Trio gangs up on mid-range
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/ The relationship between Renault and Volvo has produced a new engine range for midrange trucks, developed jointly by the French and Swedes in conjunction with Renault's USsubsidiary Mack.
Mack chairman and chief executive officer Elios Pascual says that the power units will be used by each manufacturer. No introduction date has been revealed, but Pascual says that the new engines will be assembled in France, Sweden and Mack's Hagerstown, Maryland plant.
Components will be manufactured in each location, with major components from each participant shipped to the local company for assembly and customisation to suit individual domestic markets.
First indications are that the engines will be in the six to seven-litre range intended for mid-range trucks.
Neither Renault nor Volvo would comment further on their relationship. Previous statements have indicated that they would not use each other's
engines. This presumably would not• preclude the joint development of a new engine range, particularly if each manufacturer adapted the basic design to suit itself.
Mack itself is determined to remain a truck manufacturer and an independent engine supplier, and to prove this the company is updating its engine range to meet forthcoming emissions regulations.
The big 16-litre vee-eight used by Renault in the AE is being prepared for the US standards due in 1994, and is likely to be available for use in Europe up to the end of the decade.
For its 1994-spec engines (equivalent to 1996 Euro 2 emissions performance), Mack believes that minor changes to piston-ring sealing, combustion chamber designer and the injection system and low-sulphur diesel will be sufficient.
Looking further ahead Mack is studying a number of potential solutions for the injection system, including refinements of the traditional in-line pump, electronically controlled unit injectors, and common-rail unit injectors. The last of these, using Nippondenso equipment, is said to be performing well in lab tests.