first day fare at Euro show
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• The Frankfurt Motor Show, the biggest CV show in Europe this year, has opened with few surprises. The two big German-based commercial vehicle manufacturers, MAN and Mercedes-Benz, have huge stands, as does Iveco (trading under its Magirus badge), but most of the new vehicles which they, and the other manufacturers, have to show were previewed well before the event.
On the Mercedes-Benz stand, the emphasis is on power. The 8 x 4 mixer chassis, badged as a 32.28 points to the hlely uprating of the UKmarket 30.25K tipper soon, with an extra 22kW (30hp). A much more powerful tipper is a 6 x 4 rated at 22 tonnes GVW fitted with the 260kW (350hp) version of the Mercedes voseight engine. Even more powerful is the ultimate in heavy-haulage tractors, the 35.44. This combines the 330kW engine of the 1644 with an 8 x 4 chassis and the transmission to give a tractor with a GVW of 35 tonnes and a maximum fifth-wheel loading of 23.3 tonnes.
At the other end of the scale, Citroen is showing the 70kW turbo diesel version of its cab C25 'Sevel' van, in 2.8 tonne form.
Back in the high-power stakes, Dutch bus-builder Bova has the ultimate in power-perperson in coaches with its "Club Bus" which has the Daf 3600ATi engine to move just 29 people, in a coach with a maximum permissible weight of 17.4 tonnes.
MAN's new light G Range is very much to the fore, an interesting 4 x 4 rapidintervention fire tender. The big vee-10-engined MANs are also in evidence, but the technical interest lies in the 42.361 five-axled unit with a GVW of 42t.
The revised Renault Midliners are rather overshadowed by the company's Virages prototype, while Daf has taken a huge stand to show off its new 95 series — which faces its Cabtec sister, the Pegaso Troner, across the aisle.