Military Volvo gets a Perkins engine
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• Volvo has dramatically increased the British content of its M6 contender for the British Army four-tonner contract by offering the Perkins Phaser engine as an option to its own. In a further move towards establishing the M6 as a British product, Volvo has also reached agreement with Motor Panels for the Coventry fimi to build the cabs should Volvo win the British Army order.
The M6 was developed by Volvo Trucks GB at its Irvine plant in Scotland in response to the original specification issued by the Ministry of Defence several years ago, and prototypes have been running and undergoing trials with the MoD for some two years.
The M6 is based on the established FL6 frame, but with proprietary components such as axles (Rockwell on some prototypes) and the ZF S6.36 gearbox. The cab is heavily modified, with the normal domed roof being replaced by a flat panel to get overall height down for air transport.
Throughout most of the comparative evaluation period for the four-tonne contract (where the Volvo has been matched against contenders from AWD-Beford and Leyland Daf), the M6 has retained its Volvo engine. In its final submission to the MoD, however, Volvo has included the Perkins Phaser as an option to the 112kW TD61G engine.
In six-cylinder form, the Phaser is a six-litre unit with power °inputs in normal turbocharged form ranging from 100 to 120kW.
The decision to build the M6 cab in Coventry is significant. Motor Panels (which was recently bought by CH Industrials from the Rubery Owen group) builds the C40 and C44 cabs for Leyland Daf s Leylandbuilt trucks, and the cab is used by Seddon Atkinson on all its models except the new Strato.
Commercial Motor understands that the M6 cab would be assembled in Coventry using some panels pressed in Sweden and some, such as the unique roof, sourced in Britain.