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Model developments
Page 25
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Renault Truck's senior vice president Olivier Vidal de la Blache, tells Steve
Banner why he isn't afraid of the truck manufacturer losing its identity.
Anybody waiting for Renault's latest Premium tractor unit to get a power boost to 480hp might as well give up. There are no plans to go beyond the 440hp available now, says Olivier Vidal de la Blache, senior vice president. product and strategy, at Volvo group member Renault Trucks. "Even though the UK, Italy and Spain asked for more power, we believe 440-450hp is enough for a truck in this sector of the market," he says.
He readily admits that this policy has been influenced by concerns that offering a more powerful Premium would simply tempt customers away from the Magnum. which is now available with the 500hp 13.0-litre Euro-5 Volvo engine that was launched at the recent RAI show in the Netherlands.
Nor, de la Blache adds, will Renault be pursuing the idea of launching a rebadged version of Nissan's Atleon 7.5-tonner (not sold in the UK) as a budget-priced stablemate to Midlum and a rival to lightweight 7.5-tonners such as Mitsubishi's Canter.
Next generation
A revamped Midlum will be appearing next June, however, powered by new 5.0 and 7.0-litre Euro-4 engines that have been developed jointly by Deutz and Volvo's powertrain division. It will have the exterior styling of the recently facelifted existing model, while the interior will draw much of its inspiration from the new Premium.
June will also bring a Euro-4 Kerax with a version of the cab fitted to the latest Premium, says de la Blache:"The interior will use different materials and colours to reflect the fact that it's for use in the construction industry," he adds.
Equipped with much the same driveline as Premium, including the 11.0-litre engine (but excluding Optidriver), the new model will be assembled in France rather than Spain, the home of its predecessor. It will be produced with both light and heavy-duty chassis.
As far as Euro-4 and Euro-5 are concerned. Renault and Volvo have nailed their colours to the SCR mast. De la Blache believes that developments based on this technology will be essential to achieve the even stricter emissions limits that will follow on from Euro5. He also believes SCR will eventually supplant EGR in the USA.
"While it will be possible to meet the US 07 limits with ECiR and a particulate filter, we think the debate over whether to use SCR will be back on for US 10," he explains."incidentally, US 07 won't come cheap — it will add $6,000 to $10.000 to the cost of a truck.
SCR for Euro-4 won't come cheap either, and de la Blache makes no bones about what it will do to the price of a Renault across Europe."The increase will be between €3,500 and €5,000 depending on the size of truck," he warns.
Meanwhile Renault is working on alternative fuel technologies. including biodiesel, hybrids, and compressed natural gas (CNG).
"We're using a French company called PVI to convert Midlums to run on CNG because at around 200 a year the volume is low and it doesn't make sense to put the vehicles through our own factories," de la Blache explain: "We've been working with PVI to produce thi Puncher [low-cab RCV chassis] too."
Of these fuels he believes biodiesel has 01 most potential in the short to medium-term.bu in France, Germany and Italy rather than tit UK: "Hybrids will have a role to play too, bu only in the longer term."
Maintaining identity
Despite the increased sharing of component de la Blache isn't worried about Renault truck losing their identity to become rebaclgeo Volvos, There's still plenty of opportunity differentiate the two ranges, he believes:"Tak Optidriver, for instance. It uses a comma platform, but on Premium we've been able ti tune it to meet the needs of our customers.
"And if you look at the latest Premium cat features such as the way the dashboard i designed and the stress on good ergonomics ar very much part of the Renault heritage.
"Incidentally,we see a huge trend in favour c Optidriver." de la Blache continues. "At presen it's fitted to 50% of the Magnums we sell, an we expect that to rise to 80% very shortly."
While a Renault-badged Atleon may be non-starter, de la Blache and his colleague hold regular talks with other manufacturers and not only in Europe and the USA.
-We have all sorts of ideas that we don't wan to discuss with our main competitors." he say "But we are prepared to discuss them wit Russian and Indian truck manufacturers, an Chinese manufacturers such as Dong Feng."