New Actros has the winning combination
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Mercedes’ all-new Actros has scooped the 2012 International Truck of the Year trophy in style. CM considers what comes next
Words: Brian Weatherley
AT LAST THE TRUTH can be told: the CV journalists representing 24 countries throughout Europe, who together make up the International Truck of the Year (IToY) jury, have spoken. Mercedes-Benz’s all-new Actros is IToY 2012, and by a comfortable margin too. With a total score of 161 votes, the latest three pointed star fought off the challenge of the Czech-built Phoenix Tatra (CM 6 October) and Scania’s Euro-6 range (CM 2 June), which collected 67 and 50 votes respectively. So, what comes next? The frst New Actros has already rolled off the Wörth production line, accompanied by the ringing assertion from Daimler-Benz chairman Dieter Zetsche that “it will change the rules of the game” . But when do the frst right-hookers appear in the UK?
While those at Milton Keynes want to keep their powder dry concerning the UK launch, this much we know: the frst RHD demonstrators are expected to arrive on our shores sometime this month, while production proper of UK tractors, including those all-important 6x2s, is scheduled to start in April 2012 with the frst orders arriving in June. However, Mercedes will be running a nationwide road-show early in the new year “to take New Actros to the people” . So drop a hint to your local dealer that you expect an invitation.
What can we expect?
When New Actros does break cover in Britain, what exactly will be on offer? It’s worth remembering that it will ultimately replace two current ranges – Axor and Actros – but the bottom-line is that the frst wave of New Actros right-hookers will come with one engine, the latest 12.8-litre, common-railfuelled OM471 six-pot available at 420hp, 450hp, 480hp or 510hp. Thanks to a mixture of both SCR and EGR, you can spec it with either Euro-5 or Euro-6 certiication, with both versions promising notable fuel savings. In the case of a Euro-5 New Actros, it’s said to use 7% less fuel than the existing equivalent model, while a Euro-6 New Actros is reported to be 4% less thirsty too.
The big question, however, is what will join OM471 in a future New Actros engine armoury? The 13-litre lump is just one of a quartet of high-tech diesels in Daimler’s much-vaunted global heavy duty engine platform, which will be shared throughout its world truck product range. In fact, the original American version of the OM471 – the Detroit Diesel DD13 – broke cover more than a year before its Europeanised stable-mate.
And there’s more where that came from. DD15 and DD16 engines with swept volumes of 14.8 and 15.6 litres respectively are already sitting on the American shelves, and European versions of these engines look set to appear in New Actros in the future.
But don’t get overexcited. We won’t be seeing New Actros with an all-new Big Banger in-line engine much before the start of Euro-6 in 2013. If you do want an Actros with 600hp under the hood next year, you’ll be buying the current model with the venerable V8 – or else be prepared to wait a while until a 15-litre OM472 or 16-litre OM47 breaks cover. Whether it will be one or the other, or both, Merc’s not saying.
High torque is key
What is clear is that the German truckmaker is in no hurry to overtake Volvo or Scania to take “the world’s most powerful series production truck” title, currently held by Volvo’s FH16.750. At the original OM471 launch in March, Daimler vice-president for truck engineering Georg Weiburg insisted that high torque, rather than high horsepower, is the priority for Mercedes and that 600hp is probably as high as most operators need. We’ll see, especially as a 16-litre OM473 would be more than capable of reaching around 700hp. Then there’s the issue of offering an engine below the OM471, like an 11-litre OM470 capable of delivering up to 430hp, making it ideal for multi-wheelers. That’s something else for the future.
Meanwhile, what is known is that the irst tranche of OM471-powered RHD tractors and rigids will be offered with the full Continental line-up of cabs from the 2.3m-wide StreamSpace (with or without a lat loor) to the 2.5mwide BigSpace and top-of-the-range GigaSpace. And based on CM’s experience of New Actros, we’d recommend you check it out at close range at next year’s road show. n