If the Willys Jeep – was a modern budget crossover, this is what it would look like…

The call for an African car remains strong, with the continent’s potential huge customer numbers and lack of public transport creating a vast market.

Establishing a new car companyto challenge legacy brands, isn’t easy. But some African entrepreneurs and engineers aren’t afraid of the challenge. And two of them, are the Tunisian brothers, Zied and Omar Guiga, who run Wallyscar.

The name might sound like a misinterpretation of a children’s book, but it is a clever play on Jeep’s product heritage.Operations at Wallyscar started in 2006, and the company’s product offering is a Jeep inspired front-wheel-drive vehicle called the Iris.

Its styling is unapologetically relatable to that of Jeep’s round headlight crossovers, with the ‘Wally’ name being a play on Jeep’s legendary ‘Willys’ roots.

The somewhat original and slightly outrageous styling is made possible by fibreglass bodywork, which won’t be of much value in dissipating crash energy, but it makes the Iris quite cheap to build.

Engineered for Tunisian conditions, the Wallyscar Iris doesn’t mind rolling thousands of gravel road miles.

Although it is front-wheel-drive, there is a separate steel chassis, with the fibreglass bodywork on top, which should make the design very durable. The idea of a steel ladder frame crossover is quite novel.

Iris engine details and price

Powering the Iris is a Peugeot-Citroen sourced 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine, good for 61 kW. It drives the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox, and Wallyscar says the Iris will run a 0-100 kph benchmark sprint in 13.2 seconds and power to a top speed of 158 kph.

The fibreglass bodywork has a removable rear roof section, and although it has four seats there are only two access doors.

Most of the cabin switchgear is recycled Peugeot-Citroen componentry, but you can have comfier seats, an armrest and touchscreen infotainments system as upgrades.

If the idea of a front-wheel-drive, steel framecrossover appeals to you, this African-Mediterranean product offering prices at R190000.

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