[Aditya]

Eicher Polaris has launched the Multix at a price of between Rs. 2.32 lakh and Rs. 2.72 lakh (ex-showroom, Jaipur).

High points:

• The Multix is positioned as a personal utility vehicle and at present, can be registered with white number plates only (private registration, not commercial).
• This is a 3-in-1 vehicle - acts as a people carrier, goods carrier for business and a power generator.
• Aimed at Independent businessmen with families (restaurateurs, carpenters, electricians, shop owners etc.).
• The Multix has been put through 18,00,000 kms of testing in India and the USA.
• No soft-top version available at the moment, but there could be one in the future.
• Available in four colours - red, white, silver and yellow.
• Features such as disc brakes, power steering and air-conditioning aren't available. No airbags or ABS either.
• The Multix is manufactured at a new facility at Kukas, near Jaipur (Rajasthan). This plant is built with an investment of Rs. 350 crores and has the capacity to roll out 60,000 units per annum.
• To start with, there will be 30 dedicated dealerships with Multix branding - no mention of Eicher or Polaris. Test drives start in July 2015, deliveries in August.
• The Multix is an India-specific vehicle and the company has not looked at exporting it. Period.
• Eicher Polaris has not made any sales projections.

The Multix has a Flexituff body, a tubular frame structure and roll-over protection system. It has a kerb weight of 650-750 kg:


Measures 3,235 mm in length, 1,585 mm in width and 1,856 mm in height. It has a wheelbase of 2,005 mm:


This is the MX variant with four proper doors:


There are no Eicher or Polaris badges anywhere on the vehicle:




A cargo area cover is available as an accessory for the MX - keeps your goods safe:




This is the AX+ variant without doors:




The AX+ gets these flaps for rear passengers, instead of doors:


The flaps can be removed by undoing a couple of latches and sliding them upwards:




A basic headlight and turn indicator combo at the front...


...a basic tail-lamp cluster at the rear:


Single windscreen wiper:


There are two latches to open the tailgate:


No-nonsense door handles:


Basic manually-adjustable ORVM:


Fake vent on the left side:


Fuel filler is on the left. Tank capacity = 11.5 litres:


An HMSL has also been provided:


Reflectors at both ends of the rear bumper:


Multix runs on 13" steel rims shod with 155/80 tyres. Wheel covers aren't a part of standard equipment. The battery is positioned just ahead of the right rear wheel:


225 mm of ground clearance:


This is a cheap vehicle and it shows. Check out the panel gaps:

[Aditya]

Basic but functional dashboard. MX variant gets an audio system!


Simple steering wheel with contoured palm grips:


Easy-to-read, basic instrument cluster with an analogue fuel gauge, speedometer and temperature gauge. No tachometer or trip meter provided:


Wiper & light stalks lifted from the second-generation Maruti 800:




Dash-mounted gear lever is close to the steering wheel - the driver won't need to move his left arm too much:


There's a cup-holder on the right side of the dashboard...


...and a lockable glovebox to the left:


Both variants get a headlight adjuster. MX gets a windshield demister as well:




Keys & ignition:


Rear-view mirror and three-stage cabin lamp:


The handbrake is located to the right side of the driver's seat and requires a bit of a stretch to reach, Ambassador style:


There are bench seats at the front and rear:


Headrests are suspended from the top!!


Front passengers get three-point seatbelts:


Grab straps above each passenger door:


Front doors have manual window winders and a small netted door pocket:


One has to lift this flap to open the door - never seen this door handle design before:


Pull-up door locks:


Manual windows winders at the rear as well:


Rear passengers get lap belts only:


Incredible amount of knee-room at the rear!


The Multix offers 418 litres of storage area with the seat in place. Payload = 500 kg:


Eicher Polaris claims that the vehicle can be converted from a 5-seater to a 2-seater in 3 minutes! For that, one has to dismantle the rear glass...


... fit it behind the front seat...




... and fold the rear seat down. Unscrew these hooks to dislodge the rear seat:


A look at the rear seat when folded down:


With the rear seat folded down, the storage area increases to 1,918 litres:

[Aditya]

The Multix is powered by a Greaves-sourced 510.7cc, single-cylinder, BS-III compliant, water-cooled, diesel engine mated to a 4-speed manual transmission. The engine puts out 9.79 BHP @ 3,000 rpm and 27.1 Nm of torque @ 1,400-2,200 rpm:


ARAI fuel economy = 28.45 km/l:


The optional 'X-Port' power-take-off-point is mounted on the transmission of the vehicle:


It can be connected to a generator (up to 3 kW output) and used for various functions such as lighting up homes, powering professional equipment, DJ systems and more:


It can also directly power mechanical equipment such as water pumps:




With the engine mounted at the rear, the bonnet area is used to house the spare tyre:


The Multix gets an independent suspension at the front and rear. McPherson struts at the front:


Double wishbones at the rear. I was pleasantly surprised to not see leaf springs here!


A look at the accessories available:

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Commercial Vehicles in India section.

[AWD]

Pretty innovative, I liked the way you can play around with seat adjustments to liberate space according to needs. The additional generator & motor duties gives it immense capabilities. Hope one can retro fit an A.C., that should complete the package.

[SmartCat]

Without doubt, Eicher Motors is the most innovative automobile company in India now.

[X202]

Innovative thinking and good move. This is a beginning of a New Segment in the market. I hope more OEMs will join the race.

[Tushar]

Great, cute, versatile and functional vehicle with quirky styling. Quite an impressive product from the JV and though I cant explain why; I really want one! Hope they're working on a BS4 one too. This could even be a good substitute for rickshaws. Good thing they kept the Multix a hush hush affair until the red tape was cleared and the product was ready, rather than face the situation that the RE60 is in right now.

Thanks for a great report!

[puchoo]

Its a very cute looking vehicle and the minute i saw it , it looked like something out a lego set !!

On a more serious note, immensely pleased to see such a product with such thought having gone behind it, lots of innovative stuff and lets see how the markt responds.

For those interested, There is an official youtube channel which the company started for the product 2 days ago , only 3 videos so far but they should be adding more, there is 1 video which demonstrated the 3W motor available on the Multix

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZ...rN0qILA/videos

Also a small interview with Sidhartha Lal of Eicher on the Multix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weo9PQhkuqk

[dreamliner17]

Great report Aditya ! Looks like budding/existing businessmen now have a completely 'new tool' for their business

Many things are packed into this little multi-purpose vehicle in the true sense. I also see it as the best replacement/upgrade from the rickshaw segment and small scale people mover. It has decent tech specs and the double wishbones at the rear is a bonus !
The wheel caps on the Multix MX are identical to the ones on my Chevy Spark

[arunkumarsarat]

Congrats, Aditya for an excellent close look at Multix. Every single feature has been elucidated with an accompanying photograph.

According to Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO of Eicher Motors, the 5.8 crore independent businessmen in India are its target customers.

If the company can capture even 1% of the market, it is looking at a total sales of around 5 lakh units. The vehicle is intelligently designed, has all the basic features, is a three in one and I for one hope it gives our autos a run for their money.With its power source it can be an ideal vehicle even for small road side establishments and eateries.

[Thebat]

An excellent product all in all, what remains to be seen is if eicher motors can run rub off some of the enfield magic on this little wonder. as someone has already stated , the wheels caps do exactly look like my Chevy Spark's.

[dhawcash]

Plenty of innovations. Really like the PTO( power take off shaft) mechanism included in the transmission. A simple thing which multiplies the utility of the vehicle. Had an opportunity to see it being built at the Kukas plant, and the tubular chassis ( mostly square section tubing) is definitely leagues ahead of the ladder frames of the likes of Tata ace ( at least in terms of crash protection). Although the hanging headrests - I fail to see the design logic behind that. Front seats wont be adjustable I guess? If they are how do you ensure the headrests are in proper position to prevent a whiplash.
And It is already a talking point for the locals here! ( some think a generator will come inbuilt )

[GeeTee TSI]

Encouraging to see all forward facing seats (the least respectable way to Transport humans). Truly unique design of rear headrests, maybe given the tendency to stuff passengers, a continuous 'head board' is needed! Many 'proper' cars like indicab and Eeco do not have rear seat headrests. Hope to see people embrace this as a utility vehicle, rather than converting it into another xx seater

[nukeblitz]

I think the Ferrari 360 has a similar door handle design