Austria tightens controls
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IN The Austrian truck show has just taken place in Weis with the country's hauliers reeling under the latest piece of legislation telling them they will have to fit anti-lock braking systems on all vehicles over 7.5 tonnes and registered after 1 January 1989.
This gives the Austrians a lead time of just six months.
Importers were a strong presence at the exhibition and Austrian truck builder Steyr did well to dominate the middleweight sector of the show.
Austria's noise emission rules are getting tighter all the time and Steyr showed its hush kits for all engines up to 208kW (280hp). In the first eight months of this year Steyr sales in Austria had risen by 15% over 1987 and — in the 10-15-tonne market — it has a 45% share. Registrations of vehicles with a GVW of 15 tonnes and above show Steyr holding is 32% share while tractive unit sales have risen to about 13% of the total market.
Austria's only other truck builder OAF remains the lead ing supplier. As a subsidiary of MAN, OAF is also responsible for the marketing of the German maker's truck programme and accordingly used the Weis show for the national launch of the new M90 range. Importers anxious to gain a stronger presence in Austria fully supported the four-day event with im pressive displays, in some cases rivalling those of the Frankfurt show. The Volvo showing for instance, totalled no less than 17 vehicles.
The anomaly of weight rules in Austria which do not provide for the use of rigid eightwheelers at realistic weights has resulted in a number of unusual solutions to allow a ticulated combinations to lx convert into rigids.
A typical Primetzhofer tion at the show was based a three-axle tractive unti wi close-coupled, single-axle s4 trailer permitting a GCW of tonnes and an effective pay] of between 16.5 and 18.5 t+ nes. For on-site operation 2 massive hydraulic locking pi the rear of the tractive unit engages in a vertical charm( the carrier frame of the sinj trailer axle. While providing vertical articulation over un even ground this enables th vehicle to be reversed as a rigid. Electro-hydraulic stee of the trailer axle then bees es operative, actuated from sensors on the trailer axle t the combination. In a lighte] version, with a two-axle Ira unit, GCW is raised to 26 to nes while in a 38-tonne gra alternative (on five axles) a sliding kingpin on the semitrailer allows the inter-axle tance to be reduced by 600 before locking up.
Edbro tipping gear is pof in Austria and, despite its h er cost compared with dom tic products, was featured ( number of exhibits. Leylanc Daf included a number of U built Daf 600 and 800 vehic as well as the (Sherpa-deriI 400 which is unlikely to con tinue in this market next ye owing to the more severe haust controls.