Volvo Announces Medium-Duty Mack Truck Line

[Bullheaded]

You wouldn't think so since they are the only one so far other than Autocar to offer the Cummins X12 in their Freightliner and Western Star trucks. They offer Cummins in every class side by side with their Detroit's.

[Hayseed]

PACCAR's refusal to fit the X12 will give Western Star (& to a lessor extent Freightliner) a huge sales Boost.. In my Opinion..

[Maxidyne]

I suspect Daimler is offering Cummins as an option because they have the largest market share and would be vulnerable to an anti-trust lawsuit if they didn't. And from a strictly business point of view, why chase away customers who prefer Cummins power?

[Bullheaded]

Exactly. Our city is just starting to replace their plow trucks with Western Star 4700's to replace the Freightliners and Internationals. And surprisingly they went with Cummins engines in them.

So goes to show, they still get a lot of Cummins customers.

Edit:   And sad to say we have a Mack dealer in town and they have made ZERO effort to sell a Mack plow or dump truck to the city. City even has Freightliner garbage trucks. That just seems wrong! LOL.

[Maxidyne]

Plus the advantage that Cummins has more service points than any competitor- For example, I live 60 miles from a Mack dealer but Daimler and International dealers that service Cummins are only 20 miles away.

[JTFormula]

I, for one, am excited about this. I have been hoping for a Mack medium duty for a while now. While I don't think they will be a big player, I think it is a good option if the price is right. One thing I hope is they have chrome for these. The black treatment is a bit bland. I would love to build a class 6 flatbed rollback for towing. The Cummins is a solid choice considering everything else in that market has that motor. IH, KW, Pete, FL etc. I sell Jerr-Dan tow trucks for a living and the Hino is the leader in this market. Freightliner I would say has the second and KW third. The F650 is the best priced Class 6 truck but the 6.7 Powerstoke does not have the reliability that the Cummins does. My favorite truck out of the ones I sell are the T270/370 chassis. The quality of the truck, the ride, fit and finish outshines over the others in this segment.  I have a few years of driving a Hino flatbed and its very driver friendly with a fishbowl visibility, as well as turning radius that beats all others. Hopefully I will get the chance to drive the MD for comparison. 

[Lmackattack]

On 2/5/2020 at 10:02 AM, james j neiweem said:

I wonder why they did not use the + 4 cab or did they.

Dan said the same thing. I was not aware the CH cab had 2 different cab depths like the R model did. I never really followed the CH model thru the years. That is odd that they went with the short BBC cab when a deeper CH cab would offer more space for day cab. Heck if a Bench seat was offered a few more inches is always needed for the guy having to ride in the middle. and that shiftier sticking out of the dash is horrible. no reason it could not be put on the dash with push buttons like the new trucks have. I have never understood the short BBC that todays mfg strive for. Id rather have more leg room and have to move the seat a notch or 2 forward than to drive a cramped cab with the seat banging against the rear wall. The truck looks promising and has potential if volvo dont fuck it up like they did with the titan. yes late to the game (as always) but I do think it has a shot if it proves reliable.

[kscarbel2]

In the same vein that the Kenworth T440 and T470 have a deeper cab, a modification of the T270/370 cab.

https://www.kenworth.com/media/9819/kenworth_t440_brochure.pdf

[Maxidyne]

There's already a couple extended cabs developed, a same width version for the Australian market and wider sleeper cabs for the North American market. Offer this truck with a sleeper and it'd be a hit with the "expeditors"!

[kscarbel2]

24 minutes ago, Maxidyne said:

There's already a couple extended cabs developed, a same width version for the Australian market and wider sleeper cabs for the North American market. Offer this truck with a sleeper and it'd be a hit with the "expeditors"!

Please correct me if I'm wrong........I don't think the expeditor market is anywhere as big as it was at the peak some years ago.

[Maxidyne]

There's been something of a "shakeout" of the excess capacity and the traditional carriers are offering expedited services, but the expeditors trade trucks often and buy enough trucks to justify a sleeper cab option on medium duty trucks. There are also markets like tow truck drivers who need a back seat to carry passengers or to log sleeper time on a long haul, Postal Service contractors who run straight trucks and lay over between runs, etc..

[james j neiweem]

I don't see why they didn't offer the plus four CH cab. May bee they are trying to use up the old cabs( Minus four) like they did with the L cab with the B and C series Macks.

[mackdaddy]

On 1/30/2020 at 8:11 PM, convoyduel said:

Interesting that they went with the earlier CH style shallow rear wall cab, I guess to get the BBC down.   Nice looking truck but the auto shifter is straight out of a mid 90’s setup.  Also, without a crew cab option, they miss out on a lot of muni/state DOT sales.  Hopefully they aren’t priced like the Titan was.  

Is the cab the same width as a CH or did it get narrowed down?

 

[JTFormula]

I got a copy of the brochure for the new MD which has all the specs. Check it out. 

MD6.pdf

[Bullheaded]

Would it be too much to ask to get a sun visor, chrome grill and bumper and some Bulldog mirrors?

[kscarbel2]

An Australian Metro-Liner hood (pictured below) with redesigned Anthem-style fenders.

.

[Red Horse]

On 2/10/2020 at 4:56 PM, JTFormula said:

I got a copy of the brochure for the new MD which has all the specs. Check it out. 

MD6.pdf 779.94 kB · 14 downloads

MD7?

[kscarbel2]

1 hour ago, Red Horse said:

MD7?

https://www.midontariotrucks.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/405/2020/02/c10c81c9-1056-4533-b51c-bfbc360413f5_Mack_MDSellSheet_Class7-web.pdf

[kscarbel2]

I hate to pop Volvo's bubble, but a manual transmission should still yet be an option on the MD.

The market share leader Freightliner M2 106 is available with four manual transmissions, from a 6-speed Benz unit to 9-, 10- and 11-speed Eaton units.

https://freightliner.com/trucks/m2-106/specifications/

[Bullheaded]

4 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

I hate to pop Volvo's bubble, but a manual transmission should still yet be an option on the MD.

The market share leader Freightliner M2 106 is available with four manual transmissions, from a 6-speed Benz unit to 9-, 10- and 11-speed Eaton units.

https://freightliner.com/trucks/m2-106/specifications/

That's not the corporate mantra! It is "You take what we give you!" LOL

[kscarbel2]

Volvo Shows Off New Mack Medium-Duty Line at Work Truck Show

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  March 4, 2020

Rolled out to the media in late January, the new medium-duty MD Series of trucks was publicly revealed for the first time on March 4 in Indianapolis at the NTEA’s 2020 Work Truck Show.

The MD Series consists of the MD6, a Class 6 model, with a GVWR of 25,995 pounds, and the MD7, a Class 7 model, with a GVWR of 33,000 pounds.

“Mack is extremely proud to reach even more customers through our medium-duty Mack MD6 and MD7 models,” said Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks’ senior vice president of North American sales and marketing, at a media briefing on the show floor.

“With these trucks, Mack now offers a complete lineup of Class 6 to 8 vehicles,” he continued. “The Mack MD Series will enable us to meet the needs of those customers desiring Mack’s legendary durability in a lighter-weight GVWR configuration.”

HDT’s full report on the recent introduction of the MD Series can be read here. Also in conjunction with the show, Allison Transmission announced that its 2500 transmission will be the standard transmission.

At the WTS briefing, Randall said that while full production of the medium-duties will begin at Mack’s new assembly plant near Roanoke, Virginia, in July, the truck maker started accepting orders two weeks ago.

Turning to the overall commercial truck market, Randall gave his forecast of North American truck sales for 2020: 240,000 units. “Historically,” he pointed out, “that’s still a pretty strong market; it’s a reversion to the mean.

“We’re still bullish on this market,” Randall continued. “For us, it’s just a shift in the product mix [that will raise sales figures].” He explained that while last year, 48% to 49% of new truck registrations were for linehaul models vs. work trucks, this year that percentage is down around 42% or $43%, which is “in favor of work trucks,” historically Mack’s bread-and-butter product.

“We’ve got the best-looking iron on the road,” he added, “and we’ll continue to do things to benefit our customers’ bottom line, including keeping our focus on application excellence and bringing out new products.”

[kscarbel2]

 

[JTFormula]

On 2/19/2020 at 2:20 PM, kscarbel2 said:

I hate to pop Volvo's bubble, but a manual transmission should still yet be an option on the MD.

The market share leader Freightliner M2 106 is available with four manual transmissions, from a 6-speed Benz unit to 9-, 10- and 11-speed Eaton units.

https://freightliner.com/trucks/m2-106/specifications/

Honestly, in the class 6 market, no one is ordering any of these trucks as a manual transmission. The non-CDL buyer is looking for an easy to drive truck so they can put any driver in a truck and go. Not once did any of my Freightliner, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Hino, or International buyers ask for a manual transmission. 

 

[kscarbel2]

Volvo Preps for Full Mack MD Production

Heavy Duty Trucking (HT)  /  July 27, 2020

Sweden-based Volvo Group recently began initial production of its all-new Mack MD Series of medium-duty trucks at its Roanoke Valley Operations (RVO) facility in the Roanoke Valley, Virginia.

Full production of the Mack MD Series is scheduled to begin September 1.

.

[james j neiweem]

The MHD couldn't work its way down maybe the MD will be able to work its way up.