Jabalpur Ordanance aNd Gun-Carriage Assembly a.k.a. JONGA is actually a Nissan Patrol G60 (Soft Top) model, an early generation of Japanese Nissan Patrol (4x4) light vehicle, manufactured at Vehicle Factory, Jabalpur (VFJ) under the exclusive license from Nissan from 1965 only for Indian Army.
VFJ was sanctioned the license from Nissan Motor Corporation Ltd., Yokohama, Japan in 1965 for the production of 3 non-fighting vehicles; 3 tonner Shaktiman Truck, 1 tonner Nissan 4W73 & 2.5 tonner JONGA.
The actual production of JONGA started at VFJ in 1969 & according to VFJ figures, a total of 209,448 of these vehicles were produced. The production of JONGA stopped in 1999.
VFJ did sell sell around 100 JONGA's to civilians in 1996, which are powered by 3956 cc Leyland HINO diesel engines. these JONGA's are very different from Army versions, very different body looks i.e. Hard Top & accessories according to customer's needs.
But the JONGA is produced for one & one thing only i.e. power to pull on heights with a reasonable weight, & nearly 50 years later there are a handful of vehicles that can match its brute capability where the road ends.
1 comment:
just one comment. the shaktiman was made under licence from mannesmann of then west germany.i have recently bought one of the civilian jongas from a gentleman who now lives in west bengal. there is a serious mismatch between the engine and transmission.also requires double declutch for every gear change. am about to fit a gearbox of a toyota land cruiser .will see results later this month, hopefully.
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