End of the line for Pinzgauer?

There is, of course, a historical connection between the G-Wagen and the Pinzgauer in that they were both engineered and built by the then Steyr Daimler Puch concern at Graz in Austria. That connection was severed in 2000 when manufacture of the Pinzgauer was taken up by Automotive Technik Ltd in the United kingdom. Since then the vehicle has enjoyed many more successes, particularly with the MoD UK which purchased numerous variations based on 4x4 and 6x6 chassis and the New Zealand armed forces who concentrated on 6x6 based models. A series of take-overs resulted in the original UK company becoming first American owned under, initially, Stewart & Stevenson, then Armor Holdings, before reverting to British ownership again under the protective wing of BAE Land Systems, albeit the US based division of this international conglomerate.
Today (23 January 2008) BAE made an announcement which effectively brings the original Pinzgauer to an end. Developement and manufacture of the future generation is to be be moved from UK to South Africa: :roll:

http://www.baesystems.co.uk/Newsroom/NewsReleases/autoGen_108023111444.html

:cry: :cry:

I hope the members will forgive me for posting this in the GWOA forum, but I felt you would probably want to know about a "death in the family"!