First-phase testing complete for Fering as Pioneer moves towards production

REMEMBER THE FERING PIONEER? We brought you news some time ago of this visionary off-road vehicle, which is designed to provide genuine long-range expedition abilities using electric power combined with a range-extender engine and, in particular, rewrites the rule book by using fabric instead of metal or plastic for its body panels. Well, it hasn’t gone away – in fact, the first prototype has now completed testing and been stripped down for analysis, and the second and third are due to be completed early this year.

The Pioneer has a silhouette not dissimilar to that of a Hummer but proportions more in keeping with a family car. In particular, it has been designed with no excess weight.

The second-phase prototypes will be evaluated by the first customers to have shown an interest in the vehicle, whose intention is to deliver real off-road ability in a worthwhile package rather than a premium car with a sky-high price. Low-volume production is due to commence by early 2024, followed by larger-scale batch production in 2025.

Royal provenance for brace of classic 4x4s in Silverstone

Silverstone Auctions’ Race

Retro sale, at Stoneleigh Park on 25 February, will feature two classic 4x4s – one a Jeep, the other a Land

The Land Rover, which was built in late 1953 and registered the following year, has been comprehensively restored – in a project understood to have been encour-

Wales (now King Charles III). It was originally delivered via Stratstone of London on 3 July 1953, carrying the Royal sequence number NXN 1, before Queen Elizabeth II asked for it to be assigned to Balmoral – where it was used exclusively by the most senior members of the family before being sold into private hands in 1966.

Having subsequently been garaged for many years, the Series