Kowari Motors Pty Ltd based in Queensland, Australia is a manufacturer and supplier to world markets of quality, purpose built 4WD vehicles and is a customer-orientated expert of 4WD vehicle service in mining applications. The Kowari purpose built industrial 4WD vehicles are innovative in design, robust and simple to maintain, lending themselves to applications in mining and non-mining industry as emergency service vehicles or general personnel carrying utilities. The Kowari has been designed with worldwide serviceability in mind with the flexibility to produce runs of purpose built mining and non-mining 4WD vehicles closely suited to customer needs. Its simplicity and corrosion resistance attributes are well suited to remote and difficult applications. Kowari purpose built vehicles are now in service around Australia including North Queensland (QLD), Northern Territory (NT) and New South Wales (NSW) as well as Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and New Zealand. Underground and Open-Cut mining has always required the use of light vehicles to work in this harsh environment. Conventional four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles often have major failings causing excessive downtime, high maintenance costs and early replacement costs. Therefore heavily modified production vehicles have been the preferred option until now. As a provider of vehicle fleet rental and depot maintenance arrangements specifically tailored to particular mine circumstances, Kowari Motors is well positioned as an informed and expert supplier and 4WD mine vehicles. Emphasis is placed on understanding the customer's operational activities and needs and in providing an operationally and financially attractive solution to those needs. The Kowari has been designed to fill a void in the mining industry with vehicles designed to do certain jobs in certain conditions. This niche allows for Kowari industrial 4WD vehicles to be custom designed, in conjunction with the customer, to tailor exactly the type of vehicle needed for each individual's end use. History In developing the Mark II vehicle, Kowari Motors has built on the original Kowari 4WD vehicle attributes of a more affordable, high endurance mine car.  Vehicle refinements and extensive field testing have been carried out to arrive at a quality purpose-built vehicle suited to the harsh operating conditions of the mining industry, particularly underground mining. The Kowari Mark II has been supplied to Tasmania and Western Queensland in hard rock mining environments.  Between 1987 and 1990, 147 original Kowari's were sold.  Of these, 117 were supplied to Mount Isa Mines, 6 were sold to mines in New South Wales, and 18 were sold into Papua New Guinea (OK Tedi & Pogera Mines).  The predominate vehicle types were long wheel base 4WD with open cab configurations. With feedback obtained from the original industrial 4WD vehicle market experience, Kowari Motors views mine-site vehicle maintenance and vehicle operator procedures as being of equal importance as the vehicle's high endurance attribute in achieving optimum vehicle operation and cost performance over its economic life. Kowari Motors consequently has developed a vehicle fleet hire, on-site depot maintenance and operator training package which is now its preferred basis of supplying Kowari 4WD vehicles to the mining industry.  The hire, depot maintenance and vehicle training concept also has the obvious advantage to the mining industry of conserving captial for more direct mining capital application.