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Mack's Vision of the global future

4th March 1999, Page 17
4th March 1999
Page 17
Page 17, 4th March 1999 — Mack's Vision of the global future
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Renault has owned Mack for almost a decade, but so far the main result has been a few European cabs that have been shipped to the USA, and some US engines which have come to Europe. Gibb Grace wonders if Mack's new Vision truck will speed up the integration process.

IIII Renault VI had a good year in 1998. Truck sales boomed on both sides of the Atlantic, and the company sold a record 90,760 vehicles. Buoyed up by this performance perhaps, parent Renault is to increase the RVI Group's capital with a view to sustaining growth and improving profitability.

The WI Group will also form a central office structure under Odile Desforges to control the separate European RVI and American Mack operations. Patrick Faure will continue to head up RVI; Michel Gigou will run Mack.

This global approach is designed to benefit from economies of scale, but this will not be easy: RVI's Premium and Mack's Vision have developed along different lines and there appears to be little common ground. II RVI is to sustain growth and improve profitability, their replacements must share more of the same DNA.

Gigou's goal is to have 20% of the US Class 8 (16tonne-plus) business within five years, and the Vision certainly looks the part. Exterior style and internal detail owes a lot to Renault's chief designer, Patrick le Quoment, who was in charge of the Cargo styling at Ford as well as RVI's Premium.

The Vision is quintessentially American—which means that while it is impressively large and handsome, it has a ridiculously cramped driving position. Despite the design team's best efforts, the controls are crude and the dash layout leaves much to be desired.

But behind the glitz however the Vision has plenty of potential. Europe has made great strides in terms of cab trim, fit and finish, but America has concentrated on improving operational efficiency.

The Vision is loaded with systems: V-MAC, DataMax and InfoMax are refinements of eerier designs, but Mack's new Vehicle Information Profiler (VIP) represents a significant advance in driver information systems. Mack wanted a screen big and bright enough to carry clear information in any light. The VIP team spent 18 months working with an LED screen, but it was given the thumbs down by real-world drivers. In the end, the team adopted the electroluminescent technology used for monitor screens in aviation and medical care—not the cheapest solution, but clear, sharp and rugged enough to live in a truck. The 115x85mm screen is incorporated in the dash to the right of the steering wheel.

VIP is linked into the V-MAC (Vehicle Management And Control) engine control system, allowing the driver to monitor anything from fuel consumption, to engine load, to mileage before the next oil change. He can, for example, log on and change driver details, set up sectors for reporting fuel consumption, and reprogram the idle speed. VIP will automatically alert the driver to potential engine problems and suggest an appropriate course of action.

Electronic engine control is not new to Mack, and the latest 12-litre E-Tech engine used across the Vision range uses a third generation V-MAC III system to control the unit pump injectors and the .1-Tech engine brake. Unusually, Mack makes the V-MAC III software available to dealers and even allows customers to reconfigure certain features using a PC interface. In fact the software is "flash programmable", allowing existing ECMs to be updated in the fieLd as upgrades become available.

Mack is also offering Eaton Fuller AutoShift, a "shift-by-wire" 10-speed transmission which only needs a manual clutch for starting and stopping. One Mack insider admitted to being stunned at the success of these automated transmissions: "These new transmissions are selling despite an on-cost of several thousand dollars."

The DataMax data logger, which is standard on all VMAC vehicles, records, among other things, operational summaries, maintenance and fault information. Data is normally stored on-board and downloaded as required using a PC-based system called InfoMax, but it can also be downloaded remotely, while on the move, using satellite or cellular-based telecommunications.

With Vision, Mack is selling the sizzle rather than the sausage. Mechanical longevity is taken for granted in the US, and the emphasis is on getting the utmost from the driver and the vehicle.

If Renault is wondering how to make the most of its global stance, introducing some of Mack's powerful electronic systems to European products might be the right place to start.


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