Borne out of discussions with drivers who slept at least
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four nights a week in a truck, Scania’s stunning ‘eXc’ (short for ‘extended cab’) tractor broke cover at the 2002 IAA Show. Based on a standard 4-Series Topline sleeper – but stretched by an extra 1,300mm behind the B-post – eXc’s increased interior volume meant a 900mm x 2,000mm sprung mattress bed could be fitted along its sidewall (rather than across the rear bulkhead as in a normal sleeper). It also accommodated a sink, kitchenette, armchair and table, plus more storage space than before under its 2.3m high ceiling. Unfortu nately, you couldn’t couple eXc up to a 13.6m trailer and remain within the 16.5m length limit. That didn’t deter Scania from putting its stretched sleeper into full production a year later as the ‘Longline’ or declaring: “Despite the restrictions imposed by current length regulations in most of Europe, there’s clearly a demand for a cab like this for bulk transport within legal lengths, as well as for demanding transcontinental routes, for example from Europe to the Middle East or Asia.” Sadly, for all its undoubted benefits, Longline still remained too long for the average haulier. So with Brussels not