The Carchive: The Asia Rocsta.

IMAG4576
Time for our weekly trawl through the filthsome deposits at the bottom of the swamp of motoring history. Put on your drysuit and plug your nostrils, it’s The Carchive and we’re going in.
From last week’s Volvo we’re heading forward in time to the mid ’90s, but diverting to the Pacific Rim, as we check out the South Korean car that R Kelly and Kid Rock had in mind when they sang “I’m a Rocsta, baby”.

Click the images for a chance to consult the small print

IMAG4577
“Rocsta brings out the individual in you. It’s exciting and exuberant, the stylish 4×4 that brings a sense of fun to every journey”
The Asia Rocsta was marketed along a similar premise to every other small open-top 4×4 since just after the war, when it was realised that such vehicle could be used for leisure rather than just military trips between one killing field and another. It had another advantage over more well known machines of the type; the Asia Rocsta and the even less expensive Indian-built Mahindra both usefully undercut anything else that could realistically be called a rival.
Of course, neither of the above could have any possible claim to cutting edge technology; the Asia and the Mahindra both being essentially de-militarized versions of their respective nation’s domestic all-terrain army vehicles, both of which presumably had their roots in copied Willys technology.
The Asia, though, was dressed up in some very ’90s tape stripes and blessed with pretty looking alloy wheels and whitewall tyres.
IMAG4579
“Built to take on the toughest terrain, the Rocsta commercial is a rugged, durable and amazingly reliable 4×4”
I have never, ever seen one of these commercial variants on the road, and wonder what small business would see the Rocsta as a sensible choice. I can understand farmers wanting a cheap, field-capable machine of reasonable civility for all-weather cross-country rapid-response duties, but they would also have had the Suzuki SJ413 and Daihatsu Fourtrak to choose from.
Mind you, this brochure is so slim and vague it doesn’t actually go into detail as to what determines the differenced between the Standard, DX and Commercial models. It does show a hardtop as well as a convertible being offered; oddly the commercials all appear to have soft-tops.
IMAG4578
“The Rocsta’s high performance engine (2.2 diesel or 1.8 petrol) means it’s equally home on the road, too”
This brochure refers to the first version of the Rocsta, with its Jeep CJ aping nose, before the R2 version arrived bearing a facial resemblance to the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin. In truth, neither of the Mazda-descended engines gave the machine anything approaching refinement or, in  truth, much in the way of useful performance. They were functional, sure, but crude in a way that the Korean army could probably excuse a lot more readily than the European consumer.
In April ’93, Top Gear magazine ran a road test of Rocsta. A sample paragraph: “the Rocsta, frankly, is pretty lousy on the road. Although its driving position and controls can’t be faulted, it has such a bouncy ride and is so slow and noisy that anything other than short journeys are positively painful. Having said that, it is way ahead of the Mahindra. And it has a stereo”
“Rocsta offers an exciting range of approved accessories, from the highly practical to the supremely stylish”
It was all about lifestyle, at the end of the day, and for a while the Asia Rocsta was a credible fashion accessory. Today, howmanyleft tells us that there are 41 of them still licensed on British roads, which, if I’m honest, is a far greater number than I expected.
(All images are of original manufacturer publicity materials, photographed by me. Copyright remains property of, by the looks of things, Kia. Well, it was inevitable really

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

  1. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    These look like a TootsieToy. It sort of looks like a Jeep, but the dimensions aren’t quite right, it doesn’t look like the doors open and if you step on it the axle will bend.

  2. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    What a jewel!

  3. Jofes2 Avatar
    Jofes2

    I can’t slip it in to the conversation in any smooth way, but this will probably still be the best opportunity for a long time to come for me to share this picture of an Asia Towner with anyone.
    http://only-carz.com/data_images/gallery/01/asia-towner/asia-towner-05.jpg

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      Secure my pint old bean and observe this ….

  4. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    what ??

  5. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Seems as good a place as any to ask this-
    I was in the mall (not entirely by my choosing) yesterday, and in one of the stores there was an ad, and in that ad there was what appeared to be a 4 door CJ, with a hardtop that looked real similar to a Defender. Some of the car wasn’t visible in the picture, but what could be seen of the front end was unmistakably CJ. Anyone know what it might have been?

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      Overlander, made in Australia back in the day. There were a few four door troop carrier types.

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        Carrier

        1. Jeepster Avatar
          Jeepster

          Whoops – got my photos out of line, the one pictured above is a K9 (CJ10 to some ) made by SsangYong Korea. This it ?

          1. Jeepster Avatar
            Jeepster

            there are several more, Here : http://cj3b.info/World.html This just about covers them all. Enjoy, this site is a fine resource of images and descriptions.

      2. danleym Avatar
        danleym

        It was this top, with 4 doors.

    2. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      Carraço M101 Brazil

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        many variations since they were made all over the world, like this CJ6 made with a full hard top and the number of windows range from 3 to 9. Four door models of these were made in Spain as well.

  6. Jaap Avatar
    Jaap

    Hm, What could be the connection with the Bill Wyman song “Je suis un rocsta”? Would the Rocsta made it to his residence in the south of France? Orrrr, is the song about an identity crisis?

  7. mrh1965 Avatar
    mrh1965

    This may be one of the least utilitarian utility vehicles I’ve ever seen. It will hold a bale of hay! Well, almost, as long as you don’t mind driving around with the tailgate open. And it will hold some lumber.. as long as you tilt it at an extremely awkward angle. Does hold small pieces of firewood quite handily, though. So if you need a tiny, loud, painful vehicle (with radio), think Rocsta!

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      I was 3 mins away from post this altered image the other day…. Jinx