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Rigids, retarders and recessions

21st january 1993
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Page 8, 21st january 1993 — Rigids, retarders and recessions
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The UK truck industry may not be able to organise an international show but the Belgians can do it and do it well. There were plenty of new models sprouting in Brussels.

• Judging by talk at the Brussels truck show last week it looks like the UK market is finally crawling out of recession—just as everyone else is about to tumble over the edge.

Even the apparently recessionproof German market is cooling off, and Iveco boss Giancarlo Boschetti is warning of a 28% - fall in heavy truck sales in Europe this year. Yet despite all the doom-laden talk there was plenty of new metal to see.

The Brussels launch of Daf 75 and 85 six and eight-wheelers has given Leyland Daf some marketing hoops to jump through. Will their arrival be the end of the road for the 70 and 80 Series (Constructor) range? The official Leyland Daf line is "maybe", but they're not kidding anyone.

The engines currently fitted in the Constructor six and eightwheelers, including versions of the Perkins Eagle and Cummins L10, are not certified to Euro-1 so they can't be sold beyond the Euro-1 deadline in October.

Even if Leyland Daf did want to keep the Constructor alive it certainly doesn't want to spend time and money fitting Euro-1 proprietary engines, only to drop them later on. We expect the Constructor, along with its proprietary engines, to fade into history come the autumn when the new multi-wheelers arrive in numbers Worried Leyland Daf boss David Gill says he is "not worried by not having proprietary engines".

"We'll undoubtedly lose some sales," he adds, "but we're only selling four or five a month and Volvo doesn't seem to suffer by having their own engines."

Given the appalling state of the UK tipper market Leyland Daf's loss is unlikely to result in any major gain for ERF, Foden or Seddon Atkinson, but when the Constructor goes it will leave a hole in the company's eight-legger line-up. The FAD 85 8x4's 11.6-litre engine doesn't go below 225kW (302hp), even though more than 50% of all British eight-legger sales are in the 187-224kW (250300hp) class.

Fortunately for Leyland Daf the advent of higher multi-wheeler weights will strengthen its case for more power in an eight-legger. In the meantime the 6x4 FAT 75 comes with an 8.65-litre engine rated at 180, 220 and 225kW (245, 272 and 302hp). An 8x4 75 Series was considered but not pursued.

Daf's other new baby, the 65 Series rigid, will replace the old Daf 1900 17-tonner in the summer but the existing 60 Series (Freighter) survives, not least because it's the top selling 17-tonner on the UK market.

Also new on the stand was the latest factory-built sleeper cab on the 45 Series Roadrunner.

Scania's integral retarder, unveiled at the Maastricht bus show last October, is now being fitted on trucks. The hydrodynamic secondary brake is similar to ZF's Intarder (CM 24-30 Sept); it was developed for the GR900/GRS900 nine and 16speed Scania gearboxes.

Scania (Great Britain) will offer it as an option, on 14-litre engines in the spring, moving on to iilitre engines by the autumn. Packaging problems mean you can't fit it on a twin-steer tractor.

The retarder links into the ABS system. It comes with hand or foot controls and can be pre-set to provide a constant downhill speed. It weighs in at 125kg and costs about £4,000.

EC hazchem regs which come into force next year are likely to help retarder sales. All vehicles over 16 tonnes registered on or after 1 July 1993 on ADR crossborder transport of hazardous goods will have to be fitted with an "endurance braking system", and retarders are included in the definition.

The Department of Transport is committed to harmonise the regulations by 1995, so new hazardous goods vehicles running within the UK will also require endurance braking systems (CM 1-7 Oct). Older vehicles will have to be retrofitted by the year 2000.

Scania has also beefed up the rear axles on all its models with engines of 283kW (380hp) and above and developed an air-suspended double-drive bogie for tippers. The bogie won't be offered in the UK, but a rear air-suspended P93ML 6x2 chassis with a lifting third axle will be.

Volvo chose the Brussels Show to unveil an FL10 fitted with its Geartronic automated gearshift. Until now Geartronic, which is based on the 12-speed SR1700 synchro box, has only been available on left-hand-drive F10 and F12s—from June right-handdrive Geartronic FL1Os will be available in Britain.

The two-pedal Geartronic system is best suited to urban and inter-urban operations, and Volvo's decision to kick-off righthand-drive Geartronic with the FL10 is a sound one, particularly as the FL10 is its biggest selling model in the UK.

Epicyclic Along with Geartronic comes Powertronic. This conventional five or six-speed epicyclic automatic transmission with torque convertor was developed for Volvo BM's dump trucks. It is now being offered for a variety of applications, including refuse trucks, tippers, LGV stop-start distribution work and, says Volvo Trucks (Great Britain): "potentially for eight-leggers".

Volvo has also given the FL6 and FS7 cabs a facelift with a new interior and a more comfortable sleeper option which should reach the UK by Easter.

Operator interest in MAN's front-wheel-drive SLW 2000 City Truck, shown as a concept vehicle at last year's Hanover Show, has been so high that parts of it will be put into series production by 1995/96.

The first stage will be a drivetrain "module" based on the 110kW (150hp) horizontal fourcylinder D0824LU which will be supplied to specialist bodybuilders who can supply a frame behind it.

Stage two will be a chassiscowl, followed by a complete truck, including a body and plastic-panelled cab with a plug-type coach door. It will be plated at 607.5 tonnes and could be built at Munich or Salzgitter, but the rearwheel steering and hydro-pneumatic suspension seen on the Hanover model is considered too costly for full production. According to MAN the SLW 2000 could have any chassis configuration, from monocoque to spineback depending on customers' needs.

Tucked away on the Munich truck maker's stand was a 19.422 tractor with air suspension on both a3des and disc brakes on the steering axle. Front discs are due to be launched on the F90 tractor range starting with the flagship 19.502, in the middle of the year.

A possible rival to the SLW 2000 is Mitsubishi's Fuso "Super Fighter", first seen at the last Tokyo Show. It features lightweight glass-fibre panels for the low-drag body, "semiactive" suspension, high-speed four-wheel steering, ABS and ASR. Wing doors give access to the load space, and the driver reaches the cab through a powered sliding door and extendible elevating seat. Will cab steps become obsolete? We'll have to wait and see.

Power for the 4x2 rigid comes from a seven-litre charge-cooled diesel developing 169kW (227hp) at 2,700rpm.

Iveco's "Truck of the Year", the EuroTech, had a high-profile at Brussels, but there was no sign of the SuperCargo—the new 17-tonner scheduled for an April launch—which is strictly a British product.

Premium The UK will, also be getting a premium drawbar rigid, the 180E Series, with the larger EuroTech cab.

There was no shortage of light CV debutantes at Brussels. The revamped Nissan Cabstar (CM 511 Nov 1992) is due to reach UK dealers next month. The chassis is little changed, using the same petrol and diesel engines as before. But the new cab has deeper glass in the windscreen and doors, an all-new dashboard, height-adjustable steering wheel, standard power steering and improved heating and ventilation.

Its stylish looks should ensure its continued popularity, if enough recession-hit small builders can afford to replace ageing vehicles.

Daihatsu re-launched the Hijet microvan at Brussels.

UK imports of the original Japanese-built Hijet stopped three years ago. The new model is a joint venture between Daihatsu and Piaggio; it's built in the Pontedera plant near Pisa in Italy for European consumption. Van, pickup and chassis-cab options are all based on the Japanese-built models and the first vehicles should reach the UK in April or May.

The van has twin side sliding doors,a 2.9m3 body and a 615kg payload. The three-pot 993cc petrol engine produces 33kW (44hp) at 5,300rpm and 75Nm (551bft) of torque at 3,500rpm. Other features include ventilated front disc brakes and a five-speed gearbox.

An electric-powered Hijet van was also shown on the stand; Daihatsu plans to market 600 Hijets in the UK this year.

The revised Volkswagen LT also got its debut at Brussels with subtle revisions. These are intended to extend the career of VW's biggest light CV by another five years, when it will be 22 years old.

Updates include a new grille, Transporter seats and gearlever and improved insulation to reduce engine noise.

The basic six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines are unchanged except that turbo-diesels are now charge-cooled and all models get the charge-cooled engine's largercapacity cooling system.

The 4x4 Transporter/Caravelle Syncro goes on sale in Germany this week and the stand featured a range of Syncros, many of which seen at the Hanover Show last summer. They should be in UK showrooms by March.

Rugged Skoda's rugged range of vans and pickups, based on the Favorit car, is due for several revisions in 1993. A more powerful version of the 1,300cc petrol engine should be available by the end of the year, with the likelihood of a diesel option in 1994.

Current models get a minor facelift with a new grille and revised interior. None of these changes were on display at Brussels, but a new van model, the Forman Plus, did make an appearance. A high-roof, fibreglass extension on a Freeway Plus van boosts body volume to 2.4m3, but payload is unaltered at 450kg. The Forman Plus will be available in the UK this summer.

GFtP Massey and Marsden Vanplan were the only UK bodybuilders at Brussels; Marsden Vanplan made its Continental debut with an outstanding example of its Eurovan range.

Based on a Leyland Daf 1900 and built for Whittle Movers,it combines a shapely ARZ podded sleeper-cab with a 9.54m-long, 4.0m-high removals body system.

The 63m3 interior, including rear dropwell and large underfloor storage compartment, takes up to six storage pallets and is served by two rear and five side doors with extra walk-up ramp sets on pull-out bearers.

Having targeted more than 500 potential customers in Belgium alone, MV's local agent predicts strong interest in the product.

Fruehauf's new Speed Slider trailer is designed for cabotage work between France or the UK and the rest of the EC, using standard coupling height (1,100/ 1,300mm) tractive units.

It normally runs at 4.0m, but its 2.7m-tall body can be raised hydraulically by 500mm or lowered by 200tnm in 100mm increments. Cables linked to the rams in the front bulkhead move the rear set simultaneously with longer support legs to cope with extra movement.

Fruehauf's latest 13.5m/33-pallet system includes lightweight air suspension and low-maintenance axles.

Rondelaere of Kooigem, best known for its superb mobile shops, chose Brussels to launch an unusual front-wheel-drive Renault-based plant truck.

It is rated at 12 tonnes GVW and uses the Manager cab, 6.2litre/110kW engine, five-speed gearbox, and a transfer box to take the drive through 300° to a steer/drive front axle.

At the rear two 40-tonne single-wheeled axles are air-suspended to allow the RKV step-deck body system to be lowered for ground-level loading.

Intennodal Wiih the advent of the Hupac Jumbo extra-low rail wagon for intermodal transport, Van Hool has beefed up its jumbo-trailer design to provide a high-volume tilt semi-trailer for road/ rail traffic.

The 100m3 Huckepack VH100 has been tested by continental railways with 45-tonne test loads.

It is suitable for the Channel Tunnel and has attracted the interest of a number of international operators including BR and Eurotunnel.

The first of a range of short (6.1m) container trailers from Nicodeme is designed for close coupling with tractors, giving good manoeuvrability on site and in traffic.

Rated at 33 tonnes GT'W, the 6.4m long trailer weighs 3.5 tonnes unladen and includes a 1.5m-long floorwell for carrying 28 tonnes of coiled steel. Binche-based Nicodeme expects to build up to 200 examples this year.

Tipper and loading crane manufacturer DTM of St Pieters Leeuw , Belgium, has developed a dual-purpose hook-loader design.

The Delto-system was shown on a specially modified Mercedes 2635 6x4 chassis that can work as a rigid carrying large waste containers or as a tractor towing one of DTM's plant-type trailers.

To do this the rear of the hook pivot arm bracket is contoured to allow a specially made Jost fifth wheel to be fitted over the drive axle bogie.

DTS, Belgium's only crane manufacturer, builds an unusual triple-boom design which enables the operator to handle small, heavy loads close up to the vehicle.


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