4×4S.ORGTHE REGISTRY EQUIPMENT MAKER · AUSTRALIA

Maker · Equipment maker · Manufacturer · Engineering · Australia

Safari 4x4 Engineering

The Melbourne company that made the snorkel a standard 4x4 accessory. Started in the early 1980s by Peter and Sheryl Luxon as Luxon's 4WD Equipment, Safari has made raised air intakes since 1981, moving from fibreglass to rotationally moulded polyethylene in the 1990s; its Defender snorkel is one of the best-known, and the family firm now runs design at Croydon South, Victoria, with snorkel moulding at Scoresby.

1EQUIPMENT ITEM1981FOUNDED1981VEHICLE YEARSActive since 1981STATUS

History

Safari's business began in the early 1980s as Luxon's 4WD Equipment, founded by Peter and Sheryl Luxon, and the company dates its start to 1981. Its early snorkels were fibreglass, of smaller diameter than today's; in the early to mid-1990s production moved to rotationally moulded polyethylene, the material of the modern Safari Snorkel, and the company claims its designs are now 'a standard accessory on the majority of' popular 4x4 vehicles. The Luxon family still owns the firm, with David Luxon, the founders' son, as marketing manager in 2015.

The headquarters, engineering and research and development are at Croydon South in Melbourne's outer east, Victoria, where the company has had two premises; snorkel manufacturing is at Scoresby, product assembly at Bayswater North, a CNC machining plant at Upper Coomera in Queensland, and a warehouse in Auckland serves New Zealand. The Australian Business Register lists Safari 4 x 4 Engineering Pty Ltd (ABN 11 606 457 372, from June 2015, with the business name Armax Performance from 2019) and Safari Engineering Pty Ltd (ABN 82 649 535 106, from April 2021), both in Victoria postcode 3136; the website also gives the trading name Safari Automotive Pty Ltd.

The Safari Snorkel for the Land Rover Defender, a raised air intake feeding clean air from roof height and raising the wading limit, is sold worldwide — Brownchurch's 2011 UK price list offered 'Safari' UV-stable cross-linked polyethylene intakes for 200Tdi, 300Tdi, Td5 and Td4 Land Rovers — alongside intakes for the Discovery and most Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Ford 4x4s. The company also makes ARMAX performance intakes and exhausts, turbo systems, intercoolers and diesel performance kits, and exports to the Americas, Europe, Asia and South Africa, describing itself as 'very proud to be an exporter'.

Equipment by Safari 4x4 Engineering

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Maker record updated 2026-09-17T06:33:30.423Z · status: researched