AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

CONFIDENCE BOOSTER

11th March 2004, Page 62
11th March 2004
Page 62
Page 63
Page 62, 11th March 2004 — CONFIDENCE BOOSTER
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Over the past year or so. we've looked closely at the other three contenders, MAKMercedes and Oshkosh, in the battle for the lucrative contract to supply 8,000 trucks to the British army.The fourth, from the Texan firm of Stewart & Stevenson (S&S), has been a bit more elusive. but CM has now tracked one down in the UK and driven it, even if it was only around LDV's yard.

The S&S military line is handled by a dedicated operation called TVS (Tactical Vehicle Systems), and TVS (UK) has now been set up, based in LDV's Drews Lane headquarters. Its managing director is a refreshingly hands-on engineer,Ted McQuinn. McQuinn, formerly S&S vice-president, quality. comes from a background that includes time at Dana and Allison,where he was involved in the design of the World Series transmission.

The confidence in its bid is demonstrated by the readiness of a newly redecorated and carpeted office building at Drews Lane. ready to accommodate the 50 or so staff required if it gets the contract, with many key players already earmarked. Its confidence is based, naturally enough, on its belief that it has the best product. in terms of price, performance and proven reliability. It also argues a convincing case for its UK content, a politically sensitive issue addressed to varying degrees by all four contenders.

The S&S proposal will see 140 UK companies being invited to tender for everything bar the Caterpillar/Allison/Mentor driveline and the chassis rails. Although overseas firms will also be invited, British companies should be able louse the benefit of being local to their advantage.The trucks would be built in Birmingham, where LDV's busy press shops would produce the cab and other component WV hopes that it could provide S&S in the US with significant numbers of pressings— it exports one item, a cab grille.already.

S&S has another strong card in its hand — approval of the unions. Both Amicus and till Transport and General Workers' Union have publicly backed the S&S bid.As well as LDV, the other UK partners in the bid are Lax and Multidrive.

The Stewart & Stevenson FMTV The vehicle that S&S hopes will be the army': new mode of transport to the front line is based on the FMTV Al, short for family of medium tactical vehicles. In US army form, of which there are 22,000 examples in service the FMTV Al comes with 7.2-litre Caterpilla 3126 engines, rated at 275 or 330hp.Transmission is an Allison MD 3070 PT seven-speed torque converter automatic, controlled by the push button panel familiar to most Britisl bin wagon drivers. Axles, all of which are driven, are Arvin Mentor beams with stee parabolic leaf springs.The layout is totally conventional.

The US has its trucks in 4x4 and 6x6 configuration. but the UK requirement for an eight-legger can apparently be met by a mod fled 6x6. Other changes for the UK are largel limited to modifications to the braking syster Accommodation is in a completely frill-frc ;teel cab, designed to be fully resistant to the :reatment meted out by soldiers who may lot be in the mood to respect the niceties of _nterior. decor. In fact, the interior is so spartan .hat it is the only one of the four brands we lave now driven not to have a suspension seat or even the driver.

This, combined with the rather firm suspen;ion, meant that even a couple of ordinary ;peed humps in the LDV estate were best .reated with respect. but the solid seat makes :omparisons unfair. Although the vehicle is ;aid to be capable of negotiating a two-foot iertical wall, we can imagine that a high-speed .:ross-country drive into battle would certainly lave the occupants fighting mad. Performance mi the unladen 330hp 4x4 that we drove was :ertainly lively enough. though. Although the full official launch of LDV 's new van is scheduled for November, with production due to start in July, we are assured that the finished product will be on display at the NEC CV Show next month, albeit in a glass case. At the launch, the van will have a name rather than a number, but for now it's still known only by its internal code name.

The LD100 will cover the full GVVV range from 2200, to 3,500kg, with the largest version going on sale first. LDV says the choice of engine supplier is still only 99.9% decided", apparently due to the lack of a signature on the dotted line, but the driveline will definitely be powering the front wheels. The LD100 will be produced alongside existing models for the first two years or so.

LDV's plans to get the new van into production were sealed with an agreement with venture capitalist 3i in December that sees the van maker's operational funding stand at E90m. The E125m kit of manufacturing tools has now arrived from Poland on site at Drews Lane, and most of it is unpacked and ready for work. The kit comprised virtually an entire factory, from the steel framed building to oil filling pumps, and included enough bits to build around 20 prototype vans. Actually getting the tools from Poland was a challenge; some of the pallets weighed as much as 32 tonnes.

Although, if the original partnership with Daewoo hadn't collapsed, the new model could feasibly have been on sale in 2001, LDV is confident that it will still have strong market appeal at its launch. That appeal must be more widespread than that for the existing range. To achieve the sort of sales volumes that LDV expects, and needs, it will have to sell in much greater numbers in continental Europe than the relative handful of Pilots and Convoys that have sold in France and Holland. It plans to expand into considerably more countries, in both east and west Europe, although it admits Germany may be a serious nut to crack. A Produclion is due to start in July


comments powered by Disqus