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The Reliant Fox is a small four wheeled glass-fibre utility vehicle manufactured by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England between 1983 and 1990. It used Reliant's own 850 cc aluminium engine, and a galvanised chassis similar to the Reliant Kitten's. The Fox was the next in a long line of small 4 wheeled economy cars produced by Reliant. The base vehicle was a pickup in design but could be sold with any corresponding rear hard top for any job wanted. A rear hard top could be bought to build an estate, a van, a canvas rear pickup, basic pickup or half convertible. == Development of the Reliant Fox == The Fox has an interesting history. Reliant has exported technology and designs to several companies and countries, including MEBEA in Greece (Robin and TW9 models), but in the case of this car an almost "reverse" course was followed. Indeed, in the late 1970s MEBEA attempted to develop a "passenger-utility" vehicle, a type very popular in Greece at the time due to a law allowing such cars to be taxed as "commercial vehicles". In that respect it was one of several companies to build such a vehicle in this country, including ''Namco'', ''Autokinitoviomihania Ellados'', ''MAVA'', ''Automeccanica'' and others. MEBEA, which had already built the Reliant Robin under licence, modified the four-wheel chassis of the Reliant Kitten in order to accommodate higher loads and developed the prototype of a light utility vehicle with glass-fibre reinforced composite body. In order to produce it, though, MEBEA had to deal with the hurdle of obtaining type certification; this process was particularly complex for locally developed "passenger cars" (unlike other types of vehicles) in Greece. Thus, MEBEA did what other Greek companies had also done: it sought a partner abroad (the procedure was much easier for vehicles already certified in another country). Reliant was the obvious choice and the British company was involved in the final development and certification of the production version. The car was produced by MEBEA in Greece as the MEBEA Fox between 1979 and 1983, when the law favouring such cars was changed; sales dropped and production was terminated (a total of about 3000 had been produced). After this Reliant reused the design for themselves instead of shelving it, the Fox had a massive amount of details changed from the Greek version with Reliant apparently spending £500,000 on alterations for the UK version. Reliant started producing the Fox in the Tamworth factory in 1983, as an informal successor to the Kitten. About 600 were built in the UK until 1990. After production finished a later restyle was designed using a hatchback from the later Robin and the front end design similar to the Reliant Metrocab but this never got further than the drawing board stage. A 'Preservation Society' exists for 4 wheeled small Reliants called the Reliant Kitten Register. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Reliant Fox」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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