AE power gap plugged
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• Renault is set to fill a power gap in its futuristic AE tractive unit range next year with a new model offering around 317kW (420hp).
At present the AE is only available as the AE380, powered by the long-serving Renault straight-six 12-litre, or the AE500 equipped with the 373kW (500hp) vee-eight engine supplied by its US subsidiary Mack Trucks.
However, with the phasing out of the R420 tractor, powered by the old Berliet veeeight engine, there will be a hole in Renault's heavy tractor line-up and the extra model will slot in between the AE380 and AE500.
The 317kW (420hp) AE could break cover in time for the Paris truck show next autumn.
Although the French manufacturer is saying little about the engine which will be used in the new model, CM believes it will be based on the 298kW (400hp) version of the 12-litre engine
which has been supplied in limited numbers in an R range tractor to heavy haulage operators in France.
Whether Renault Truck Industries will take the 317kW AE has yet to be confirmed.
When Renault originally launched the AE it predicted that the sales split between the AE380 and AE500 would be roughly 70/30. Since production started, however, it has been closer to 50/50 with many more operators expressing an interest in the AE500.
Renault Truck Industries says it should have sold 40 AEs in the UK before the end of the year; half are likely to be AE500s.