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BMC pumps up UK line-up with Cummins 11-tonner
Page 18
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• by Brian Weatherley Turkish truck manufacturer BMC is to extend its UK product line-up with a Cummins-powered 12-tonner. The all-new Pro 518 4x2, powered by a 170hp four-cylinder ISBe diesel coupled to a ZF box, will be officially unveiled at the 2003 Motor Show In March.
Buyers will have a choice of a "long" day, sleeper or four-door crew-cab, with BMCS range of factory-fitted bodywork including, for the first time, a slide-back vehicle recovery body and a 9.0m" compactor for local refuse collection work. A Pro 518 with the compactor body will also be shown at next year's IWM Show.
The 12.8-tonne GVW rigid features a slightly narrower version of the Pinninfarinastyled cab which features on the 18-tonne Pro 625 and 26-tonne Pro 628, both of which are powered by the six-cylinder version of the Cummins ISBe offering up to 270hp.
According to BMCI UK ) boss Vic Wright the company is about to start delivering vehicles based on the 4x2 Pro 625; most of them to skiploader operators. The 6x2 chassis has just won UK Type Approval.
Wright reports that BMC(UK) plans to further extend the UK range. possibly including a 10-tonner and a low-floor crew-cab based on a new 6x4 chassis for refuse operators.
So far the company has signed up 18 distributors and 4C service dealers, including some Foden, ERF and Seddon Atkinson dealers. "Some are existing franchise holders and that has obviously helped." he adds.
"Although people see it as a new product they see it as low risk because of the Cummins/ZF and Mentor driveline."
Wright confirms that BMC is keen to use the UK as a launch-pad into other European countries: "They're prepared to develop products for lower vdumes than the likes of Mercedes. New and Daf. They set up with the attitude that you've got to be flexible to do that."
Wright and his team have been talking to UK recovery operators and equipment suppliers to get their feedback on the 518, which will be aimed at those breakdown companies who need more carrying capacity than is practicable from a conventional 7.5-tonne chassis.
In addition to a two-year vehicle/bodywork warranty BMC offers two years' free 24-hour roadside back-up. The Turkish manufacturer is also developing its British HQ in Coventry with its own parts stocks and vehicle import inspection and display area.
Wright aims to sell 500 vehicles next year, but for the moment BMC seems unlikely to enter the mainstream tractor market. "The difficulty with tractors is how to do anything different." he says. "It's quite possible we'll look at a light distribution tractor. but we wouldn't seek to compete with Scania. The more we look at slightly different solutions the better we'll do."
At the NEC Show earlier this year BMC hinted that it might import a range of vans next year which would boost volumes.