Mack Australia – Metro-Liner, the regional carrier’s dream tractor

[kscarbel]

Given the popularity of short-nosed day cab tractors for regional LTL and local delivery, it’s a mystery why the Mack Metro-Liner tractor isn’t offered in America. We see the equivalent short hood Volvo VNM daycab on a daily basis. Or is the reason because Volvo Group doesn’t want their Mack brand to steal market share from the one Volvo model that has any meaningful sales numbers?

While the Pinnacle has a 117.3” (2,979mm) BBC, the Metro-Liner has a 105.1” (2,670mm) BBC, superior to the Volvo VNM’s 113” (2,870mm) BBC for enhanced maneuverability in around town delivery and on the job site.

Both trucks use the Volvo VN series frame (rebadged as Mack “Advantage”). However, while the 113” BBC Volvo VNM daycab is available with the Volvo D11 (MP7) and D13 (MP8), the 105” BBC Metro-Liner is only offered with the Cummins ISL. Certainly the Metro-Liner could also be fitted with the Volvo D11 as the VNM is, or at the very least a Volvo D9 (Mack MP6?).

Volvo made a haphazard attempt at selling the vocational version of the Metro-Liner in America years ago, but it was such a poorly planned execution that most people don’t know. With the success of “baby 8s” in the vocational market and the need for such a truck to meet municipal bids (the mismatched medium Granite isn’t selling), once again one wonders why the Metro-Liner hasn’t been launched into the U.S. market with the same vigor as the Pinnacle and Granite.

http://www.macktrucks.com.au/assets/mack/Australia/specifications/metroLiner_distribution.pdf

[2stacksuperdog]

looks like a American granite to me just with funny looking fenders