AUTA, MŮJ OSUD / CARS, MY DESTINY

It doesn’t matter what you studied, how you grew up or what you were led to do. The only thing that matters is what you were born to do.

Building off-road vehicles has been my passion ever since I was a little kid. When I was nine, I used Lego Technic to build a recovery “boot” for a car wheel, followed by a sophisticated powered front axle and three-gear bevel transmission.

My family, however, was rooted in other fields such as medicine or woodworking and I didn’t get the support I needed. Despite this, I never gave up on my dream. After I finished my studies of microelectronics, I worked shortly as an IT specialist and then founded a company that focused on ICT. After a long fifteen years, I returned to what I always loved doing the most – building vehicles.

The idea of the Hound chassis came to life coincidentally in a mountain cottage six years ago. I didn’t like the build-up of the combustion engine in the legendary Czech terrain vehicle Tatra 805 from the fifties that I completely refurbished together with my uncle. There were several reasons – the engine was too high, making the center of gravity high, the performance was unsatisfactory and most importantly – it required diesel fuel, which meant that refueling amounted to a 30-kilometer long trip in the mountains. From there it was only a small step to the idea of placing an electric motor into the load-bearing pipe.

I am an extremely demanding user. I will not settle for ‘good enough’, I want to create something that will meet all my requirements. Something that will change the rules of mobility outside the safety of asphalt roads. Something that leads to adventure or an extreme experience but, at the same time, can also be used for a good cause or to save a life. This is exactly why the HOUND concept was created.

Robin Polden
Author of the concept and chief designer of HOUND6