Great truck: small market
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• Czech truck manufacturer Tatra is touring the UK seeking agents for its extensive range of all-wheel-drive vehicles. Following the market collapse in the former eastern bloc Tatra sales have fallen from 15,000 vehicles a year to 6,000 and the company is looking west to make good the shortfall.
To display the capabilities of its 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 all-terrain vehicles Tatra put an 8x8 815 VVN military-spec platform truck through its paces for CM at a site in the south of England.
It certainly looks solid and this is born out by its unladen weight of 15.2 tonnes, providing for a payload of only 12 tonnes. The civilian version, with a design weight of 36 tonnes, offers an off-road payload of 24 tonnes.
Some models meet current EC legislation and are already being sold into Germany and France: Tatra plans to apply for the necessary type approval in the UK next year.
The eight-legger's standard power unit is an unblown 19litre vee-12 with individual heads. In turbocharged form it provides 265kW (355hp) and 1,295Nm (954lbft) of torque and drives through a five-speed splitter box with an off-road (low)/on-road (high) range and PTO. Deutz engines are also available and Tatra plans to fit 14-litre Cummins units soon.
As an alternative to the heavy steel spring package Tatra can supply air suspension at the rear and torsion bar suspension on front axles. The tilt cab comes in long (crew), medium (sleeper) and short (day) forms with a split flat or one-piece curved screen, and while the interior is pretty basic air suspension seats come as standard.
A new cab is currently being developed for western markets; this will be available in righthand drive.
With approach and departure angles of 32° and 350 the 815 VVN can ford up to 800mm as standard, or up to 1.4m if specially equipped. Tatra can supply vehicles complete with bodywork or equipment including mixers and cranes.
One of the 8x8's more unusual options is its ability to inflate or deflate the tyres from within the cab while on the move to improve traction.
There can be no doubt that the performance of the Tatra range is impressive. The 8x8 815-2PR7 chassis-cab represents exceptional value at $71,000 (£48,000): that's cheaper than most 8x4s on the British market. However UK demand for such specialised allwheel-drive vehicles is limited to such a small band of operators that it is difficult to see how Tatra will generate enough sales even to meet its modest target of 100 vehicles a year.