The Force Minidor is a discontinued small commercial vehicle from Force Motors, the Indian manufacturer based in Pune. It belongs to the company’s light goods range rather than its better-known Traveller van family, and it is remembered chiefly as one of the models that carried the Force name into India’s small-transport market.
Force Minidor at a glance
| Maker | Force Motors Ltd, Pune, India |
|---|---|
| Class | small commercial vehicle |
| Status | discontinued |
| Company founded | 1958, as Bajaj Tempo Motors |
| Earlier name | Bajaj Tempo Motors until 2005 |
| Origin | joint venture of Bajaj Auto and Tempo of Germany |
| Range mates | Shaktiman 200 and 400, Tempo Hanseat, Tempo Excel |
| Main plant | Pune and Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh |
No dedicated article exists for the Minidor; this page is based on the Force Motors company article (one source), and the model is covered there only as an entry in the product list.
History of the Force Minidor
The Minidor comes from a company with roots in the licensed assembly of German Tempo vehicles. Bajaj began assembling three-wheeled auto rickshaws and small trucks in 1951 under licence from Tempo of Germany, and in 1958 the two firms created a joint venture, Bajaj Tempo Motors, with 26 percent of the shares held by Tempo. In 1968 the Firodia Group took a majority stake.
The Minidor is listed among the company’s small commercial vehicles, alongside the Shaktiman trucks and the Tempo Hanseat three-wheeler, all of which have since been discontinued. It is not part of the Traveller van line or the Trax utility range, which are the models Force Motors is best known for today.
In 2005 the company dropped the Bajaj Tempo name and became Force Motors, and in the years since it has concentrated on the Traveller, Trax, Urbania and Gurkha ranges. Little documentation survives about the Minidor itself, and the model is now chiefly of interest to collectors of Indian commercial vehicles.
Design and features
- Small commercial class: a light goods vehicle rather than a passenger van or a utility vehicle.
- Discontinued: no longer in the Force Motors catalogue.
- Bajaj Tempo heritage: a product of the company’s years as a Tempo of Germany joint venture.
Force Minidor versions
- Force Minidor: the model as listed in the Force Motors range of small commercial vehicles.
For comparison, the company’s long-running van is the Force Traveller. More Force vehicles are in the Force collection.
Sources
- Force Motors, English Wikipedia: company history, model list, small commercial vehicle range
