MAN Latin America opens new proving grounds

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Volkswagen Truck & Bus Press Release  /  May 11, 2017

With the greatest diversity of obstacles per square meter, the new MAN Latin America proving grounds is the most efficient on the continent in terms of harnessing the space and complexity of the tests. It is the only facility in Latin America with ISO 10,844 international certification relating to vehicle external noise level approval. With 35,500 square meters of area, the equivalent of four soccer fields, the facility is the first for testing of commercial vehicles of the VW Group in Latin America.

Video - https://vimeo.com/216871858

"We have a fleet with over a hundred trucks and Volkswagen and MAN buses in tests all over the country. Every month, they run about 300,000 kilometers. Supporting this testing we have a team of almost 600 professionals devoted to the development of our products. Our investment is significant to ensure quality and consequent customer satisfaction. The new proving grounds arrives to give even more efficiency to this work and integrates the financial resources that we continually apply in the country, "says Roberto Cortes, chairman and CEO of Man Latin America.

One kilometer at the proving grounds can correspond to 50 km on the roads. In all, there are 26 different road conditions for truck testing. It is a high concentration per square meter to create the most demanding scenario possible. High intensity reduces the time of testing, giving even more efficiency to evaluations and positively impacting on the project as a whole of the vehicle.

The undertaking delineates a controlled environment in order to guarantee the reproducibility of the test conditions and thus the best evaluation of the data for the maximum performance of the vehicle in the rounds in everyday situations of the customers. The 26 different events consider, for example, special pavements like river stones, cobblestones, train tracks, undulations in the so-called cow ribs, lumbar, metal plates with patched asphalt and also finely calibrated potholes.

There are special ramps that can reach up to 60% inclination to test custom-sized trucks, such as the Volkswagen Constellation 31.320 6x6 developed for the Brazilian armed forces. Lighter inclinations represent departures and resumes to evaluate brake efficiency and cab tilting. Extreme twist situations serve to validate chassis structural components.

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