Hybrid Tiger Trucks
By Bill Siuru
While other manufacturers are outsourcing to China, Tiger Truck LLC in Dallas is going the other way. The company has acquired a 250,000 square foot facility in Jasper, Texas to assemble off-road trucks based on designs from China’s Changan Automobile Group.
Since 1999, Tiger Truck has offered light utility trucks and vans for off-highway use. These include hybrid-electric and flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) in addition to gasoline and electric variants. Currently, Tiger Truck imports gasoline and electric trucks from China and modifies them into hybrid and FFV versions at its Dallas facility. The first actual "made in USA" Tiger Truck units will be delivered in early 2008.
The company’s series hybrids feature a 1.0-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine producing 58 horsepower. This Changan-built engine’s sole job is to keep the truck’s batteries charged via a generator. The Tiger Truck’s electric motor is powered by six 12-volt lead-acid batteries. The FFV version is the first in its class to receive EPA approval for its E85-compliant engine. Hybrid and FFV powerplants are available in several models. These include two- and five-passenger crew cab pickups plus passenger, cargo, and high-volume vans.
About 80 percent of the trucks manufactured at Jasper will be for export. Initial production will include the Champ 2- and 4-door crew cab models for the U.S. and Canadian off-road markets, the Leopard duelie for on-road use in export markets, and a medium duty-truck for on-road use worldwide. The new facility has abundant expansion capacity for additional models and a single shift capacity of 7500 vehicles annually. The vehicles’ design and assembly floor layout reportedly make it easy to mix configurations on the assembly line, providing additional manufacturing flexibility.
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