ROADTEST PEGASO IRONER
Page 50
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• You don't have to be a history professor to know that the Spanish Armada came to a pretty sticky end in 1558, when Sir Francis Drake singed the King of Spain's beard after a quick round of bowls on Plymouth Ho. • To be fair, more Spanish ships were sent to the bottom by shipwreck than gunfire but that's legends for you; why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
Since then the Spanish have not exactly been breaking their necks to invade the British commercial vehicle market. Ford and Citroen ship in vans from their Spanish plants, but apart from Nissan's ill-fated attempt to import Ebro commercials into the UK, Iberian trucks were almost unknown in the UK until a year ago when the Spanish truck and bus maker Pegaso unveiled its plans for a new Armada.
"Project Albion" called for a limited number of pre-production right-hand-drive Troner TX360 tractors to be sent for trials with British operators.
The rest, as they say, is history. Earlier this month the Troner TX360 was officially launched in the UK, which was something of an anti-climax — not least because Seddon Atkinson had announced that it would be selling the Troner through its dealers as long ago as May 1989.
On the face of it the decision to bring in the Troner is a logical one. By selling it through its Seddon Atkinson subsidiary, Pegaso has avoided the expense of setting up a UK dealer network. The extra sales won't go amiss with either party.
What's more, the Troner TX360 is being sold as a high-spec "premium" tractor to those operators who are already giving the Seddon Atkinson Strato a miss in favour of its Swedish or German opponents, so there's no worry about the Troner stealing sales from the Strato. Or is there?
On closer examination, is there really that much difference between the Troner TX and, say, a Cummins Super E400powered Stratocruiser?
According to Pegaso there is, despite the similar cab. The Ironer may look like a Strato, give or take the external syling, but Pegaso argues that the Troner's "standard" extras put it in a different league to the Strato — more on a par with Scania, Volvo and Mercedes.
A quick glance at the glossy Troner brochure supports this view. For your £57,842 (ex-VAT) a Ironer TX comes complete with drive-axle air-suspension, a