25th Anniversary Freightliner Argosy Revealed

[kscarbel2]

Australasian Transport News / August 28, 2014

Limited-edition Freightliner Argosy trucks add a touch of luxury

Three Freightliner dealerships are releasing limited-edition, new-look Argosy trucks to celebrate 25 years of the brand’s presence in Australia.

Earlier this year Freightliner unveiled a limited-edition Coronado, and now it is following up that effort with an Argosy version.

Like the limited-edition Coronado, just 25 of the trucks have been made, and they bring with them a host of aesthetic and comfort improvements.

All of these modifications were done at the one place, Stillwell Trucks in Sydney, in order to guarantee a consistent look and feel.

Freightliner’s first foray into the Australian market in 1989 was the FLC112 coming off the assembly line in Mulgrave, Victoria, but it wasn’t until 2000 that the first Argosy cab-over truck was introduced.

The ‘new-generation’ Argosy arrived in 2011, bringing with it a more modern design.

"The Argosy was our hero truck, and has been for many years in the Freightliner line-up. We probably haven’t seen as much activity as we would have expected over this first 8 months of the year, so we’ve decided to be proactive and lift the profile of the truck by taking it into a new level of comfort, quietness and class," Stillwell Trucks managing director Steve Shearer says.

"We wanted to reinvigorate the Argosy into the market," Shearer adds.

An immediately noticeable change on the exterior of the truck is the deeper grill and the addition of a shiny new Whitlock bull bar, complete with a 25th anniversary badge.

The interior has also undergone a facelift, with leather and suede being a theme throughout the cabin.

"Our Argosy had a hard plastic dash area, it didn’t portray it as a high-quality truck, and it wasn’t where it needed to be. What we’ve done is give it a European-style feel," Shearer says.

The seats have also been orthopedically redesigned and reupholstered.

Further, insulation material has been added to the floor of the cabin to reduce noise and vibration in both the seating and bunk area.

"The quietness of the cabin is something to behold, it doesn’t sound like you are in an Argosy," Shearer adds.

Not much has changed on the engine side, with the limited-edition versions retaining the Argosy’s Detroit Diesel DD15 engine. This also means that the engine will continue to have the 5-year/one-million kilometre warranty.

Stillwell Trucks in Sydney is just one of three Freightliner dealerships that will be selling the Argosys, the other two being Whitehorse Trucks in Melbourne, and Daimler trucks in Adelaide.

Argosy customers will be invited to the official unveiling of the limited-edition model, which will be at a launch event held on September 15 at all three dealerships.

https://www.freightliner.com.au/25-years-in-australia

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[Bigdogtrucker]

Looks like something from Toys R Us

[carlotpilot]

phew'''''''''''''''

[Red Horse]

1963 Seaburg Juke Box!

[Bobby j]

Looks like one of those transformer cartoon trucks.........bobby j.

[kscarbel2]

I think the Freightliner Argosy II is an absolutely stunning COE. Their engineers did a marvelous job. The grille reminds of the sharp looking new grille on the impressive new Hyundai Xcient.

Perhaps some of you don't care for the grille on the 25th anniversary variant extending downward into the bumper area. It arguably makes the grill too obtrusive. I myself prefer the standard version with the uninterrupted front bumper (as shown below).

With the soon demise of the International 9800i, the Freightliner Argosy II and Kenworth K200 will be the last COEs produced by American brands.

These trucks are built in Cleveland, North Carolina, and then shipped SKD (semi-knocked down) to other global regions including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Ironic that they're built in the U.S., but Americans operators can not buy one (Wal-Mart has purchased glider kits).

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[Vladislav]

Thank you for sharing.

The overall view (of the stock version) doesn't look bad.

The interior is impressive.

And that's interesting they produced in the States.

[maint1]

Kind of like the look. Don't know what the hobby will be in 50 years, can't imagine an auction with a " Barn Find Cascadia".

[Red Horse]

Speaking of Cascadia, same thought-grill is FUGLY IMO. I know cooling has a new priority but the grill is in excess. Ahh-remember the days when a grill consisted of a set of shutters! Now THAT was functional!

[bbigrig]

Mack could have done all of that with the MH. Shame on pre Volvo Mack for not taking that design to its full potential.

That's a whole other thread on here.

[kscarbel2]

Mack could have done all of that with the MH. Shame on pre Volvo Mack for not taking that design to its full potential. That's a whole other thread on here.

From the late 1980s, heavy COEs disappeared from the line-ups of most US truckmakers in the US market due to changing weight laws. Freightliner and International held on a little longer because of a few large fleets (Schneider, Wal-Mart) that wanted to continue using COEs.

But in the end, due to the shortage of experienced U.S. drivers combined with their demands for conventional cab trucks, the COE disappeared.

I personally prefer COEs, in every way superior to a conventional cab truck. No surprise the COE is the most popular configuration worldwide.

Why did the MH disappear from 1989?

Mack lost direction for 11 months in 1989 with the appointment of the unqualified Ralph Reins as president. Without any experience in the heavy truck industry, this short time Mack president left behind a real mess. He represented the new younger executive that changes companies every few years. (Joe Rossetti should have gotten the job)

From that point, Mack's product line-up became a victim of a vicious European struggle between Renault and Volvo. Wanting to buy up more US market share, Volvo set their sights on Mack Trucks (having already acquired the market share of White, Autocar and GMC).

Volvo met with Marc Gustafson, Mack’s vice president of sales and marketing from 1992, and paid him off to be a traitor for the Volvo cause. Gustafson plotted with Volvo against Mack Trucks, in return for a future position as CEO of Volvo Trucks North America.

Gustafson began making product decisions at Mack in line with Volvo's future goal of Mack ownership. Note the time period, 1992-1996. This is when Mack lost momentum and direction. For example, he prevented a Super-Liner III in North America because Volvo planned for the Mack brand to focus on vocational while the Volvo brand worked the on-highway segment. For the global market, Volvo wanted their COEs to be the undisputed leader. Thus, Volvo did NOT want a Mack Ultra-Liner or Ultra-Liner II stealing their possible heavy COE market share in the global arena.

From the end of 1996 to mid-2001, another pro-Volvo man, Michel Gigou from Renault, was inserted into the head position at Mack to keep things on course towards a Volvo takeover. Like Gustafson, Gigou was generously rewarded, becoming president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America from mid-2001, and senior VP of Volvo Group from 2004.

[mack mhe9]

Think we should all take a ride to this Gustafson's place and say thanks a lot you big A HOLE.

[2stacksuperdog]

Gustafson was brought to court by mack but im not sure what the outcome was. Obviously vovlo is still ruining it everyday but did keep it alive and being a died out company.

But anyways the newer cabovers are ugly. Nothing like the old KWs and F models or G-models, etc.

[keg1]

I was talking to a guy up in Canada yesterday and he said there are some new Freightliner cab overs running around .

[bbigrig]

I was talking to a guy up in Canada yesterday and he said there are some new Freightliner cab overs running around .

The new Freightliners up here are Glider kits as well. Companies like Manitoulin, Packers Transport, Fairway Transport etc... All purchased 60 Series (RE-Powered LOL) Argosy Cabovers. They only had to be missing 2 Major components (usually axles and trans) and swapped out with an older Argosy VIN# which all fleets mentioned ran Argosy's. The rebuilt 60 series engines had almost all brand new parts on and in them with 90's emissions.

The Manitoulin Argosy's are Tri-Drive rears with 20,000lbs front axle tractors with a 12' box mounted on the tractor (Also known as a "Super Truck") and haul 53' 4 or 3 axle trailers up into Northern Ontario and into Western Canada.

The rules changed closing the loop hole in January not allowing any Gliders to be powered with less then model build date emissions.(2014 glider build must have 2014 EPA engine) So the sudden influx of Cabover or any worthwhile glider is over up here in the Great White North. The Fad has faded away.

[bbigrig]

From the late 1980s, heavy COEs disappeared from the line-ups of most US truckmakers in the US market due to changing weight laws. Freightliner and International held on a little longer because of a few large fleets (Schneider, Wal-Mart) that wanted to continue using COEs.

But in the end, due to the shortage of experienced U.S. drivers combined with their demands for conventional cab trucks, the COE disappeared.

I personally prefer COEs, in every way superior to a conventional cab truck. No surprise the COE is the most popular configuration worldwide.

Why did the MH disappear from 1989?

Mack lost direction for 11 months in 1989 with the appointment of the unqualified Ralph Reins as president. Without any experience in the heavy truck industry, this short time Mack president left behind a real mess. He represented the new younger executive that changes companies every few years. (Joe Rossetti should have gotten the job)

From that point, Mack's product line-up became a victim of a vicious European struggle between Renault and Volvo. Wanting to buy up more US market share, Volvo set their sights on Mack Trucks (having already acquired the market share of White, Autocar and GMC).

Volvo met with Marc Gustafson, Mack’s vice president of sales and marketing from 1992, and paid him off to be a traitor for the Volvo cause. Gustafson plotted with Volvo against Mack Trucks, in return for a future position as CEO of Volvo Trucks North America.

Gustafson began making product decisions at Mack in line with Volvo's future goal of Mack ownership. Note the time period, 1992-1996. This is when Mack lost momentum and direction. For example, he prevented a Super-Liner II in North America because Volvo planned for the Mack brand to focus on vocational while the Volvo brand worked the on-highway segment. For the global market, Volvo wanted their COEs to be the undisputed leader. Thus, Volvo did NOT want a Mack Ultra-Liner or Ultra-Liner II stealing their possible heavy COE market share in the global arena.

From the end of 1996 to mid-2001, another pro-Volvo man, Michel Gigou from Renault, was inserted into the head position at Mack to keep things on course towards a Volvo takeover. Like Gustafson, Gigou was generously rewarded, becoming president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America from mid-2001, and senior VP of Volvo Group from 2004.

Few questions here.......

1. When or how did the MH disappear in '89 when it was built into 1993?

2. Why do you refer to the Super liner II as something that never came out, when the end of RWS production it became Super Liner II (RW6-713) in aprrox. '86?

3 The RWII and MHII were more known as Aussie product lines, were they not? Australia has been an anomaly of wonderful Mack products and proper engineering. It is very evident that the North American control and influence was rarely there. Add to tha,t Aussie Mack has a huge integration of Renault products and designs in comparison to Mack North America. Today Australia still has products North America wishes it had. Australia gave up on the MH and Ran with the Magnum did they not?

4. I know you are aware at the end of MH production Renault tried to get Mack to sell The Magnum in North America.

I was there setting up a Red Renault branded Magnum at the Toronto Truck Show in 1994 to test the market. (Lots of interest up until they saw the size of the sleeper compartment)

Later you will recall they tried the Magnum again in 2000 with E-tech power and Eaton Auto shift trans.

Were failures like this all about leadership as you put it, or more about poor product lines and change of market needs? Freightliner and International saw a niche and built on it. Mack choose not to.

5. 1992-1996 saw the growth of the CH and CL product line which were doing quite well at the time. At that time cabover orders were falling and companies like Scnieder and J.B. Hunt were starting to integrate coventionals into their fleets. Idiots running the show or not, Somehow sales giants like Freightliner and Navistar were able to continue to carry their cabover models into the 2000's and beyond. Mack became a company that says" Here is our product, make it work in your fleet". Rather then "What can we do with our cabover product to make it work for your fleet?"

[kscarbel2]

Few questions here.......

1. When or how did the MH disappear in '89 when it was built into 1993?

2. Why do you refer to the Super liner II as something that never came out, when the end of RWS production it became Super Liner II (RW6-713) in aprrox. '86?

3 The RWII and MHII were more known as Aussie product lines, were they not? Australia has been an anomaly of wonderful Mack products and proper engineering. It is very evident that the North American control and influence was rarely there. Add to tha,t Aussie Mack has a huge integration of Renault products and designs in comparison to Mack North America. Today Australia still has products North America wishes it had. Australia gave up on the MH and Ran with the Magnum did they not?

4. I know you are aware at the end of MH production Renault tried to get Mack to sell The Magnum in North America.

I was there setting up a Red Renault branded Magnum at the Toronto Truck Show in 1994 to test the market. (Lots of interest up until they saw the size of the sleeper compartment)

Later you will recall they tried the Magnum again in 2000 with E-tech power and Eaton Auto shift trans.

Were failures like this all about leadership as you put it, or more about poor product lines and change of market needs? Freightliner and International saw a niche and built on it. Mack choose not to.

5. 1992-1996 saw the growth of the CH and CL product line which were doing quite well at the time. At that time cabover orders were falling and companies like Scnieder and J.B. Hunt were starting to integrate coventionals into their fleets. Idiots running the show or not, Somehow sales giants like Freightliner and Navistar were able to continue to carry their cabover models into the 2000's and beyond. Mack became a company that says" Here is our product, make it work in your fleet". Rather then "What can we do with our cabover product to make it work for your fleet?"

From 1989 to its demise from the order books in 93, we sold very few MHs in the states (we did export). The trend to conventionals continued.

I said Super-Liner II referencing the states when I should have said Super-LIner III. Since the Super-Liner has never left production down under and the current variant is their Super-LIner II, I used that description out of habit (which indeed confused - sorry).

The Super-Liner II (RWI - MH chassis) was a US platform. For standardization, the Aussie Cruise-Liner was built on the R-model platform. I have to think about the MH and RWI down under.

There never was a Ultra-Liner II (but there certainly should have been). I regret the late production speedometer/tach cluster design change, as it lacked in appearance.

"It is very evident that the (Mack) North American control and influence was rarely there" Not the case at all.

The Renault Magnum was a great COE with a strong following in Europe. But it was completely wrong for North America.

[BC Mack]

There never was a Ultra-Liner II (but there certainly should have been).

kscarbel2

can I assume you are referering to the US production?

attached photo stolen from flikr of an Aussie MH with what appears to be a raised up cab, extra cab step and revised front corner panel with the door logo "ultra-liner II".. was this a factory logo or an owners add-on?

BC Mack

[bullhusk]

Mack would have been better off if the Germans (Dem Benz) bought them! At least they would have let them go out on there own an have given the US market what they want and not tellin them what they should have!

BULLHUSK

[kscarbel2]

kscarbel2

can I assume you are referering to the US production?

attached photo stolen from flikr of an Aussie MH with what appears to be a raised up cab, extra cab step and revised front corner panel with the door logo "ultra-liner II".. was this a factory logo or an owners add-on?

BC Mack

That's a set-back front axle product made specifically for Australia (1993-1998), and it might have been built on the RB chassis. Note that although it does have a set-back front axle, it did not adopt a cab step arrangement ahead of the steer axle as did the Mack FM (the common step arrangement on European trucks). Understandably, the MH 8x4s utilized the axle-forward cab configuration.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/30466-when-mack-roamed-europe-the-middle-east-africa-and-western-asia/

Of course America and most global markets (Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Western Asia) purchased our axle-forward variant. With these global markets in mind, an updated Ultra-Liner (or a totally evolved Ultra-Liner II) would be as good if not better than the impressive Freightliner Argosy II and Kenworth K200.

When you're in South Africa today in year 2014 and see as many Freightliner Argosies on the highway as you do MANs, Scanias and Volvos, you're warmly reminded that American brands can compete in the global COE market. Thus the MH's premature demise is all the more regretful.

The Mack MH Ultra-Liner represented a stunning example of form and function. Bristling with advanced engineering, the Mack Ultra-Liner remains the safest U.S. COE cab design still to this day. The Mack Ultra-Liner was the finest heavy COE ever designed by a U.S. truckmaker, and was retired long before its time.

While the MH Ultra-Liner was no longer available in North America after 1993, it continued to be built for export thru 1997, to Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Israel. Australia sold MHs thru 1998, New Zealand thru 1999. Chile and Israel received CBUs (Completely Built Units), while Australia and New Zealand MHs were shipped as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits.

Since 2000, because Volvo Group wants the Volvo truck brand to lead in global (overseas) markets with the FM and FH, they would never allow their Mack brand to have a heavy COE.

[kscarbel2]

But anyways the newer cabovers are ugly.

Perhaps the stunning Kenworth K200 is more to your liking. It still looks like a Kenworth.

(Unlike the new-in-2012 Kenworth T680 and Peterbilt 579, both using the cheap and blandly styled new common cab that is reminiscent of a child's plastic toy truck, which leaves me concerned about Paccar's future product pipeline).

http://www.kenworth.com.au/fileadmin/site/brochures/Model_Range/K200_web.pdf

http://www.kenworth.com.au/model-range/model-range/k200/

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[bbigrig]

Mack Australia did its best to distance itself from Mack's North American influence. Models like the Metro Liner which could do well in the North American city p/d market and heavy use of the Renault cross over products show a different influence on product development then here.

A former Canadian Mack bigwig had the pleasure of heading down under for years helping make Mack a stronger product line. Its very evident his return to North American engineering rule had clipped his wings as he sunk back into the "toe the line way" of product development here.

Customers here in Canada pressured Mack for years to make certain models like Trident, Aussie SuperLiner, and Titan available here for heavy haul. I know of customers that went as far as pricing out importing Aussie Macks to use here. Mack N.A.wanted no part of it.

Even the interiors and sleeper options of the Mack models down under show a higher level of customer influence rather then US Head Office oversight.

The current US Mack Titan is a prime example of Australian Mack leading the way in product design and customer influence. We here in North America got the "Dumbed Down" version of a well designed truck for heavy markets with no sleeper options while our Aussie friends get all of the bells and whistles.

Sure there are certain models and designs that went from here to there, but you cant deny that Aussie Mack has a better coverage of all bases when it comes to available models from light city delivery to heavy haul.

Something we lack immensely.