JPX do Brasil Ltda. was a Brazilian automobile manufacturer and was part of Groupe EBX. Founded in 1992 by the businessman

Eike Batista Eike Fuhrken Batista da Silva (; born 3 November 1956) is a Brazilian-German serial entrepreneur who made and lost a fortune in mining and oil and gas industries. He engaged in a quest to promote Brazil's infrastructure with large-scale project ...

and headquartered in

Pouso Alegre Pouso Alegre is a municipality in southern region of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, with a population of 152,549 in 2020. The area of the municipality is 543 km². It lies in the valley of the Sapucaí River. Cities that form boundaries with Po ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, JPX produced an adapted version of the French

Auverland Auverland (''Société nouvelle des automobiles Auverland''), now grouped with Panhard, is a French manufacturer of Jeep-like four-wheel-drive and armoured fighting vehicles. It bought Panhard from Peugeot in April 2005, and in a reverse takeov ...

sport utility vehicle. Batista's inexperience in the automaking industry and a series of mistakes led to the closing of the company in 2002, being the first failed venture of the billionaire, once the eighth-richest man in the world.

History

Batista's aim was to develop a utility vehicle to serve his mining company activities, as well as the Armed Forces and the general public. Based on the Auverland A-3 used by the French Army, the company produced a car model, the JPX Montez, available in the

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

and pickup versions. The Montez was equipped with imported

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

's XUD-9A diesel engine and BA 7/5 gearbox, Carraro's axles and differentials. The body and chassis were made in Brazil. JPX sales were lower than expected: the projection was of 400 units sold/month, but the demand was of 200 units/month; most of them were issued to the army, park rangers and fire departments. Besides, the engines were not adapted to the diesel composition sold in the country and had overheating issues, due to a turbocompressor adapted to it. On the other hand, the cars' suspension was praised by its owners. The company's activities were terminated in 2002. JPX produced nearly three thousand units. Of these ones, roughly a thousand are still on the roads. File:JPXMilitar.jpg, Brazilian Army JPX File:JPX Painel.jpg, JPX dashboard File:JPXMontez1.jpg, Civilian JPX

References

External links

JPX owners' club
{{Automotive industry in Brazil Car manufacturers of Brazil Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1992 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Brazil category:Defunct defence companies of Brazil 1992 establishments in Brazil 2002 disestablishments in Brazil Companies based in Minas Gerais