Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Arctic Trucks

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Website
  
www.arctictrucks.com

Founded
  
1990

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Headquarters
  
Iceland, UK, Norway, Finland, Poland, Russia, UAE

Products
  
4 wheel drive vehicle engineering

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Arctic Trucks is an international company founded in Iceland and with operations in the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Poland, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Arctic Trucks specialise in the re-engineering of four wheel drive vehicles to allow them to be used in the most challenging conditions.

Contents

They have supplied vehicles for a number of high-profile expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Arctic trucks south pole feat arctic expedition at44


History

In Iceland the difficult terrain led the locals to experiment with larger tires and low tire pressures on the snow. In the mid-1980s, practical solutions began emerging and in 1990 Toyota in Iceland (P. Samúelsson hf.) established their own re-engineering division, calling it “Toyota Aukahlutir” (Toyota Accessories). This division grew very quickly and soon 20% to 70% of all new Toyota Hilux, Land Cruiser and 4Runners were re-engineered before delivery to customers - and in 1996 this division became Arctic Trucks.

In 1999 Arctic Trucks Norway was established. In 2005 Arctic Trucks was separated from Toyota Iceland, and began working more with other brands.

Additionally, Arctic Trucks has offered self-drive tours in Iceland since 2008 under the name "Arctic Trucks Experience".

It also offers support services to explorers, broadcasters and scientific surveys in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

Arctic Trucks Engineering

Arctic Trucks was established in Iceland in 1990 and specialises in the re-engineering and conversion of four-wheel drive vehicles for extreme conditions. Over the years, Arctic Trucks have built an unparalleled level of expertise in developing vehicles to deliver handling, safety and reliability improvements both on and off road. Their development engineers have accompanied many of these expeditions so they can understand, first hand, the challenges the vehicles they design will need to conquer.

Arctic Trucks have driven to both poles. They visited the magnetic North Pole with BBC Top Gear, and in the Antarctic a fleet of four and six wheel-drive vehicles are used by scientists to support their work, all under the most extreme conditions our planet has to offer. Arctic Trucks vehicles also set the record for the fastest journey to the South Pole in 2010.

Vehicle Categories and Services

Arctic Trucks offer 3 different categories of vehicle:

  • Sports and Utility
  • Professional
  • Exploration

    • Exploration Support, Training and Adventures

    In addition to vehicle engineering services and sales Arctic Trucks also provides logistical support, training and tourism services in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

    Arctic Trucks Icelandic Experiences

    Arctic Trucks Experiences offer a range of single and multi day tours. Alternatively you can create your itinerary or our vehicles can be rented on a self-drive basis, leaving you to explore Iceland in your own time. Arctic Trucks Experiences have built up a reputation as being one of the most popular off road vehicle tourism experiences in Iceland.

    Expeditions

    Arctic Trucks has supplied vehicles, organized or taken part in various expeditions in Iceland and outside of Iceland.

    International expeditions:

  • December 1997 to January 1998 – Antarctica Expedition organized by the Swedish Polar institute. Two rebuilt Toyota Land Cruiser 80 on 44 inch tires supported scientific research, driving over 3000 km.
  • May 1999 – Greenland. Three rebuilt Toyota Land Cruiser 80 in 44 inch drove over 800 kilometers across the Greenland icecap back and forth.
  • April 2007 - Magnetic North Pole with BBC Top Gear. Two rebuilt Toyota Hilux AT38 along with one Toyota Land Cruiser AT38 drove from Resolute to the 1996 Magnetic North Pole. A first and only time a car has been driven this way.
  • November 2008 to February 2009 – Antarctica. Supporting a ski race and a crew from BBC filming the TV show On Thin Ice. With unexplored crevasse area and a route never driven before, four Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 drove from Novo to South Pole and back with film crew, doctors other service crew. Combined the vehicles drove nearly 30,000 km on the high plateau of Antarctica.
  • November 2009 - Antarctica. From Novo to 83:20 degrees in Antarctica, preparing a fuel drop. Two Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 drove over 3000 km each to service a fuel post setup on the Antarctic plateau with temperature falling well below – 50 C. When traveling the vehicles were averaging over 500 km per day.
  • April 2010 - Iceland. Taking BBC Top Gear filming crew to the erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull.
  • November 2010 – Antarctica. From the Indian scientific base MAITRI to the South Pole and back, nearly 4700 km. Four Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 carried scientists and equipment up to 3400 meter altitude with temperature measured at -56C.
  • December 2010 – Antarctica. Two Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 drove a team from Kazakhstan from Novo to the South Pole and back. The expedition to South Pole, 2308 km took only 4.5 days.
  • December 2010 to January 2011 - Antarctica. Four Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 and two Arctic Trucks Hilux AT44 6X6 supported an ZDF and ORF TV production team filming the TV show Der Wettlauf zum Südpol where an Austrian skiing team competed with a German team for the last 300 km to the South Pole.

    • References

    Arctic Trucks Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA