing customer feedback to create vehicles that address the needs of our target demographic and continue to reflect technology advances. The company work's with international designers and engineers to conceptualise and validate prototypes using computer aided design (CAD) and enable integration with appropriate off-the-shelf vehicle parts.
Mobius Motor's design methodology utilises tubular steel frames to construct low cost vehicles whilst focusing on key aspects of functionality such as vehicle handling, terrain coverage and storage - like any automotive company, vehicle safety is paramount. To ensure effective conversion to manufacture Mobius designs their vehicles around the equipment and skills available in-country. As the company transitions to factory level production over the next 4-6 years they intend to invest in more advanced facilities and develop human capital to produce progressively more refined vehicles.
Manufacture involves the end-to-end build of pre-defined designs. At this stage they cut, bend, notch and weld tubular steel pipes together to construct the frame and fabricate custom mountings to affix off-the-shelf parts. By utilising standard producer systems such as engines and breaks we eliminate the additional technology and complexity of full vehicle component construction and ensure easy maintenance based on already well understood parts. Manufacture also includes the assembly of parts onto the frame mountings to create a fully connected vehicle. The final stage in manufacture is finishing where aluminium sheets are shaped and attached onto the frame before painting.
Over the next two years Mobius will localise manufacturer using customised fixtures and standardised processes that local mechanics and engineers can use to consistently build high quality vehicles. Over the longer term (4-6 years) Mobius will transition to larger factories serving wider geographies in order to achieve economies of scale, further reducing vehicle price-point. At this stage we will also bulk import vehicle parts to further reduce costs.
Building The Mobius One From Scratch
The Frame
A robust monocoque frame is the core of Mobius One. 1.5 to 2 inch tubular steel pipes is used to form a lower weight and higher strength integrated frame. The united chasis/body effectively creates an in-built vehicle roll cage capable of withstanding high impact collisions. Mobius connects the powertrain and suspension systems directly onto the frame via custom fabricated mountings. To ensure rigidity and durability the company uses high strength MIG welds throughout the vehicle.
Off-The-Shelf Parts
While the majority of vehicle manufacturers do not target the poorest consumers, there are various companies such as Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra in India who produce extremely economical vehicles. Critically however, they target emergingurban markets and thus simply offer more basic versions of traditional vehicles, retaining many of the aesthetics of a “developed world” vehicle, made affordable by reducing functionality (reducing carrying capacity, suspension, wheel size etc.).
Instead of accepting the developed world vehicle fundamentals, Mobius is embracing a new set of fundamentals – safety, practicality and affordability – fit for the developing world of the future. This change directly undermines the primary customer purchase criteria of the existing automotive industry and thus is not currently adopted. While there are no other commercially viable producers of tubular steel frame vehicles in Africa, our primary competitors are Piaggio and Mahindra, both manufacturers of the auto rickshaw and our seconday competitors are Tata and Nissan, manufacturers of low cost vehicles imported into Africa.
To reduce costs and increase ease of maintainance the Mobius One use standard off-the-shelf systems in each vehicle. This includes engine, transmission, steering and breaks. Each system is fitted onto the frame using custom fabricated mountings and tested thouroughly for fit quality and functionality. Mobius One integrates the most cost effective and performance relevant systems together to create a vehicle more suited to the needs of the African consumer.
Connecting Parts and Components To The Mobius One Frame
In the assembly of the Mobius One, each system is connected to the frame by designing, cutting, shaping and welding custom mountings. Fitting each part is a unique challenge. System fitting also requires the interconnection of custom fabricated components with standard off-the-shelf parts. For example, connecting custom made pedals with standard vehicle break pipes to link up the break system.
The Mobius One Aluminum Outer Body
Mobius One uses low weight aluminium sheets to form the outer skin of the vehicle. These can be easily shaped and fitted directly onto the frame. Aluminium plates provide unique flexibility when shaping the same material to different designs. To waterproof the vehicle Mobius combines glass, canvas and metal plates to maximise visibility and minimise cost. After shaping the body panels they sand the metal and send the vehicle for painting.
That's what I call a hell of a lot of work, but in Africa, native African's grow their crops, and build their homes, so building a car from the ground up seems like a lot of work, but that comes with the territory. Hopefully, Mobius Motors will be able to develop complete ready-to-build kids for the do-it-yourselfer or work through local local shops to assxembly complete cars, or small dealers that will sell fully-assembled cars.
Courtesy of an article dated July 18, 2011 appearing in Fast Company
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