ROAD NOISE NEWS
NEW OWNERS FOR FRUEHAUF Jeff and Yvette Mear are the new owners of Fruehauf, effective 18 August. They take 100% ownership of the transport company after purchasing the remaining Fruehauf shares from Phil and Karen Watchorn. Both Phil and Karen depart the company to pursue other personal interests and the company thanks them for all their past contributions and wishes them the very best for their future. “We purchased the remaining shares in Fruehauf because we believe it is a great company and capable of becoming an even better company,” said new managing director Jeff Mear. “We have fantastic employees who are highly skilled and experienced, we have excellent and loyal customers who appreciate the quality of our products, and we have great strategic supply partners who want us to be successful by leading a mutually beneficial pathway of further growth.”
SCANIA OPENS HOKITIKA BRANCH Scania New Zealand has chosen Service Diesel as its new partner for the West Coast. Based in Hokitika, Service Diesel is a general cartage and freighting company that has serviced the West Coast and Canterbury regions for almost 20 years. The appointment of Service Diesel will see the closure of Scania Greymouth. The new service dealer means customers will benefit from a larger site than previously, which means more capacity while also increasing the size of the Scania team on the coast to eight.
10 New Zealand Trucking
September 2022
UD Trucks upgrades Quon
U
D Trucks has introduced a range of upgrades to the Quon heavyduty model range, focusing on better fuel efficiency and environmental performance while delivering reliability and improved cost of ownership. The Quon’s Euro-6 11-litre engine offers improved outputs. The 290kW (390hp) version is up to 298kW (400hp) and the 313kW (420hp) variant upgraded to 320kW (430hp). The 343kW (460hp) variant remains. Torque is up across the range, 2250Nm for the 460, and 2000Nm for the 400 and 430hp variants. The engines now also benefit from the option of extended oil drain intervals, by up to 35%, says UD Trucks. Overall efficiency is enhanced by improved piston and cylinder design, a new turbocharger, and lower offset, and low-drag hypoid drive axles. The upgraded Quon’s ESCOTVI 12-speed automated manual transmission provides improved gear shifting to enhance fuel economy. The UD Quon is available in 4x2, 6x2, 6x4 and 8x4 configurations across a wide
range of wheelbases to suit rigid and prime mover applications. New, advanced safety features introduced on the Quon include the improved traffic eye cruise control with new ‘stop & driver initiate go’ function, which makes the vehicle safer and easier to drive by automatically controlling speed and reducing driver stress and fatigue. The upgraded Quon is also equipped with more active safety technologies, such as the traffic eye brake system, lane-departure warning system, and UD stability control that automatically detects and adjusts engine output and braking to retain truck stability. All Quon models will now also hit the road equipped with UD’s blind spot information system (BSIS). This utilises a radar to monitor the left-hand side of the truck and can detect pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. A two-stage warning system moves from a visual A-pillar warning light to an audible alarm and an alert on the instrument panel.
