Meet Munro, Scotland's new car company which wants to revolutionise Scottish manufacturing

Employees are busy assembling the Munro “Series M”, a vehicle with the rugged, boxy lines reminiscent of a 1990s Land Rover Defender. But the Munro has one crucial differentiating feature: it’s powered by an electric motor.

Russell Peterson and co-founder Ross Anderson hope that current versions of the vehicle, billed as “the ultimate, sustainable, utilitarian, off-road workhorse” will have been through sufficient testing with early customers to be ready for full production in the first quarter of 2027. This will happen at a larger facility, sites for which are being scoped out. The aim is start with 20 vehicles a month, ramping up eventually to 500 annually.

If all goes to plan, the Munro will be the first vehicle manufactured at scale in Scotland since Peugeot-Talbot closed its plant at Linwood in 1981. “It’s lunacy what we’re doing,” says Paterson, “but the opportunities are massive.”

The two men - Peterson a former software entrepreneur who grew up in farming in England, Anderson a radiotherapy graduate from Glasgow – spotted the opportunity for an electric off-roader when they were on a camping trip in 2018. “We were in one of my smelly old Land Rovers and thought it would be great if this was electric. It became an obsession,” Peterson explains.

They used their own money to start the business in 2019, with further funding two years later from Elbow Beach Capital, an early-stage investor run by former BT executive Jonathan Pollock. Four months ago, Elbow Beach received backing from British Business Bank. Perhaps surprisingly, the Munro is not aimed at wealthier punters looking for an environmentally friendly “Chelsea tractor”, although with a price tag of £49,995 the vehicle fits that bill.

Instead, the opportunity lies in mining, forestry, agriculture, emergency response and the military – sectors looking to decarbonise their fleets, yet which still need “all-terrain vehicles” (ATVs) capable of handling rough conditions.

Munros would not only be sold to mining companies but servicing could be done using mechanics either dispatched on site – similar to how US earth moving equipment maker Caterpillar operates – or could even be permanently located at remote mining locations, avoiding the need for an expensive dealer network.

On the face of it, the market backdrop looks positive. According to US-based Grand View Research, the global ATV market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of four percent from this year to 2030, by which time it ought to be worth $6 billion.

Farmers are increasingly using electric quad bikes, while national parks are adopting ATVs. One Munro was recently demonstrated in Sweden to mining company LKAB, while another is being put through its paces as a recreational vehicle at Perthshire’s Gleneagles Hotel.

Yet making a success of the Munro – named after Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet – will be an uphill task.

It’s hard enough to make a go of automotive manufacturing as it is. French carmaker Renault’s shares dived this week after it lowered its annual financial guidance amid tough competition in Europe, where its recently launched R5 electric vehicle is battling cheaper models from China’s BYD. Analysts have blamed US tariffs for this week’s announcement by Jaguar Land Rover of 500 management layoffs, coming on top of slower sales.

Peterson concedes that scaling up to capture the global mining market will be a challenge. Munro’s newly appointed chairman, former General Motors executive Avinash Rugoobur, has tasked the team with coming up with a “globalisation” strategy, which will be presented to the board next week.

Supply chain resilience is another issue. While Munro’s batteries are made in China, Peterson uses Glasgow-based companies to provide the steel and aluminium required. These include Richard Austin Alloys at Queenslie and Kelvin Steel in Thornliebank, while JetCut, based south of Glasgow Airport, uses lasers to cut steel for the body panels.

Their existence is testament to Glasgow’s insufficiently recognised role as a modern industrial manufacturing hub. Yet at the same time, the Alexander Dennis bus company saga has revealed the fragility of Scotland’s supply chains. Two suppliers, ADL and Greenfold Systems, face existential crises after Alexander Dennis said it would close its Falkirk and Larbert factories with the loss of 400 jobs.

Meanwhile, there is also no shortage of companies making electric vehicles for mining, such as Canada’s MacLean Engineering and Epiroc of Sweden, although admittedly most are currently focused on heavier duty vehicles. Competition might emerge.

Finally, as with all startups, ensuring continued funding will be a constant. Munro is in the midst of a £2 million funding round that’s to be “bridge” towards larger so-called “Series A” funding, Peterson says.

The good news is that the UK government’s recently announced Industrial Strategy might help. This week Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, launched a scheme called DRIVE35, under which established automotive businesses and startups such as Munro can tap part of a total £2.5bn in funding for the development of zero-emission vehicles and supply chains.

So, on balance, is this lunacy? I think not. Munro is a brave startup that deserves to succeed, not least because its mission to help decarbonise transport is on the right side of history.