India’s a vast country, but with a population over 1 billion humans their cities still don’t have space for the kind of gargantuan pickup trucks we get to drive here in America. So Polaris and Eicher Motors have combined forced to build the Multix for Indians to do the same things we do with F-150s.
Polaris/Eicher plan on selling 60,000 Multix trucks this year, which come in MX closed-cab and AX+ golf cart style open variants starting at $3,638. If all goes well production is planned to double soon after.
The Multix is powered by a single-cylinder half-liter diesel engine that makes 20 lb-ft of torque and just shy of 10 horsepower. Still; the little truck has an 1,102 pound payload capacity with the doors off and nobody in it. Towing capacity is somewhere around yeah I don’t think so.
A unique power-take-off-point called “X-PORT” is also part of the package, which kicks out 3 KW and Polaris/Eicher suggest might be used for “lighting homes and powering professional equipment such as drilling machines, DJ systems, water pumps and more.” Sounds like a kickass block party waiting to happen!
For those thinking, “uh that’s a groundskeeping buggy not a family car” I direct you to this adorable diagram Polaris/Eicher has provided of their fantasy city. As you can see, the Multix can do just about anything you might see in a Richard Scarry illustration:
Looks a little tougher through a fisheye lens. Actually, it looks more like a fish!
Andrew P. Collins is Jalopnik’s off-road and adventure guy. Shoot him an email at andrew@jalopnik.com or hit him up on Twitter @andr3wcollins to talk trucks.