Re: Crush Gear Turbo 1-68 6
Rocco Mickel
Starting with utility vehicles, the customers of Primus were mostly companies and organizations, so their first passenger car was also a very durable one with good value, but while being a successful fleet car, it did not appeal the private buyers. Nevertheless, sales and growth were solid.
The introduction of the Astrona in 1960 marked a turning point: It was developed in Frunia and the first car not to be designed for Gasmean taste, and it was very modern when it was presented. The Iratus following in 1962 went even further, still having Gasmean design influence, but it was a technically advanced car. While Primus transferred towards international styling and modern technology, a second brand was founded to keep the conservative Gasmean buyers - Globus Motors.
The Primus Imperator was the sign that the company was now among the industry leaders - a progressive and performing luxury car that was ahead of its competitors, with an unique and radical new design that was adapted by all Primus models following. Primus had only few models, but these were very successfull. Globus had some success with their large cars, while the smaller ones did not really ignite. The oil crisis and emission regulations were a concern, and even if Globus had more in their portfolio than the mother company, it was not equally successful, but still far away from failing.
The 1979 small Urbano showed a new design and engineering objective - efficiency. The 1980 Imperator II finally introduced a new era - not only the most efficient in its class, but also stuffed with electronic gadgets. Primus took over the industry leadership in electronics, however, sometimes this affected the reliability negatively, but overall the image improved since a Primus now stood for innovation. The Primus brand also expanded their portfolio, with the premium offroad Aventura being a cash-cow. The new compact Advance model even became car of the year in 1984.
Globus seemed already dead by the early 80s, but slowly recovered. Gas-guzzlers were discontinued without mercy, and uninspired but cheap econoboxes took over, except for the Phoenix that served as a figurehead, showing that Globus would build cool cars, if they could. By 1990, Globus surfed on a success wave with the new Bravura and Grand Cruiser, finally regaining market share.
Between 1963 and 2011 Globus existed, the Gasmean value brand of the company, building cars for the local market, often simpler but also cheaper than Primus vehicles without lacking quality and sophistication.
The Publica, a car meant to suit the general public and being versatile and reliable, looked exactly the way it was built: Sturdy, simple, nothing experimental or fancy. Unusual was the choice of two solid axles, but the front now on coil instead of leaf springs to improve the drivability. It was done because of three reasons:
In 1954, the GPM was updated with a new engine. Not much else can be said about it. Only minor things were changed, the most noticeable a second wiper on the foldable windshield because the single one the driver side looked a little wrong in place. The new engine delivered a welcomened plus on power, however the car was still hard to drive onroad.
Last but not least, a pickup truck was missing in the lineup for being a B2B company. Using the DuraTrans as base was an idea quickly binned because too many compromises would have been neccessary, on the other hand, the company was too small to develop both a V8 and a six-cylinder engine at a time simultaneously. So a smaller (4.0 liter) and totally lowtech variant of the new A8V55 family was used, delivering 105 horsepower. This was a lot better than most utility trucks, and even if the Atlas was otherwise very basic, it became more expensive than the competitors with I6 around 80 horsepower.
A 4x4 was not offered, however, a manual locker made driving on construction sites more bearable. Only technical option was a fourth gear, the car shown in the pictures was ordered with that.
But there was one problem: Getting the cars into export: Shipping cost and local import taxes hampered the international sales in cost-sensitive markets like vans and trucks, so a Frunian factory was put under construction. And some engineers were hired as well, to make sure the Primus cars will offer what the international market required.
The new decade started with an almost completely new lineup, as the success of the Sentinel brought some urgently needed money while the other models were at least within or close to the sales forecast.
The GPM recieved an updated engine, now less noisy and a little stronger despite shrinking from 2 to 1,8 liter in size. The most important change was now a bearable interior with more comfort, even a radio was available as option. Not optional, but standard, became a four-speed synchromesh gearbox. Despite the low practicality (two seater with a softtop difficult to operate) and still not really impressive comfort, the sales were still strong, so the technical refreshment was welcomened by the customers. It was well worth the few dollars more compared to the GPM54.
Similar technical improvements happened to the Duratrans, not only a much nicer interior but also an updated exterior. The new 60 horsepower engine and the four-speed improved the performance, not too bad for a car that has to pull heavy stuff uphill, as it is still classified as heavy delivery vehicle. Sales success was still strong, keeping Primus well in the company car game. The booming economy allowed for a higher price, and even with the improvements the van was still cheap for the cargo space it offered.
The 2000 still featured a rather soft setup, however the engine was more appealing and the interior nicer with leather and a better radio. On the outside, you got a little chrome on the sides if you had chosen the Astrona with a sixpack under the hood. An automatic transmission (three speed) was available and especially in Gasmea ordered quite often. A good all-round car, relatively small, accellerates nicely with good comfort and looks pleasant. Not much more torque than the 1800, but one third more horsepower - this kept more of what the design promised, and that for a very competive price. The good comfort and available automatic made it a hit in Gasmea, Frunians rather opted for the 2400 for a few bucks more.
1961 had no change in the program, but 1962 featured a new top model.
As the Astrona marked a complete change towards more modern and technically advanced cars that leave the purely Gasmean style, a sports car was highly desired by the bosses.
1964 presented another major makeover for Primus vehicles.
The Publica F was mainly bought by elder people or women - easy to operate, cheap to buy, roomy and practical. While 1960 to 64 had it marketed as perfect pensioners car, the marketing became more progressive like the whole brand. The adverts showed self-confident independent women, mostly single moms (which was a no-go in society!) happily handling their life with a Publica. To underline the more progressive approach, the styling dared a lot more.
Performance wise, the car had to keep up with the fresher looks - and a new engine family helped. The 4B1864 resembled the 4A2048, but switched from OHV to an OHC valvetrain. The engine variant mounted in the Publica was an 1.3L engine with noticeably more peak power than its 1.4 predecessor, but it maginally decreased torque and efficiency.
Indeed, the marketing succeeded, and the car became an icon for nonconformism. In the late 60s and 70s it was a common choice for hippies, as it was cheap as used car, but hauled a lot of stuff to festivals, and the durability of the old construction helped for sure.
Old did not mean bad in this case: The driving experience of the old chassis was boring, but still very secure even in dangerous situations. Motor journalists wondered why it was able to keep up with the more modern competition, as exposed in the following article:
The Astrona 2000 was still the only one to be ordered with optional automatic transmission. Nothing but the exterior design changed. Even if it failed to lead the market, it remained among the more popular individualists choices, with a bearable annual decline in sales.
Motorsport was welcomened publicity. Until the Astrona, Primus had nothing that would work in sporty use, but at latest when the Iratus was on sale, some on-track success was needed. Supporting private drivers was not enough - an own racing team was set up in Letara-
For the R2 class - 250 horsepower road-legal touring cars - the Astrona was the perfect choice, the Astrona RS featured the rear axle of the Iratus and a new V8 engine with 4.2 liter displacement. The car was fast and competetive, often fighting for the podium, but bad luck cursed Primus and their Driver Franck Mercier. Only one third place was the merit, otherwise being dragged back with issues like flat tires, a bird crashing through the windshield and many other unlucky stuff.
A long overdue step had been taken for 1966. Blue collar models had to become Globus models, as they did no longer fit into the Primus lineup. The Atlas shifted with the new '63 model, the Ratio as a new model in '64, and both GPM and DuraTrans, the oldest models, were in need of another facelift to keep up.
The GPM started to drop in sales quite a lot, as the market for ultra-simple offorad cars shrank - no company or even a civillian would buy this, and the military had other, more modern options. Nevertheless, a last update was done and it was the most extensive on the outside. New indicators and taillights greatly improved visibility at night. More power was not needed, but since GPM and DuraTrans shared their engines, nevertheless included. Instead of the new OHC engine, Globus had to use the old OHV four-cylinder, mainly because the OHV was tuned for more low-end power, which suited these two vehicles better. In addition, the older engine was slightly easier to serive. The displacement was changed back to the original two liters, a requirement of the DuraTrans. With now 75 horsepower, the GPM never lacked any power in offroad use.
As it was totally outdated in terms of comfort, handling and safety, it was dropped after 1971 due to low sales that made it unprofitable.