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Volvo Group Press Release / March 14, 2018 Volvo Buses has now sold more than 4000 electrified Volvo buses to customers the world over. The latest order is for 90 hybrid buses from Brussels. Volvo Buses is one of the world´s leading developers of electric and hybrid buses. The advanced technology used in Volvo´s electric buses is also being developed and adapted to other products within the Volvo Group to create sustainable transport systems. The 90 Volvo 7900 Hybrids were ordered by STIB-MIVB, which provides public transport in Brussels. Most of the buses will be delivered and will enter regular traffic this year. With the new hybrid buses, Brussels is taking a significant step in expansion and modernisation of the city’s public transport. The aim is that the entire vehicle fleet should be electrified by 2030 at the latest. “Belgium continues to take the lead for cleaner and quieter urban traffic. Just a year ago we received an equally large order for electrified buses from TEC for the Belgian cities Charleroi and Namur. Now Brussels too is choosing our technology. This is a major success that takes our total sales of electrified buses to over 4000 units,” says Håkan Agnevall, President Volvo Buses. Volvo has sold 90 hybrids and 101 electric hybrids to Belgium. The Volvo Buses range of electrified buses encompasses hybrid buses, rechargeable electric hybrid buses, and all-electric buses. Facts, Volvo 7900 Hybrid The Volvo 7900 Hybrid is propelled entirely electrically and emission-free from standstill up to 15–20 km/h. As speed rises, a small diesel engine is activated. The Volvo 7900 Hybrid offers 30–40 per cent lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions than a corresponding diesel bus. Particle and nitrogen oxide emissions are 50 per cent lower. .

Volvo Trucks Press Release / March 20, 2018 . . . .

Volvo Trucks Press Release / March 18, 2018 . . .

Following in the footsteps of Scania and Iveco, MAN is reported to be developing non-EGR Euro-6 (near EPA2010) emissions engines. Non-EGR engines consume slightly more AdBlue urea (aka. DEF) but have longer engine life, maintenance intervals and higher performance since no exhaust gases are redirected back to the combustion chambers. .

Transport Engineer / March 16, 2018 Volvo Trucks has announced a new version of its low-entry cab (LEC) for the Volvo FE truck, saying this makes the cab suitable for a wider range of transport operations. The manufacturer is now offering a version optimised for the driver and a single passenger, with the option of an air-suspended passenger seat. The new cab option is an extension of the current LEC design, which can transport up to three passengers and offers a walk-through floor. These functions are needed in some operations, says Volvo, but are not necessary in all cases where a low entry could be an advantage. “In city distribution, for example, the driver does all the driving and deliveries alone,” explains Anders Edenholm, sector manager for distribution at Volvo Trucks. “However, the low entry offers a huge ergonomic advantage when you have to enter and exit the cab over 50 times a day, plus the enhanced visibility means improved safety for vulnerable road users,” he adds. The latest version has an engine tunnel instead of a flat floor, and the optional air-suspended seat makes it more suitable for city distribution work, says Volvo. The Volvo FE has a range of powertrain options, including the option to use HVO in the D8K Euro VI engines, and is available with adaptive cruise control and adjustable speed limiter options – both of which will also prove useful for urban distribution, Volvo points out. .

Transport Engineer / March 19, 2018 Cardinalis Concrete has taken delivery of its first Renault trucks, replacing 75% of its fleet with new Renault Range C vehicles. Supplied by dealer Norfolk Truck and Van, the Cambridge-based operator’s new additions are nine Range C460 8x4s, equipped with 9m3 production capacity Reimer ProAll P8525 mobile batch plants, and supplied with two-year full R&M contracts. The vehicles were chosen after discussion with mixer supplier Reimer, as Cardinalis general manager Michele Hall explains: “It was their high recommendation of the Range C chassis and overall package that has seen us convert three quarters of our fleet to Renault Trucks, a manufacturer that we previously haven’t used.” Gary Collar from Reimer says: “The Range C specification is impressive; it’s a whole lot of truck for the money. The high torque PTO of 1600Nm in particular is a great feature with the output above the gearbox at 12 o’clock, which enables a short prop to the machine and allows it to be switched on and off rather than constant, while the 1:54 ratio reduces the operating revs to 975rpm, giving fuel saving potential.” The dealer’s consistently high service levels is another key factor, adds Collar. The Range C is “proving its worth” for Cardinalis on deliveries in and around Cambridge, says Hall, adding: “Negotiating the small, narrow streets of Cambridge, as well as entering awkward and restricted access sites, calls for highly agile and manoeuvrable trucks and experienced drivers.” .

Transport Engineer / March 15, 2018 Humberside manufacturer and retailer Wren Kitchens has taken delivery of the first 25 of a 45-strong order of Isuzu Forward 7-5 tonne rigids, to meet the requirements of a new distribution strategy. The Isuzus will be covering the distribution routes previously handled by the company’s 100 Renault Master vans, delivering from regional sites to city centre customers. Supplied by dealer Thompson Commercials, all 45 of the Forward N75.150 (E) rigid chassis are fitted with purpose-designed demountable bodies and are expected to cover 150,000km a year over a five-year working life. Wren Kitchens operates an overnight trunking service from its manufacturing site in Humberside, using double and triple box-bodied drawbar combinations. At each Wren regional outbase, the demountable drawbar bodies are then transferred to the Isuzu rigids for onward distribution to key urban conurbations. “We undertook considerable due diligence to identify that the payload afforded us by switching to the bigger gvw Isuzus would enable us to operate fewer vehicles in total, while also increasing our efficiency in distribution through the increased payload achieved,” says Lee Holmes, head of transport for Wren Kitchens, adding that the Isuzu’s compact footprint makes it easy to deliver to the same locations as vans. “We have been able to achieve the minimum payload of 2.8 tonnes that makes this operation viable,” he says. “The first 25 Isuzu trucks are now in daily operation and we have had no issues so far, plus the support that we have had from Thompson Commercials has been excellent… Their ongoing service support is ideal for our operation,” adds Holmes. .

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The Australian V8-spec Value-Liner........few trucks are more attractive.

The Trump administration flip-flips (wusses out).......again. And this really mattered.

U.S. drops auto-content proposal in NAFTA talks Reuters / March 20, 2018 The U.S. government has dropped a demand that all vehicles made in Canada and Mexico for export to the United States contain at least 50 percent U.S. content, The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, citing sources. President Donald Trump's administration dropped the demand during the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations in Washington last week, which included talks between Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the Canadian newspaper reported. Freeland's chief spokesman declined to comment on the report and said Canada and United States continued to work well together. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this week that Trump appeared to be "enthusiastic" about coming to an agreement on NAFTA. The quotas for U.S. content in autos have been a major bone of contention for Mexico, Canada and many companies. The Trump administration had been seeking to raise the amount of NAFTA content in light vehicles to 85 percent from 62.5 percent and secure 50 percent of the total for the United States.

Ford, at times, is run like a family business (above example). At other moments, it's not run like a business at all.

Isuzu Commercial Truck of America / March 5, 2018 . .

Western Star Press Release / March 20, 2018 .

Western Star Press Release / March 14, 2018 .

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I haven't seen one of those in years. Those old Constellation Class dilithium crystals were so small, it's a miracle they could make warp 9. Always keep your distance.

Ford pursues deal to buy, redevelop Detroit's Michigan Central Station Automotive News / March 19, 2018 DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is in discussions to purchase the dilapidated Michigan Central Station in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood just outside of downtown. Two sources familiar with the matter said a deal for the automaker to redevelop the 500,000-square-foot former train station off of Michigan Avenue owned for decades by the Moroun family could come as soon as next month. If a deal comes to fruition, it would mark Ford's biggest step back into the city where it was born, three months after announcing that it was going to put more than 200 employees just down Michigan Avenue in The Factory at Corktown building. A redeveloped train station could house more than 1,000 workers, depending on the layout. "At this time, Ford is focused on locating our autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle business and strategy teams, including Team Edison, to The Factory in Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood," Ford spokesman Said Deep said Monday in a statement to Crain's Detroit Business. "While we anticipate our presence over time will grow as our (autonomous/electric vehicle) teams begin moving downtown in May, we have nothing further to announce at this time.” A redevelopment of the depot, which has been abandoned and blighted for three decades since Amtrak stopped service in 1988, would be one of the most expensive and complex local undertakings in recent history, development experts familiar with the property have said in recent months. One source familiar with Ford's pursuit of the train station said the move is aimed at building a workplace in an urban setting that can attract younger workers to the automaker. Ford company officials, including Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., have said talent attraction was a driving factor in Ford buying The Factory building and embedding a team of employees focused on developing the business strategy for selling electric and autonomous vehicles of the future. "Our young people love ... living and working in urban areas," Bill Ford Jr. said in January at the Detroit auto show. .

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/48129-the-good-old-sar/?tab=comments#comment-356276

Diesel News Australia / March 2018 After a big presentation in 2015, the Western Star 2800 seems to have become a soft sell truck. It had disappeared from the radar, before reappearing last year, in the Penske Truck Rental colours. Diesel News puts the conventional light heavy rigid through its paces. By bringing the Western Star 2800SS model into the Australian truck market through its own in-house rental fleet, Penske Commercial Vehicles seems to be taking a softly, softly approach to introducing the new model. The trucks may be on our streets with Penske blue stripes on the body, but they are available to the average truck buyer through Penske dealerships. The low-level entry of the new model is probably well advised. This model is sitting in the most competitive segment of the Australian truck market, one of the most competitive in the world. Up to 20 brands are fighting it out for market share here, and most of them have a model to compete as a 6×2 rigid distribution truck. The most competitive are the four Japanese brands, who all offer an array of choices at 6×2. None of them have a bonnet, though. This distinguishing feature has a lot of history in Australia and is attractive to many truck buyers. Strong growth for the Japanese manufacturers and their pragmatic-but-reliable trucks – followed by an increasing share for European trucks – has seen the traditional preference for a truly North American truck decline in some sectors of the market. What Western Star has here is a truly North American truck with a decent pedigree and adapted to meet the needs of the trucking industry in Australia. This is a US truck through and through, and it comes from a brand that has a reputation for uncompromisingly sticking to the North American truck philosophy. The 2800SS is a Western Star version of the Freightliner M2 Business Class, a truck sold in large numbers in the US. Built in the Freightliner plant at Mount Holly in North Carolina, the M2 Business Class sells in big numbers – around 50,000 each year. It is the staple 4×2 truck sold in the US medium-duty market by Freightliner, and sells as a 6×2 to a certain extent. Its main contender for sales is a similarly styled International, the Durastar, as well as the bonneted Hino from the US, the 600 Series. This 2800 is very much the same truck for the Australian market. The bonnet is different; it has been styled to suit a Western Star, with a more upright radiator grille and the large Star badge dead centre. It looks a bit beefier than its US sibling. The standard truck brought into Australia is the 6×2, with a few 4x2s added into the mix. The lazy axle is not an aftermarket add-on, but fitted on the production line at Mount Holly. In the majority of cases, the trucks have gone into the Penske Truck Rental Fleet, where they join the larger prime movers, MANs and Western Stars, all of which are sourced from Penske brands., They are, however, available for sale in Australia and have been sold to customers. “Anyone can walk into a Western Star Trucks dealership and buy a 2800SS,” says Kevin Dennis, Managing Director of Penske Commercial Vehicles. “We have stock on the ground.” It is fair to say this truck sits at the lighter end of the 6×2 segment. The Cummins ISB 6.7-litre engine puts out 280–350hp (206–239kW) at 2,300rpm and 705–976Nm (520–720 ft lb) of torque at a similar rpm level. This kind of power is a little below the levels offered by the Japanese opposition, but at an acceptable level for the kind of work it will be doing. This power and torque drives through an Allison 3000 RDS Auto gearbox. The controller is the simple push-button one, preferred by those manufacturers building a no-nonsense truck. The front and rear axles come from Detroit. This is pretty much standard across the Freightliner range in the US, but not seen so much here in Australia. .

Owner-Driver / March 16, 2018 "If you’re going to offer a service you’ve got to give 120 percent. If you do that you’re guaranteed to get a second beer out of your client," says Mick Smith of Milin Transport. This comment from the family-owned company founder pretty much sums up the type of bloke that Mick is – hard-working, honest and as cliché as it sounds, ‘true blue’. So what better place to check out a couple of the new Aussie-designed Kenworth T610s at work than at a true Aussie transport company. I say a ‘true’ Aussie transport company because after a sit down with Mick it’s obvious that his work ethic and attitude couldn’t be more Australian than if he was wearing a cork-swinging Akubra, eating a vegemite sandwich and telling me "that’s not a knife". Mick began Milin Transport in 2002 after more than a decade with Russell Transport, a company he speaks very highly of. His years at Russell formed the foundations of the success he has now. The professionalism displayed during his time as an employee and the relationships built are evident in the willingness of customers to get on board and support him when he put his heavy rigid crane truck on the road to start Milin Transport. "People that I’d known for a long time found out I’d gone out on my own, they started to call me, we started servicing those types of people and the company just grew and grew and grew," Mick recalls. Many of his current clients have been with the company since the beginning. It’s Micks approach to the clients that keeps them coming back. "The clients have dictated to me what they need from us, so we’ve just grown from that one crane truck to running B-doubles, road trains and all sorts of stuff all over the country. We’ll go anywhere for our clients," he adds. Mick’s dedication to the customers is equalled by his attitude to his staff around him. "I’m very lucky there as well," Mick comments when talking about the Milin Transport team. "All the people that work here are top notch, they give the business 100 percent. I’ve been fortunate there." The team though are not there by luck. Many have been with him for several years, and his office team mirrors his professionalism and customer-based focus. When it comes to drivers Mick works hard to ensure they have everything they need to get the job done. From full company uniforms, well-maintained equipment and to the most important thing of all – as much family time as possible. However, the effort by the whole team to ensure a good work-life balance is even more complicated when you look at the loads Milin specialises in. While there are a couple of standard weekly loads that Milins do, the majority of their work is, as Mick states, "a lot of machinery, a lot of weird wonderful things". This is the work Mick prefers to focus on. "It’s no different from any other work out there because we do it all the time," he says, playing down the difficulty of some of the loading challenges. "Some get a bit curly; you’ve just got to nut it out." Mick’s drivers are well versed in chaining and strapping and then delivering the loads wherever in Australia the customers need. In the years since its inception Mick’s philosophy has always been to purchase the trucks needed to do the job. There have been a variety of breeds through the Milin colours but a bonneted truck has been on the "damn it, won’t fit list". "I’ve always wanted a bonneted truck, but the 9-0s and SAR were too long," Mick explains. "We have a lot of extendable trailers and with our 12-pallet As and 22-pallet Bs we couldn’t fit one in front of them." Enter Kenworth Australia’s new T610 SAR. Micks desire to give his drivers a truck they could live in for a week, which the 610’s wider cab and 36-inch bunk does – as well as still being able to fit his 12/22 pallet B-doubles – meant he’d finally found a bonneted truck with the unlimited flexibility to work whatever job was required. Singles, B-doubles, extendables to road trains – the T610 could fit in nicely. Though the two T610s are still relatively new, the feedback from both Mick and more importantly the drivers is all positive, especially for the vision out of the cab. "The drivers say the vision out of the truck is just second to none, they can see over top of the mirrors, they can pretty much see all around," he says, complimenting the bonnet and mirror design that allows a good 180 degree view. With a large selection of Milin’s work requiring delivery to large construction sites in some of our busiest cities, vision and manoeuvrability are the two big issues faced. With that covered, the other question was how the T610s were going getting in and around the jobsites. Again, the new prime movers measured up, Mick admitting very little is lost in the turning circle. The set-back axle of the SAR means his drivers are finding the manoeuvrability of the T610s almost as good as their cab-over predecessors. Tracking fuel figures throughout the Milin fleet is always difficult, their loads and even configurations vary so much it’s hard to be spot on. On a month by month basis though, Mick is finding the new T610s are already matching the bedded-in trucks – another tick in the box. Couple that with the Cummins X15 engine fitted to both T610s and the mechanical side of the score sheet is glowing for Kenworth and Cummins as well. Cummins new X15 engine, which Mick happily describes as "the motor that just wants to keep pulling", manages to mix both the pulling power of the old Cummins Gen2 signatures with all the modern day Euro 6 carbon emission regulations without sacrificing any of the performance. Most importantly, the cooling package on the T610s means the drivers don’t have to cover the headlights before a hill so the engine doesn’t overheat at the sight of them. "On weight they heat up a bit on the big pulls but are normally sitting around the 85-90 mark," Mark says. With the trucks road train specked to 110 tonnes that means good performance and reliability for Milin Transport. Mick admits he’s not a fan of light loads, having his trucks up to weight means the gear sits on the road nicer and rides smoother. He adds that the drivers are already noticing the ride comfort increase going from the shorter wheel-based cab-overs. No surprises when I asked how the new interior sits. "They are chalk and cheese to everything Kenworth’s ever built," Mick explains. "They are more of a car inside. "With these they’ve nailed it. Not only is everything well-appointed and easy to function, it just looks good too." The appearance of the new T610s was also a change for the Milin Transport team, commonly seen in white with a blue Z stripe on the side. However, Mick worked with the team at B&K Lines & Signs in the Brisbane suburb Darra to add a different look, the blue base colour influenced by the original T610 demos. While Rocklea Truck Electrical previously fitted their custom sleeper air to all of Milin’s linehaul fleet, these were the first trucks Mick really let the company’s owner Brock McDonald add a bit more shiny-flare to. "I did pester Brock a bit, continually calling to see what stuff he had for the new 610s, ticking some boxes and crossing others." The final turnout suited Mick’s wishes of "make it shine, but not too much". He admits though that Brock did add a couple of real nice personalised pieces to the rear vents and door sills that "look just awesome!" While all these glowing reviews make these prime movers sound like an infomercial for Paccar, the fact is Mick will call a spade a spade when he needs to. "We’ve had a couple of small issues," he admits, "but all those have been fixed up by the boys at Brown and Hurley. "At the end of the day it’s a Kenworth. They’re a well-built truck, and if there is an issue it’ll be fixed under warranty." However, there was a word of warning when Mick had the final say on his new purchases. "These 610s won’t be the last!" .

Isuzu Trucks Australia / March 15, 2018 . . .