IT is fitting that Brussels, the "capital" of the Common
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Market, is to be host to the first European truck show to be held in the enlarged Community.
Belgium is at the geographical hub of the new Market and, having no major national manufacturer of commercial vehicles, is a "neutral" market — and therefore highly competitive. The Show has attracted manufacturers not only from the Common Market countries but from Poland, Japan, Switzerland, USA, Sweden, East Germany, Austria, Spain, USSR and Czechoslovakia as well.
ERF is Laing the occasion to reveal a striking new version of its 38-ton European tractive unit (see page 13) which brings its top-weight vehicles into line with the best in Europe. This company is the only British manufacturer exhibiting a new model, but Foden's S80 cab will be seen for the first time outside Britain, and most of the main UK manufacturers will be represented.
Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will both be making eve-of-show announcements of new developments, and other manufacturers are showing new models or extended ranges. OAF will be cementing its co-operation with its American partner by introducing International Harvester's Paystar 5000-series tipper with a OAF engine. The new combined Fiat-OM light truck range, glimpsed at Earls Court, will get its first full showing at Brussels.
With Brussels the focus of attention for European truck legislation, one could be forgiven for thinking that the show will be concentrated on heavy vehicles but in fact the problem of a "European truck" is a perculiarly British one, if only because we do not produce such a vehicle in any numbers. Important as the heavy truck may be, its numbers are relatively small as a percentage of the total number of commercial vehicles. In Belgium, for example, only one-third of the 300,000 currently registered vehicles are of more than 4 tons gvw. Vehicles of the maximum weight probably represent less than five per cent of the total. Britain's manufacturers are very strong in the lightest and medium vehicle weight ranges and while Continental makers may continue to sell even higher numbers of heavy vehicles in the future, Britain's manufacturers should more than make good that deficit by increased sales of the light and middleweight vehicles to Europe.
British manufacturers' strength in the light and medium ranges will be underlined at Brussels by large exhibits by British Leyland, Bedford and Ford. The latter will have no fewer than 51 vehicles on show, 40 on its own stand and a further 11 on bodybuilders' stands. The 22 Transits on show will have been built at Genk in Belgium but D series trucks are built only at Ford's Langley, plar are exported to Europe complete.
Transits on show vary from sta factory-built vans to a 15-seat bus. I Dagenham-built 2.4-litre diesel c which is shipped to Genk for assem shown in a Transit 125 chassis cab.
Eighteen D series, including 16 tw rigids and two attic units, will be on but no six-wheelers. Many exhibits I fitted with local bodywork including tipper, refrigerated and tanker types.
Bedford will occupy two-thirds General Motors Continental SA with a large display of CF vans an trucks which are assembled in Ant Eleven CF vans will be on show feat engines and the recently enlarged d 2.3 litre petrol engines.
normal-control J6S type will be on together with 13 TK series g from the 5.6-ton-gvw KB to the -gvw KHA. One KG model (12.35 1;vw) will be exhibited in 12ft 7inmise form and fitted with fire tender 'ork by Somati of Brussels; this model atures the improved 466 diesel engine iced at Earls Court last year.
ish Leyland will be represented by a Dri of vehicles from its many marques ng Austin/Morris, the two Scottish es, AEC (and Scammell) as well as and Leyland National. , Leyland Redline Bathgate models he limelight, as Leyland-built trucks e completely absent. Four Terriers ng the new 98-series engines will be , together with a Mastiff. AEC will resented by a Mandator tractive unit with a sleeper cab and fifth wheel.
o other British manufacturers, Foden ERF will also be showing heavy :s with a view to selling them in e. The ERF 38-ton-gcw model reEuropean operating experience. The las been raised by 6in to provide nce for the 12.00 tyres, and can now :d to 68 degrees. It has been further ved by replacing the split screen bY a one-piece glass and making the grille flatter and bolder along the lines of the Scania 110 series.
Fodens will have just one example of their heavy tractive unit on view, which will feature the new glassfibre S80 cab introduced at Earls Court last year. This new cab is a tilt design and will progressively replace all other existing Foden cabs. The show vehicle will be exhibited in right-hand-drive form and have a Rolls-Royce Eagle 220 Mk II engine and a Foden nine-speed gearbox. Lefthand-drive versions will be available in due course but in the meantime, as Foden point out, Continentals operating to Britain could find the rhd version acceptable.
Fiat puts the percentage of trucks under 10 tonnes gvw on the road in Italy as high as 95 per cent, and the new Fiat-OM light transport range which was announced late last year has been designed specifically for this market. At the moment Italy sells less vehicles in Belgium than does Britain but the new Fiat range is undoubtedly intended to help redress that state of affairs. The new Fiat-OM series replaces all the previous models manufactured by the two firms in the 5-10-ton-gvw range, as the basic four Fiat models and nine OM models diversify into over 200 different versions with the various cab and body options.
Fiat and OM models differ only in engines internally, and radiator grills externally, all other assemblies such as chassis, suspension, axles, braking systems, etc being common. Fiat vehicles use fourand six-cylinder versions of the Fiat 800 diesel engine range and the OM versions use the OM CO3 diesel engine. Very few modifications to improve the output of these engines were needed because vehicle power to weight ratios have been improved by lowering vehicle weight. All vehicles in the range have been geared to give a top speed of at least 54 mph and the majority are capable of 60 mph.
While the design breaks no new ground as such the whole range benefits from detail studies for each model weight; for example suspension rates differ for each load category, Driver comfort and safety have been major considerations in the design c new cab. A deep one-piece screen prc excellent forward visibility and a pi steel cab structure which deform acceptable limits on impact combined the elimination of projections and angles, collapsible controls and 11 protection for the legs provide good pi safety.
Fiat's French sister company UM have eight vehicles on show, ranging the light 8.8-tonne-gvw P6A four-w up to the 38-ton-gcw T340A. Four of heaviest vehicles will be on show, tractive units and one 6 x 4 truck. trucks use a Unic 14.9-litre diesel, V85S, which develops 340 bhp (SA 2400 rpm and 795 lbft torque at 140( It is matched to an 8-speed gearbox.
Berliet will be showing a 14.8-litre t in its newly announced TR320 whict replaces the TR300 model. Engine cal has been increased from 12.7 litres tc by increasing the bore by 10 mm mm. Power output has been Men though only by 10 bhp to 310 bhp, bi is produced at a lower rated speed of rpm, a reduction of 200 rpm. Max torque is up 15 per cent to 795 lb.ft other heavy truck exhibits, the TR28 the GR260, have the same high-sta forward-control cab but are fitted wit and 250 bhp versions of Berliet's I six-cylinder in-line engine. Other e) will be GLR200 19-tonne-gvw and 12 6 x 4 30-tonne-gvw (off road) ti] examples of the light vehicle ran 350K and the 880 KB; and the PR 10 bus (CM January 5 1973).
Scania will have nine trucks an buses on show on their own stam several more on bodybuilders' s Medium-weight vehicles are represent L50 and L80 models and heavy vehic 110 and 140 series models. No new n
a to be announced but a bonneted of the 140, the L14042, will be , its debut in Belgium.
, one of the bus models, the BR 855 ch consists of front and rear running — is being shown for the first time in a. This model has a turbocharged DS8 engine, air suspension and is ith an integral body.
o have two eve-of-show announcedet ails of which will be released in r next week's show report in CM. are emphasizing their strongly g position in the EEC with a number extensions to the existing range. The nportant newcomer is a 6 x 6 tipper designated FAZ 2200 DU. This now has a tilt cab and an 8.25-litre targed engine (DU 825) developing
p (DIN). The F2000 series has had a tractive unit added to the range in m of the FT 2000 DHB. It is fitted slightly set-back DU 825 engine and ble for gcw of 28 to 32 tons. Another ode!, the FA 2205 DH, is a two-axle vhich has a 13-tonne drive axle; :s the DH 825 engine which is 163 bhp DIN.
7 and International Harvester will occasion of the Brussels show to the first fruits of the two company's .ation. A recent American Internanodel from the Paystar 5000 series, 070, will be on show fitted with a )KA 1160 engine. This model is a -control 6 x 4 chassis and will aly supplement the OAF tipper t German manufacturers have the share of the Belgian market and Les-Benz is naturally the strongest of and will exhibit models aimed y at the Belgium market. Thirteen tiassis from the Worth factory will be w, among them examples of LPS ad LPS 2032 which use 12.8-litre V8 5.0-litre V10 engines respectively. ;xhibits will be a Belgian-bodied 0302 and a range of Unimogs. Several
significant improvements to the 1-ton van /light transporter range will be announced at the time of the show.
On the passenger front also there will be plenty of interest. The major Belgian psv bodybuilders Van Hool, Jonckheere and Bus and Car Company SA will be well represented. Jonekheere will have nine bodies on their own stand and other examples on Leyland, DAF, Volvo, and Mercedes stands.
The Bus and Car Company will launch a new touring one-and-a-half-deck bus at the show, called the M-12. Construction closely follows that of previous models and it is powered by a rear-mounted GM 6V71 two-stroke engine. Bus and Car have recently delivered six of these buses in right-hand-drive form.