News

Improved DAF Cabin

Diesel News’ Europe Correspondent Brian Weatherley reports on the improved DAF Cabin on the latest Euro 6 XF and CF, launched in the European market. For DAF’s engineers at Eindhoven in The Netherlands, the watchword is with evolution, not revolution and their latest CF and XF proves it.  New CF and XF gain a face-lifted interior along with an updated night control panel by the bed plus an upgraded instrument and dashboard layout. But what are they like on the road? The answer, to use the pommie habit of emphasis through understatement, is rather good. We tried out the new models in Holland and while it’s not a country famed for its contours we did manage to find the odd hill on our test route which included motorways and local roads. With the new 450hp rating on the MX-11 likely to appeal to European fleet operators, we first tried a CF 450FT ‘lightweight’ 4×2 prime mover hitched to a tri-axle tank trailer running at around 32-tonnes, somewhat below the normal 40 tonne EU limit, but enough to get a feel for it working.
Read More

Shaking off the Shackles

The new-generation Mercedes-Benz trucks coming onto the market see the German brand shaking off the shackles of being a ‘niche’ truck brand and move into the mainstream. For Australia, the models are being identified by their numbering, those which denote GVM and engine power, all the way from a 3263, 32-tonne GVM and 630hp, down to the 1630, 16-tonne GVM and 300hp. Benz is grouping them under the ‘new-generation’ banner, but the large prime movers are still referred to as Actros, the smaller 4×2 is still an Atego and the twin-steer models all come under the Arocs banner.
Read More
Remain Vigilant

It’s Access, Stupid!

It’s not the economy, it’s access, stupid! That’s the problem dogging the trucking industry in its attempt to keep up with the need for improved productivity and capacity. The original phrase, which Diesel News is paraphrasing here, was ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid!’. The slogan was plastered over the desks of those working in the Bill Clinton Presidential Election campaign, back in 1992.
Read More

The Paradigm Shift

There is little doubt this dawn of the age of autonomous trucks represents the paradigm shift which will take trucking much further in the 21st century. The developments in recent years have seen quantum shift after quantum shift in what automated systems can do.
Read More

See It, Mention It and Record It

Next year, small fleets will have to ‘see it, mention it and record it’ if they want to avoid being the scapegoat in Chain of Responsibility (CoR) cases. They need to be prepared and well informed. Diesel News finds out what they need to know, in our Owner Driver’s Guide to CoR.
Read More

View of the Future

Brendan Richards outlined his view of the future at the Trucking Australia conference in Darwin. For generations, the trucking industry has managed and embraced change, but what is catching us all by surprise is the increasing pace of that change. “Globalisation is a significant issue in the way it reacts with the economy. By 2050, it’s expected China will be the world’s largest economy. By 2025, the Asia-Pacific region will make up something like 50 per cent of economic activity globally. There’s a huge shift in economic power coming towards the Asian region.
Read More

Flat Floor Thoughts

The long-awaited arrival of the right-hand-drive Renault ‘T High’ tractor in the UK has given Diesel News’ European Correspondent, Brian Weatherley, some flat floor thoughts – thinking about the benefits of flat-floor cab-overs to overnighters. Frankly, I’m surprised more manufacturers don’t do it. ‘Do what?’ I hear you ask Down Under. Build more flat-floor cab-over models, that’s what. Given the fact that every night hundreds of thousands of European long-haul drivers are bedding down for the night in a truck (and I reckon 99.99 per cent of them will be doing it in a cab-over prime mover) you’d think that all of Europe’s truck makers would be keen to make their cabs as easy to move around in as possible.
Read More