Svaartaron L-Ute
| Otmo Buro | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Otmo |
| Production | 1952 - present |
| Assembly | Torsfeld, Innia, Ottonia |
| Designer | Jord Farrangur (original design) Nomi Eriksunn (2002 update) |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Compact Car |
| Body style | 5-door hatchback 4-door coupe utility |
| Layout | Front-engine, front-wheel drive, or All-wheel drive (optional) |
| Platform | O/I SVP |
| Related | Otmo Poni Otmo Mule Otmo Zip |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2.0L I4 Petrol Engine |
| Transmission | 5 speed manual |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2500 mm |
| Length | 4220 mm |
| Width | 1680 mm |
| Height | 1500 mm |
| Curb weight | 1200 kg |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Otmo Poni (Sedan) Otmo Mule (pickup truck) |
The Otmo Buro is an Ottonian compact automobile produced by Ottomoto under the Otmo marque. The vehicle was the first model produced by the company following its founding in 1952, and the nameplate has been active every year since, produced across five generations.
The Buro is generally marketed toward buyers on a budget. In its modern iteration, the Buro is available only as a 5-door hatchback or a 2-door coupe utility. The Buro has a long-standing reputation for durability, mechanical reliability, and ease of repair.
Due to its mechanical simplicity, long running model line and ready availability of parts, the Buro is a popular vehicle in Ottonia for modifying and tuning.
Development History
First Generation (1952 - 1976)
The development of the first generation Buro began immediately following the purchase and consolidation of the assets that were organized into the Ottonian National Motor Company. Using the unfinished concepts of the cancelled Svaartaron A2 as a starting point, the first version of the Buro was rushed into production to be ready for the 1952 model year. The Buro was initially offered only as a rear-wheel drive, four-door sedan.
The initial model did not sell all that well; part of this was due to a still-recovering Ottonian economy, but it was also due to teething issues the new vehicle had; the rushed design and production left several defects undiscovered during the initial production runs of the vehicle, only becoming apparent as people drove them. Work quickly resumed on correcting the defects and flaws in the Buro, which quickly turned into a comprehensive rework of the vehicle, bearing fruit four years later in the form of the vehicle's second generation.
Approximately 64,000 of the first generation Buro were sold, and few remain in circulation; following the release of the 1956 Buro, most of the first generation vehicles were bought back and parted out or scrapped for materials.
Second Generation (1956 - 1968)
Finally satisfied that his design team had ironed out the Buro's issues, Jord Farrangur gave the OK for production to begin on the second generation Buro in 1955, so as to have vehicles ready for the 1956 model year. In addition to a four-door sedan similar to the first generation Buro, the 1956 Buro was the first to be offered in a pickup truck variant. Additionally, the Buro was now sporting a 1.2L inline-four engine and a 4-speed manual gearbox.
Due to the issues of the first generation vehicle, initial sales were chilly, but the low sticker price made it the best option for many drivers, and the pickup initially did better sales among tradesmen and small business owners.
Once people began driving the second generation Buro, word of mouth quickly spread that the new vehicle was reliable in a way the 1952 - 1955 models simply hadn't been. Moreover, even when mechanical issues or damage occurred, the vehicles proved very easy to repair, and, in an Ottonia still beset by fuel rationing, its relatively efficient engine was easy on consumer's wallets.
Over the twelve years of production, the second-generation Buro outsold its primary rivals at 10 million vehicles over that span.
Third Generation (1977 - 1990)
As the Buro's 25th anniversary approached, Farrangur was tasked with giving the vehicle its quarter century update. Once again, this resulted in an almost wholesale redesign of the Buro. Starting from 1977, the Buro would exclusively be a front-engine, front-wheel-drive vehicle, available solely as a hatchback. The Buro's pickup and sedan variants were modified and spun off as distinct models (as the Otmo Mule and Otmo Poni respectively), and the Buro was changed from a body-on-frame construction to a unibody-built vehicle, with the intention of improving the vehicle's performance and fuel economy.
In addition, the Buro was fitted with a larger and more efficient 1.5L I4 engine, and the transmission was updated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The new, simplified and improved vehicle was dubbed the Buro QC (Quarter-Century)
Hallmarks of the vehicle's second generation (mechanical reliability, ease of repair, fuel economy) were more pronounced in the vehicle's third generation, and Jord Farrangur has said in interviews that he considered the Buro QC to be his finest work; indeed, the fundamentals of the Buro's design would be essentially unchanged until 2002.
Fourth Generation (1990 - 2002)
The fourth generation of the Buro saw very little change in the drive train and general body shape of the vehicle. The single biggest changes were improvements in safety features found on the vehicle, newer, lighter materials, and improvements in fuel injection that made it the single most fuel-efficient vehicle in its class sold in Ottonia in the 1990's.
Fifth Generation (2002 - 2014)
At the turn of the new millennium, the Buro's fiftieth anniversary approached. To give the vehicle a new update for a new millennium, Farrangur personally selected long-time subordinate Nomi Eriksunn to oversee the project; Farrangur stepped back, although he did make himself available to consult where requested.
The magnitude of the anniversary saw the team look backwards to the car's early styling; round headlights and smooth lines recalled the heyday of the second-generation Buro, while the new vehicle would sport an upgraded, increasingly-efficient and powerful 2.0L I4 petrol engine. In addition, a relatively new partnership between Ottomoto and Rezese Panther Auto bore fruit in the form of the production of the, new in 2002, petrol-electric hybrid Buro HC-H.
Variants
Poni & Mule
During the design of the Buro QC, Farrangur decided to spin off the Buro's sedan and pickup variants into distinct models with their own design teams, in order to ensure each variant was tailored to its respective consumer base's needs. For functional purposes, both the sedan and pickup were distinct models from the Buro after 1977, although this split would not be formalized until 1990 with the release of the fourth-generation Buro, when the Buro Poni & Buro Mule were fully spun off as distinct models.
Otmo Poni
The Otmo Poni, from the beginning and into the present, shares its entire power train and most of its platform with the Buro. The Poni's primary distinction is that it is available solely as a 4-door sedan or 2-door coupe, and it is shorter than the Buro, classified as a subcompact. Due to its shared engine with the Buro, the smaller and lighter Poni is somewhat overpowered, and is often considered a low-cost performance car. The design of the Poni was also the project which made a name for designer and engineer Nomi Eriksunn, who would go on to carry out the Buro's Half Century Upgrade.
Otmo Mule
The Otmo Mule shares an engine with the Buro, and several parts are similar, but the similarities end there; while the Buro and Poni switched to front wheel drive in 1977, the Mule remains a rear-wheel drive vehicle by default (although newer versions are available with optional All-Wheel Drive), as well as remaining a body-on-frame constructed vehicle due to practical considerations in a work vehicle. Although the most common form of the Mule is the pickup truck, a panel van variant is also available and is reasonably popular with tradesmen.
Hybrid and Electric Variants
Following the 2001 partnership of Ottomoto and Panther Auto, attempts to increase the number of hybrid vehicles in Otmo's fleet and to bring affordable electric vehicles to Northern Belisaria began to bare fruit in the form of an available hybrid version of the fifth-generation Buro, as well as, in 2012, the announcement of upcoming electric vehicle variants of several of Otmo's passenger vehicles. Although an all-electric version of the Buro remains in the pipeline, as of Summer 2019 the only versions of the Buro available to consumers are the conventional petrol-engine, the weak-hybrid, and a plug-in hybrid version which boasts a dramatic range.
Buro Rally Car
Since its introduction in 1952, the Otmo Buro has been used in Ottonian rally competitions. Although the second-generation Buro was fairly successful, the vehicle would come into its own as a front-wheel drive in its third generation, beginning in 1977.