1991 ARO 24 COSWORTH 4L

Vehicle Overview

Once a rally winner on the Pharaohs Rally, the Romanian off-road vehicle ARO tried to survive on a fast-moving market with an outdated vehicle.

After 1989, when the Romanians overthrew the communist government, the ARO company tried to make it an independent carmaker. It was specialized in off-road vehicles. Its curved ladder-chassis and independent front suspension were modern when the car was first launched in the early 70s but outdated in the early ’90s. ARO installed modern engines on the vehicle and started to sell them in foreign countries. The biggest failure was the North American market. In the U.S., ARO 24 didn’t pass the roll-over safety tests performed by IIHS, and it was banned from entering the market. That was the beginning of the end for the small carmakers.

In 1991, the design department burned the midnight oil and came up with fresh ideas to develop the vehicle and improved its look. First, they changed the headlights with a pair of twin round lamps. Following the international trend, the design team moved the turn signals into the thick front bumper. The rest of the vehicle was still with flat surfaces and wedged style edges, but that style was not completely outdated.

The interior featured better materials. Apart from the regular cloth, leather upholstery was available in selected versions. Some versions were available with air-conditioning and power windows. The top of the range model, which didn’t make it into production, was fitted with a 4.0-liter Ford V6 engine and a 4-speed automatic gearbox.

Apart from a few special vehicles, built by order, the rest of the range featured a choice of two turbodiesel engines. The 4×4 system featured a low-range transfer case.