Smith named the vehicle Uri, a Khoisan Nama word for "jump", and small scale production began in Witvlei, Namibia in 2001.

Ltd. (UVM) located in Waltloo, a north east suburb of Pretoria, South Africa.

Since 2008, UVM was as a subsidiary of the South African defense contractor Ivema (Pty.)

Ltd.[2] As of 2015, the vehicle is produced by Uri Purposely Built Vehicle (PTY) LTD of Rustenburg, also in South Africa[3] whose cofounders, Andre Squire and Raymond Squire, purchased over all intellectual property in 2015.

[4] The vehicle was originally used in rally, but the designer found out that there could be a market in agriculture, police, military, and the mining industry.