As early as the mid 1970s, the South African Armoured Corps had issued a requirement for a "heavy armoured car" capable of improving upon the Eland's 4X4 chassis, which limited mobility, and the mediocre range of its 90mm low pressure gun. Research was undertaken for a "New Generation Armoured Car" project between 1976 and 1979, when three 8X8 prototypes were built by Sandock-Austral and trialled in Potchefstroom. The prototypes were built using the components of the Ratel, Eland and Alvis Saracen, and were armed with a 77mm HV tank gun. The Saracen and Ratel derivatives could each accommodate four crewmen – gunner, commander, loader and driver – while the Eland derivative accommodated five, including one passenger. These trials were primarily for the purpose of evaluating the vehicles' performance on different types of local terrain; while none of the three were deemed acceptable for the "New Generation Armoured Car" programme, the chassis built with Eland components continued to influence later prototypes—particularly with regards to its suspension features.