Director urges others to buy Euro-5 CONCERNS OVER Euro-6 price
Page 6
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and performance has prompted DGC truck rental director Sam Knight to urge his customers to update their fleets with Euro-5 trucks ahead of the 31 December 2013 cut-off.
"About 70% of our contract vehicles are going to be replaced," Knight said. "We don't want to buy Euro-6 for a few years; there's going to be a price increase, and I don't think they're going to be particularly reliable. When AdBlue was first introduced there were engine reliability problems, and I think all the technology on Euro-6 will be the same."
Ray Colgate, MD at STS Flooring Distributors, recently refreshed his fleet with 14 new Daf trucks, bringing forward purchasing plans to beat the Euro-6 deadline. "We made the decision based on Sam's nervousness. We didn't want to refresh the fleet with an engine that could have potential teething problems," he said.
Bought on a three-year contract hire deal, the new 12and 7.5-tonne LFs are powered by 180hp and 160hp units, with the larger vehicles fitted with Daf's AS Tronic transmission.
"Due to the replacements, we were able to increase the payload of our trucks by putting some 12-tonners on the fleet," Colgate added.
"As a [result], we can carry more goods; there are savings to be had with bigger trucks. As a rough equation, for every Elm of revenue you end up buying another truck. Even though we are getting busier, we might not need more trucks because these ones are more efficient."
• Go to page 28 to read about the road to Euro-6.