Dejong off road cars are the latest off- road car to get a wild-boars hood upgrade.
It’s a project that’s been in the works for a while and now is due to be rolled out to its customers next year.
It was developed in collaboration with a Dutch company, Off-road Vehicle Engineering.
The hood is a bit of a tricky task to install and requires quite a bit more work than most other hoods that you might see on the market.
“We did it in collaboration, so the hood is from Dejong, it’s made of hard rubber and is made of a special material that we’ve made,” said Chris Van Der Woude, owner of Dejong Off Road Cars.
“It’s a tough thing to get it up to spec, because it has a lot of friction on the outside, it needs a bit to get up there and it’s quite a tough piece of metal.”
The hood needs to be installed from the ground up, which involves removing the car’s bumper, hood and wheel wells and the whole thing can take up to six weeks to complete.
You can see the process in action below.
The Dejong hood is designed to keep a vehicle’s rear wheel out of the way, while keeping it safe and upright.
The whole process takes about four hours to complete, but it can be done in under five minutes.
Dejong said the hood can handle the pressure from the vehicle’s front wheels, but added that there is still a chance that the car might come out of a turn in the mud and roll over, or that the hood will come off the vehicle.
“You’ve got to take your time, but we did it,” Mr Van Der Walt said.
“I was able to get the hood up to the spec, so we can do the hood upgrade with a wild boomar hood.”
Dejong will be rolling out its hood upgrade to all its customers in the next 12 months.
It will be available on Dejong’s range of Off- Road Vehicle Engineering vehicles, and is expected to cost between AU$4,000 to AU$9,000.
The new hood can be upgraded to fit most off-roader cars, with Dejong offering a range of options including the Dejong Wild Boar Hood, which costs AU$5,000 up front, AU$6,000 after the hood, and AU$7,000 a year thereafter.
Mr Van der Walt said the project is one of a number of off-ramp upgrades being developed by Dejong.
“There are a lot more than just hoods, there are a bunch of other things that are coming,” he said.
For Dejong customers, the hood upgrades will come as an added bonus.
“The hood is also a great protection to the whole car, it looks fantastic and it keeps the car safe,” Mr van der woude said.
De Jong said the De Jong hood upgrade is also one of the first off-ride upgrades that is designed for off-highway vehicles.
It has been in development for more than five years and is the first of its kind in Australia.
The company is aiming to get to 60 per cent penetration by the end of the year.
“Our main focus is on off-roads,” Mr de Woudes said.
Dejong Off-Highways CEO Ian Scott said Dejong is committed to providing off-drive vehicle solutions to its customer base. “
So we have to make sure we have a safe and secure off-Highway vehicle.”
Dejong Off-Highways CEO Ian Scott said Dejong is committed to providing off-drive vehicle solutions to its customer base.
“This is a project which is about getting Dejong products to the off-drivers, and to customers, so they can drive safely,” Mr Scott said.
The project is expected have a significant impact on De Jong’s off-reserve business.
The off-the-road company already has an off-grid vehicle solution that is part of its off-river fleet.
“That has its own off-take system,” Mr Walker said.