A couple of months back Diesel News looked at the conventional contenders, we turn to the cabover contenders in the B-double prime mover segment and a couple of brands on the up. We look at brands trying to make a mark in their particular segments competing up against the dominating brands in their sector.
The XT range of the New Truck Generation are the latest Scania mining and construction models unveiled at Melbourne’s International Mining and Resources Conference. The all-new XT is designed to handle a wide variety of applications, and can be configured to an operator’s requirements, utilising one of three available cab sizes.
Ever since it was unveiled last year, we’ve been keen to try Scania’s optional clutch on demand (available on all models) which adds a clutch-pedal to the normal two-pedal Opticruise system. For low-speed manoeuvring or reversing you simply press the reinstated clutch pedal down, whereupon CoD activates an electrically-operated screw actuator to feed in the clutch—in other words, the driver effectively overrides the Opticruise auto by opening the clutch themselves.
As we’ve said before ‘man cannot live on prime-mover sales alone’ and it’s the bread and butter trucks lower down the weight-range that deliver the goods, in more ways than one. In Europe, as is true in Australia, top-weight prime movers have long been the ‘Glamour Boys’ of the truck world, and ever since Scania’s ‘New Generation’ R and S-series appeared in 2016 they’ve attracted plenty of attention.
Scania’s New Generation R and S-series may have more charisma, but its latest P and L-series have the qualities to deliver on the urban warriors’ inner-city drivability, safety and economy, according to Diesel’s European Correspondent, Brian Weatherley.
As a result of credible improved fuel consumption claims, Scania trucks started to appear, in recent years, in the big fleets and market share has grown substantially, hitting the heady heights of 8.3 per cent market share in 2017, selling 1,003 trucks.
Here’s a short video Diesel News captured heading outback with a Scania B-triple. Filmed soon after dawn on the road from Charleville to Cunnamulla in South West Queensland, the Scania was pulling over 70 tonnes GCM.
With the release of the new Scania range the old adage, timing is everything in the truck market, comes true as the new trucks, dubbed the ‘New Truck Generation’ (NTG) by the marketing people at the Swedish truck maker, hit the Australian market on the crest of a wave.
The new Scania models are now in Australia, and Diesel News tried out a couple of the new models on a drive, with the Scanias pulling B-doubles from Sydney to Melbourne. This is a route over which many of the new models will ply their trade, and it has the right combination of undulation and flat running to get a feel for how the new trucks perform.
Today sees the introduction of a new major truck maker brand, Traton. This is the name chosen by the powers that be at the head of the Volkswagen Truck and Bus Group.