Transport & Trucking Australia Issue 122

www.truckandbus.net.au Issue 122 2018

$8.95 incl. GST

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

ISSN 2206-1495

9 772206 149012 >

22

HANOVER IAA TRUCK SHOW ISUZU’S UPDATE N-SERIES FREIGHTLINER’S CASCADIA LOCAL DRIVE – IVECO’S NEW ACCO AND X-WAY – LAND ROVER DISCO COMPANY CAR

TRI-TIPPER WITH

As its name suggests, our Tri-Tipper’s tray tips three ways

comfortable, like easy to reach ergonomic tipper controls, and a

to make easy work of tight spots. So it’s a brilliant choice for

sat-nav ready Bluetooth digital radio. And the NLR Tri-Tipper is

landscaping, construction, market gardening or any other industry

just one of 12 tippers in our Ready-to-Work Range, so you’re sure

where you’re hauling and dumping soil, rocks, sand, or bark.

to find exactly the right choice for your specific situation.

You can drive the 4500kg GVM Tri-Tipper on your car licence and it’s filled with features to make your work day a lot more The NLR Tri-Tipper is Isuzu’s only Ready-to-Work Tipper with 3-way tipping capability. FSA/ISZ12076

To explore your options, visit isuzu.com.au or your nearest Isuzu Truck Dealer now.

THREE WAY TRAY.

CONTENTS CONTACT DETAILS

FEATURES

PO Box 7046 Warringah Mall NSW 2100

14 IT’S SHOWTIME

www.truckandbus.net.au admin@truckandbus.net.au Enquiries 02 9938 6408 Follow us on Twitter #truckandbusnews Follow us on Facebook at Truck and Bus Australia

Publisher Jon Thomson admin@truckandbus.net.au Editor in Chief Allan Whiting nofibspublishing@bigpond.com Art Director Fiona Meadows fiona@kududesign.com.au Advertising Sales Jon Thomson Mobile 0418 641 959 admin@truckandbus.net.au Editorial Contributors Barry Flanagan, Mark Bean, Glenn Torrens, Peter Barnwell

The biennial IAA truck show in Hanover was run and done for another two years with alternative fuels and electrification being the major themes and we decided to take a look at some of the highlights and some of the standouts that came out of the what is arguably the world’s biggest and most important truck show.

22 2020 VISION

Freightliner’s Cascadia is heading down under and is currently on a long journey of testing and development, which Daimler believes will result in a truck that is perfectly tailored for local conditions by the time it lobs in early 2020.

T&TA headed to the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Anglesea to drive a couple of left hand drive development trucks that have been pounding Aussie pavements in a bid to get the Cascadia right for the Australian market.

28 THE BIG EASY

The offer to drive a UD Quon down the Pacific from Brisbane to Sydney would be the first chance T&TA has had to drive the Japanese prime mover in many years so we climbed aboard for a day at the wheel of what many believe is Japan’s best engineered big truck. Here is what we found.

34 LOCAL HERO

Despite rumours and innuendo about Iveco’s long-term commitment to local assembly and manufacturing, the Italian truck maker has joined the other Australian truck makers announcing big investment in local production. including a new version of the Acco with a distinctly European accent, TTA was at Iveco’s big launch night in Melbourne to see where it is all headed.

40 WASTE NOT – WANT NOT

A simple recipe of strong business principles, good machinery and loyalty to staff and customers has helped Townsville waste removal company Sun City Skips navigate almost two decades in business with growing success. T&TA visited the Sun City yard in Townsville to find out what makes the company tick.

44 HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Kenworth’s T610 was one of the most anticipated arrivals amongst conventional truck buyers on the Australian market when it was launched in late 2016 and one fleet that quickly snapped up some SAR variants of the new model was Sydney based Hi Quality Group. T&TA had a chat with Hi Quality to see how the new Kennys are performing.

50 TO THE NTH DEGREE Transport & Trucking Australia is published under licence by Transport Publishing Australia. and is distributed to road transport professionals, fleets, business professionals and the industry throughout Australia.

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Isuzu has clearly embraced the Japanese concept of kaizen, a philosophy of constant improvement, that is apparent in the latest upgrades to its ever popular N Series as well as the inclusion of a factory two pedal four wheel drive truck line up. We travelled to the national media briefing to get the lowdown.

56 STAR SPRINTER

Mercedes-Benz has launched its new Sprinter with a new design, more safety features, cost-effectiveness, more customer and work-oriented features. TTA attended the Australian media launch to get the low down on the new Sprinter.

60 COMPANY CAR: VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

Like many of our working class suburbs which have become more and more gentrified over the years Land Rover’s Discovery has become more and more a boulevard cruiser and this is very apparent with the latest sixth generation version, however while it is at home outside a flash hotel, we found its also just as capable getting you to a remote campsite in the middle of nowhere.

DEPARTMENTS 04 BACK TRACKS

Musings from the Editor

06 HIGHWAY 1

News and info from all over

64 MONEY

Paul’s latest advice on finances

XAVIER_HINO36265

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2018 A YEAR TO SAVOUR AND AN INDUSTRY TO REVERE

W

hat a year it has been in the Australian Truck Industry.

An amazing year for sales, for by the time you read this, the industry will be celebrating the first time 40,000 trucks have been sold in a calendar year, eclipsing the record set in 2007 prior to the GFC when a shade over 38,000 were sold.

That 2007 record figure was topped at the end of November and while some are worried about the economy and its current seemingly febrile nature, most people in the business will tell you that the order books are full well into next year, and that is unlikely to change in a hurry.

There may be a bit of a softening in the housing market, with banks tempering their lending and consumers wary about borrowing any more, or using equity in houses with depreciating value. More than balancing that however, are an increasing number of major infrastructure projects coming on stream across the East Coast in the next two years – everything from the new Western Sydney Airport to the North East link in Melbourne and the F6 the Northern Beaches tunnel Freeways back in the Emerald City and then there is the Snowy II scheme.

Quite literally there are hundreds of billions of dollars worth of projects yet to break ground and there is going to need to be more trucks and with the economic activity from those projects will come consumer confidence and the desire to spend. That will fuel the need and demand for delivery trucks from city parcel delivery to line haul operations. That is our vote of confidence at the very least.

Admittedly we are not economists, however, what is it they say? ‘ The only function of economists is to make astrologers look respectable!’ Well that may or may not be the case, but everyone we speak with in the industry is pretty much of the same opinion, the health of the industry is pretty good and importantly, most believe it is sustainable growth.

Sure there has been a bit of surge this year but it does not look like a boom and

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bust scenario. It has been a gradual and measured recovery from those dizzying pre GFC days, lets face it has taken 11 years to get back to the record levels from those days when one John Winston Howard was PM (remember him? I know that was six prime ministers ago). We would like to think that the industry can continue to grow for some years to come.

Clearly we are not the only ones to think that. Our three local truck makers, Volvo Group, Paccar and Iveco have, as you will read in this issue, all committed to largescale investment in their local manufacturing operations. Between them close to $100 million will be invested, virtually without government subsidy or grants.

While our now deceased car manufacturing industry was in government induced life support for the last years of its existence, the truck industry by comparison has grown strong and independent without those inducements.

The truck manufacturing operations employ lots of Australians both on the production line and in the office where engineers and designers work shoulder to shoulder with the beancounters, HR and marketers to answer the demand for trucks that can handle our unique environment and conditions. Some might argue that these are ‘mere’ assembly’ plants but we would counter that with the fact that these are tremendous stores of knowledge, expertise and skill and are much more than assembly plants.

The truck manufacturing industry in Australia is not big - with about 6000 locally built trucks it only accounts for about 15 per cent of the 40000 trucks sold this year – but it has value and worth way beyond what those numbers indicate.

It is one of the few remaining complex manufacturing industries left in this country and one we should try hard to defend and nurture to continue on, well into the future.

In this my first edition as ‘editor’ taking over from the Great Allan Whiting, we believe we have a cracking issue full of great stories. To start we take a look inside the massive IAA Truck Show in Hanover, Europe’s major biennial truck show and all that this revealed. Back home we have a drive of the Freightliner Cascadia which Daimler is currently subjecting to intensive local testing to ensure it is fit to take the fight up to those local makers like Kenworth, Volvo and Mack in the heavy market come 2020.

We also take a look at Iveco’s plans for locally built product with its ‘re-imagined’ Acco and its Stralis X-Way coming out of the Dandenong factory. We have reports on the updated N-series models from market leader Isuzu and the new Mercedes Benz Sprinter vans as well as operator stories with a Kenworth fleet and a Hino operator and we road test UD’s heavy duty Quon.

Plenty there we reckon so enjoy the read, drive safely and we will see you in 2019.

JON THOMSON

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TO RACE FOR THE BOTTOM ON TRUCK SAFETY

THE AUSTRALIAN TRUCKING Association has presented to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee in Canberra and implored the government to consider expanding the scope of mandated braking technology set for 2019 and beyond.

The ATA’s chief of staff Bill McKinley gave evidence before the committee last week saying that autonomous emergency braking is the next step in truck-braking technology which could deliver a reduction in fatal crashes of up to 25 per cent and in serious injury crashes of up to 17 per cent.

“The infrastructure department is working on the regulatory impact statement (RIS) for mandating this technology, but there are significant problems with the electronic stability control RIS that need to be addressed before the emergency-braking process goes too far.

McKinley said in regards to Electronic Stability Control that the new stability control requirements do not cover most rigid trucks and that these requirements are projected to save 126 lives and avoid 1,101 serious injuries.

“If the requirements were extended to all trucks weighing more than 4.5 tonnes, an additional 22 lives could be saved and an extra 395 serious

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injuries could be avoided,” McxKinley told the committee.

“This would cost truck purchasers an extra $112 million over 35 years, the cost is trivial compared to the benefits.

Using willingness-to-pay values, it would deliver a benefit-cost ratio of 2.24, an entirely acceptable benefitcost ratio. It’s more, for example, than the benefit-cost ratio of requiring electronic stability control for new passenger trucks,” McKinley told the Senate Committee.

McKinley told the enquiry that it was the ATA’s view, that the department and the government must first revisit the decision not to require ESC for rigid trucks and secondly, base the RIS recommendation on emergency braking on achieving the highest number of lives saved and injuries avoided at reasonable cost.

“The government must use the willingness-to-pay values for both the cost of fatalities and the cost of serious injuries, the ESC RIS understated the benefits of this safety technology because it did not value the cost of serious injuries appropriately,” McKinley said The senate committee then turned to the subject of heavy vehicle driver training and its many inadequacies and the glaring differences in standards from state to state.

McKinley said that the only conclusion he could reach was that the process of improving truck driver licensing and training needs to be speeded up and

that there was an inadequate standard in Australia.

The Austroads Review of the National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework, was cited by McKinley as evidence that the training situation was, at least as bad as the committee and the ATA had thought. ” It found that the current approach has created a race to the bottom,” McKinley told the committee.

“The ATA is calling for improvement in increasing training hours and upgrading standards beyond technical driving skills,” McKinley said.

McKinley went on to tell the committee that the Ausroads report noted that the existing heavy rigid licensing unit only covers four of the ten identified safety risks and the median length of time for training for a licence was ten to 20 hours, when the Victorian government recommends 40 to 60 hours of training.

“The current training standards concentrate on basic technical skills in driving the vehicle like changing gears, if it is a manual, steering and all the rest of it, but driving requires a much greater suite of skills, which at the moment, drivers mainly get through experience and they’re very often not mentored,” said McKinley.

“The ATA believes there needs to be national leadership on, firstly, upgrading the driver-licensing standards and increasing the emphasis on what you might call road craft —the ability to perceive hazards, for example, not just the technical

control of the vehicle— and secondly, mandating minimum training hours for truck drivers,” he said.

“A second cohort of skills needs to be on how to best use the technology that is coming into trucks, such as antilock brakes, electronic stability control, forward collision warning and so on, understanding what those alerts mean when they come up and what you as a driver need to do about them,” he added.

McKinley also made a point to the committee about standards that are not covered in training, specifically skills that go slightly beyond the basic technical skills of driving the truck such as coupling, uncoupling and towing, managing fatigue or loading and unloading.

“The ATA and its members are involved in the committee process for developing industry standards and the licensing units are on the list of units to be reviewed,” McKinley said.

“Those reviews have not started yet and we don’t control the timing of them, so our repeated submissions to the standard-development process has been that these need to be looked at as a matter of urgency.”

“When those reviews do come up—we will continue arguing that they should be done earlier, and I’ve no doubt that governments will argue that they should be done earlier—we will provide our expertise to the process, as I’ve no doubt the TWU and other stakeholders will do,” McKinley concluded.

DAIMLER SIGNS UP FOR TECH EDUCATION INITIATIVE DAIMLER HAS ANNOUNCED it has joined the Cummins Technical Education for Communities initiative (TEC), halping to give opportunities to a new generation of Australian technicians.

Daimler and Cummins say the TEC program is designed to create community partnerships between schools, employers and community stakeholders which support students in their transition from school to employment in the industry.

The company says it has a particular focus on disadvantaged areas, where quality vocational training can help make a difference to the community and provide opportunity to young people.

Daimler Truck and Bus president and CEO, Daniel Whitehead, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cummins South Pacific managing director and TEC

program sponsor, Steph Disher, outlining DTB’s commitment to the program.

Mr Whitehead says Daimler, which includes the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Fuso and Alliance Truck Parts brands, is excited to be involved in the initiative.

“The Cummins TEC initiative helps bring exciting new talent into our great industry and gives young people opportunities they may not previously had access to,” he says.

“This program is one of the many ways we can help make the transport field a real destination industry and encourage talented young people to consider a field that may not have been on their radar.”

“Cummins has a proud history of serving the communities in which we are a part of,” says Steph Disher.

“The TEC program is an opportunity for industry to work together to

combat our shortages of skilled tradespeople in a proactive way while also working in those communities that need jobs the most.

“It is with companies like Daimler Truck and Bus as partners that we hope to see great job outcomes and results for the students in the project.”

The TEC program works with high schools, which often have access to automotive programs, but not quality programs focussed on heavy vehicles.

It is not limited to technician roles, with pathways also leading to roles such as administration, spare parts interpreting, warehousing and more.

There are currently five schools around Australia that participate in the TEC program including two in Brisbane and Perth and one in Melbourne.

Often described as a ‘Certificate II’ on steroids, the TEC program gives

students a grounding in safety, a wide range of technical skills as well as training on employer expectations, workplace behaviour and work readiness.

Involvement of the TEC partners means the students are often able to work on donated components such as engines. They can also benefit from work experience at various companies, industry tours, guidance and mentoring, as well as soughtafter apprenticeships that can lead to job opportunities.

The Cummins TEC initiative is also in operation in a range of other markets around the world. In Australia, the list of participating brands now includes Cummins, Daimler Truck and Bus, AHG, Komatsu, Penske Power, PACCAR Dealer Network, Westrans, CJD Equipment, Bayford, Brierty, FDWA and Lindsay Transport.

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MAJOR CONCRETE company Hanson has taken delivery of its 1,000th Mack truck with Hanson general manager of logistics, Scott Tipping receiving the keys to the milestone truck from Mack VP of sales and marketing Dean Bestwick in Brisbane last week.

The 1000th Hanson Mack was a Trident AF with a four-axle dog trailer, which will work out of Hanson’s Wolffdene quarry in Queensland, one of the largest quarry’s in the southern hemisphere.

Scott Tipping said the company had developed a strong relationship with Mack over nearly 35 years.

“One of the key reasons Hanson chooses Mack is because they build their trucks locally in Australia, which gives us the ability to customise the trucks for our different needs,” Mr Tipping said.

“Another big reason is the safety pack. Our trucks spend a significant amount of time on Australia’s highways, so collision mitigation technology is an added level of safety we are able to provide our drivers and road users.”

Dean Bestwick, said Mack is proud to provide Hanson with Australian-made trucks that deliver construction materials for Hanson customers.

“Over three and a half decades working together, Mack has a deep understanding of Hanson’s operations, their requirements to be tough enough for the quarries, achieve maximum payload and keep road users safe,” Mr Bestwick said.

“We are proud of this milestone and the relationship we have built with Hanson over this period of time. Our team is continuously working with Hanson to improve the trucks’ specs, to keep the drivers happy and deliver on what Hanson needs – which is a tough, reliable truck that gets the job done.”

Mack says that Hanson has more Agitators and Truck and Dogs on order with full Safety Pack, due for delivery between now and Q1 2019.

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INTER AND IVECO GET OFF THE COUCH FOR NATIONAL ROAD SHOW AFTER A YEAR of what only can be described as lacklustre sales International and its Australian distributor Iveco have announced they are moving to try and boost the brand’s sales prospects with the first initiative being a national roadshow to ‘grow awareness of the brand in the country’s heartland”.

The company’s have commissioned a new International ProStar prime mover and loaded tri-axle single trailer for a regional tour of Australia, to showcase the model to prospective customers.

The ProStar Roadshow will have personnel from International, Iveco and engine partner, Cummins, travelling with the truck to showits features and allow for evaluation.

Iveco’s key account manager for International, Paul Dinicol, said the team was looking forward to the

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program and reconnecting with regional Australia where the brand has a strong legacy.

“InternationalTrucks are well regarded in rural and regional areas particularly for their durability and functionality – many rural fleets are in fact still operating older International models,” Paul said.

“With this in mind, we want to take the latest generation InternationalProStar to our customers and show them that while these trucks still have all the proven components for longevity from Cummins, Eaton, Meritor, Hendrickson and the like, the latest product offering also adds efficiency, comfort and refinement to the mix.

“Furthermore, with a short bumper to back of cab, the ProStar range is ideal for a wide range of applications from tipper and dog to single trailer,

B-double and even B-triple and two trailer roadtrain work. The model is versatile and a great fit for life in rural and regional Australia,” Paul said.

The sleeper cab prime mover being used is equipped with a X15 Cummins powerplant rated at 550 hp and 2508 Nm and is matched to the venerable Eaton Roadranger 18-speed manual transmission.

The company says that while on the road however, the team will also be able to recalibrate the X15 to an optional 600 hp and 2779 Nm for customers who may require additional power.

The ProStar Roadshow is underway and will take in Central and North Central Victoria before moving on to other states in 2019.

SANTA’S COMING TO TOWN – IN AN INTERNATIONAL IF YOU THOUGHT THE ‘BIG MAN’ IN RED WAS GOING TO ARRIVE ON A SLEIGH TOWED BY REINDEER THEN THINK AGAIN. INTERNATIONAL HAS BUILT A BRIGHTLY DECORATED AND SHINY RED PROSTAR TO GIVE SANTA A HELPING HAND THIS YEAR,

BY DELIVERING GIFTS TO COMMUNITIES AROUND AUSTRALIA, AS PART OF THE COCA-COLA SALVATION ARMY CHRISTMAS TRUCK TOUR.

LAUNCHED IN SYDNEY recently, the ‘It Feels Good to Give’ tour, is a collaborative effort between The Salvation Army and Coca-Cola Australia and will see the ProStar travel more than 10,000 km in the coming weeks.

The tour stops in Perth, Adelaide, Broken Hill, Melbourne and Hobart to host community Christmas events, before returning to Sydney in time for Woolworths Carols in the Domain on December 22.

The ProStar sleeper cab prime mover in 550hp and ‘Ultrashift Plus’ AMT configuration, will tow a single trailer holding gifts for distribution at each event as part of one of Australia’s largest ‘Secret Santas’.

Guests can register to participate in the Secret Santa, with all gifts provided by Coca-Cola. Guests simply select a bauble from the Christmas archways on entry to the event, which

contains a gift tag of a recipient at the next location. They then choose a gift for them from the present station and handwrite a message on an accompanying Christmas card – and the truck will deliver it to the recipient at the next stop.

In return, the gift giver receives a gift, wrapped by someone from the previous stop. Guests can then share in a festive meal and refreshing Coca-Cola No Sugar, and enjoy entertainment from The Salvation Army.

Iveco marketing manager, Darren Swenson, said the company was extremely excited at being able to provide a truck for the worthwhile initiative.

“It’s fantastic to assist in spreading some Christmas cheer at this time of year,” Mr Swenson said.

“By all accounts the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour was a huge

success in 2017 and this year it’s traversing a lot more of Australia, doubling its stops. The ProStar is an ideal truck for the task, providing ample horsepower, the convenience of an AMT and a full standing height cabin, providing the driver with plenty of space when they’re parked-up. And of course the trailer has just about as much payload as Santa’s sleigh.

“We’re also very pleased at the level of detail that Coca-Cola have

gone to in preparing the truck for its Christmas tour – with its colourful wrap and extensive use of lighting, the ProStar looks exceptional and we know that attendees throughout the tour will get real enjoyment from seeing it up close.”

For more information about the tour or to find out where you can see the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck up close, please visit: www.coca-cola.com.au/ en/it-feels-good-to-give

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ITS A GAS! IVECO STRALIS DOES LONDON TO MADRID ON ONE TANK OF LNG TRUCK MAKER IVECO is claiming a new distance record on a single tank of LNG with a 460hp Stralis NP travelling from London to Madrid using just 390kgs of Liquified Natural Gas. The company claims the truck completed what is believed to be the longest ever journey by road on a single fill of LNG, to demonstrate the suitability of natural gas-powered vehicles for domestic and European road transport.

The Stralis NP 4x2 prime mover pulled a tri-axle box van trailer with a gross vehicle weight of 30 tonnes and apart from a the short ferry crossing from Dover to Calais it travelled the 1,728km road journey without needing to refuel. This was despite battling heavy traffic on the UK side of the English Channel, a strong head wind in France and the hilly Spanish section of the route.

This meant the truck recorded an average fuel consumption of 22.6 kg

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of LNG per 100 km using.

The truck bettered its normal range of 1,600km to set the claimed new distance record notching up an estimated fuel cost saving of the equivalent of approximately $AUD364 or around 40 per cent less than the truck would have cost to run on the route using diesel.

Martin Flach, alternative fuels director of Iveco said that the company completed a run from John O’Groats to Land’s End on a single fill in a 400hp Stralis NP last year but this time wanted to set the bar even higher.

“It was a chance to demonstrate how fuel-efficient the Stralis NP is, and to put our latest 460hp gaspowered engine to ultimate the test,” said Flach.

“We brimmed the tank before we left London and the first time we stopped for fuel was in Madrid two and a half days later,” he said.

“Running on 100 per cent natural

power also means there’s no diesel or AdBlue to worry about, making it the simplest solution for both the fleet manager and the driver,” Flach added.

Prior to the trip, Iveco carefully planned the journey using MyBestRoute: a web-based application developed by Michelin for Stralis NP customers. It allows drivers and fleet managers to select the optimum route for any European journey, including plotting LNG refuelling stations and estimating the total cost of the trip for diesel and natural gas-powered trucks.

Iveco says it was using the journey to demonstrate that natural gas – including CNG, LNG and biomethane – are all viable, realistic, safe and cost-effective alternatives to diesel, available from a growing network of fuel providers in the UK and across the continent.

Compared with an equivalent Euro 6 diesel, a Stralis NP running on LNG emits around 90 per cent less NO2, 99

per cent less particulate matter, and up to 15 per cent less CO2 – rising to 95 per cent less CO2 when using biomethane.

It further underlines the ludicrous position in Australia where we are the world’s largest producer of LNG, but the local cost and availability is both prohibitive and virtually non existent.

In Europe, the Stralis NP is available as a 4x2 and 6x2 maximum weight prime mover, with power outputs of 400 or 460hp. Iveco also offers medium and heavy rigid trucks running on natural gas, together with a range of Daily Natural Power light commercial vehicles from 3.5 to 7.2 tonnes.

Iveco says it was the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to look at the potential of natural gas in 1991 – an anticipation that allowed the company to develop a full range of natural gas trucks, vans and buses.

Currently, more than 25,000 Iveco gas-powered vehicles have been delivered into service.

MINISTERS ENDORSE SAFETY APPROACH FOR AUTOMATED AUSTRALIA’S STATE and Federal Transport ministers say have paved the way for the commercial deployment of automated vehicles in Australia within the next few years after they endorsed a safety approach for approving vehicles at first supply.

The National Transport Commission’s acting CEO, Dr Geoff Allan, said the approach for the introduction of automated vehicles will build on the legal framework that currently exists for all vehicles in Australia when they are imported.

“By using existing legal frameworks to regulate automated vehicles, we can develop a single, nationally consistent approach to have vehicle importers meet key safety

requirements,” Dr Allan said.

He said the key to Australia’s new system was a set of 11 safety criteria and 3 obligations which a new regulated entity, known as the automated driving system entity, will be assessed against.

The legal obligations on this new entity will interact with existing legal responsibilities that apply to the vehicle manufacturer, the vehicle owner and the vehicle driver.

“We believe that this approach provides a balance between assuring safety and encouraging innovation, while giving certainty to industry prior to vehicles being allowed into the Australian market,” Dr Allan said.

Ministers have also directed further

work on safety arrangements for automated vehicles after first supply, when they are in-service. Under the existing system, state and territory governments have responsibility for the in-service safety of vehicles.

“We will develop options for inservice requirements in conjunction with state and territory governments and the Commonwealth government in the coming year,” he said.

“Australia is also committed to harmonising regulations on automated vehicles in line with international standards as they are developed.”

The NTC consulted with industry, governments, experts and the community on options for safety

assurance in 2018 and received 62 submissions during its consultation process. The outcomes of this consultation and the full list of safety criteria can be found in the Safety Assurance for Automated Driving Systems: Decision Regulation Impact Statement, which was released today.

The safety assurance approaches for first supply and in-service will be implemented alongside a complete set of reforms to create an endto-end regulatory framework for automated vehicles by the time they are ready for commercial deployment in Australia.

A copy of the Decision Regulation Impact Statement is available at the NTC’s website: ntc.gov.au.

“While we work to reach our customers through various channels, the Show n Shine is a tangible outcome of the commitment we made to increase our direct-tocustomer activities.

“We also had fantastic support from our suppliers and sponsors who helped to make it the great day it was.”

Show and Shine award winners: Truck of the Show North Queensland Truck and

Machinery Movements’ ‘Phat cat’ Best Western Star under 5 years (1-5 years) Brown Linehaul Best Western Star under 10 years (5-10 years) Mansell Heavy Towing Best Western Star over 10 years (10 & beyond) Big Truck Parts Best Western Star Fleet Case Linehaul Best Western Star Rigid Mansell Heavy Towing Best Heritage Truck Heavy Haulage Assets

STARS SHINE IN TOOWOOMBA WESTERN STAR is claiming its annual Show n Shine held in Toowomba over the weekend was a huge success with a range of gleaming ‘Stars displayed by proud owners.

Held at the Toowoomba Showgrounds the Western Star Show n Shine had strong support from recentlyappointed local Penske dealer, Pengelly Truck and Trailers and saw the trucks on display judged across various categories with the ‘Truck of the Show’ award presented to North Queensland Truck and Machinery Movements’ ‘Phatcat’ 4800.

This was the second annual Show n Shine hosted by Penske with a range of activities including an appearances

by Shell V-Power Racing drivers Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin as well as music performances by Mick Lindsay and Troy Cassar-Daley.

“Our second Western Star Trucks Show n Shine was a fantastic success,” said Kevin Dennis, managing director of Penske Commercial Vehicles.

“There was a hugely impressive array of trucks on display for all the attendees to see – from the 2800 through to the 6900.

“It was great to give customers the opportunity to meet each other and chat about their muchloved Stars.

“The Shell V-Power Racing drivers were also a huge hit with the more than 500 attendees, as were musicians Troy Cassar-Daley and Mick Lindsay who put on a rocking show to end the fabulous day!

“Despite the weather dampening the afternoon’s activities, we were pleased to see the sun reappear prior to the concert!

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Truck Show

THE BIENNIAL IAA TRUCK SHOW IN HANOVER WAS RUN AND DONE FOR ANOTHER TWO YEARS WITH ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND ELECTRIFICATION BEING THE MAJOR THEMES AND WE DECIDED TO TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS AND SOME OF THE STAND OUTS THAT CAME OUT OF THE WHAT IS ARGUABLY THE WORLD’S BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT TRUCK SHOW. 014 www.truckandbus.net.au

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he 2018 IAA in Hanover was bigger and better than ever and attracted 2,174 exhibitors from 48 countries, across 282,000 square meters of exhibition space, outstripping the figures from the last IAA in 2016.

The central message of this show was electric mobility while the innovation trend of digitisation could also be seen from producers of trucks, buses and even the trailer industry as well as from large, medium and smaller suppliers and telematics providers.

One of the things that emerged from Hanover in 2018 was the serious return of Ford with the Blue Oval showing its game changing Ford F –Max, built and

developed by Ford Ottosan, the company’s Turkish subsidiary. This truck really stole the show and much of the limelight, not just with its launch but also the fact that it beat many fancied Europeans, including Mercedes’ new Actros to the major truck industry gong – The International Truck of the Year.

The F-Max took everyone by surprise, for while Ford made no secret of its development it did not go out of its way to publicise the Turkish built prime mover. The fact that it won International Truck of the Year made people sit up and take notice. It is a striking looking truck, contemporary and well designed with lots of features that put it on par or ahead of the European makers.

Remember that the Ford Transit we get here in Australia is built in the same Turkish plant that will produce the F-Max, with strong quality credentials and price competitiveness, thanks in part to the devaluing Turkish Lire.

If the F Max wasn’t enough Ford blew the other truck makers away with its futuristic take on what prime movers will look like in years to come with its F-Vision.

The Ford F-Vision Future Truck is a sleek, silver concept truck, which aimed to portray an autonomous commercial vehicle. Ford says the F Vision was inspired by Marvel comic books and hints at Ford Trucks’ vision on lightweight and zero-carbon emission products,

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with electrification, autonomous and connected drive. It’s the first concept Ford Trucks has made and had plenty of attention throughout the Hanover Expo.

Essentially, the vehicle is a design study.

There’s no indication there will ever be a production version. But there’s no doubt the concept is an eye-catcher that points to the future styling of heavy-duty trucks.

Mercedes showed its new model Actros for the first time officially at Hanover and many believed it would win the coveted truck of the year, however despite some strong innovation it was upstaged by Ford’s F-Max. The Actros probably suffered by being more evolution than revolution with many of Daimler’s safety and efficiency systems being advanced and updated and evolved rather than breaking totally new ground. The one exception was its futuristic Mirror Cam, a system replacing external glass mirrors with a camera and rectangular vertical LED screens on each A pillar, showing the rear view images to the driver. The aim is to cut the drag caused by conventional external mirrors, replacing them with an aerodynamic pod, containing cameras, delivering sharper and more accurate information to the driver.

Also under the Daimler umbrella, Mercedes-Benz Vans’ displayed its revolutionary Vision Urbanetic mobility concept. Some believed it to be the most visionary vehicle at the show and is the first step in a line of autonomous commercial vehicles the German automaker plans.

The Urbanetic uses an all-electric chassis that can switch functions depending on what body is coupled to it, allowing it to either move people or transport goods.

It can even switch functions during the course of the day. It also can be shared by companies based upon their needs and time of use.

The passenger version is a sleek teardrop with a lounge interior. In its cargo configuration the vehicle carries a van-like pod.

Mercedes-Benz is about to start tests of systems that will go into the vehicle on mules in enclosed campuses and plants. It also is starting a unit within its vans division to fully develop and commercialise the Urbanetic line.

Over at what used to be Volkswagen Truck & Bus Group, now called Traton, Andreas Renschler, officially introduced the new name to the industry.

IAA was the first time Traton,

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encompassing MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Truck and Bus Brazil, RIO and a major shareholding in Navistar, had been exhibited under one roof.

“There is a growing need for transportation globally,” Renschler explained.

“It keeps extending, but the world of transport is changing due to alternative drivetrains, digitalisation and changing customised needs for more sustainable ways of transporting goods and people,” he said.

“TRA standing for transformation of the ecosystem transport, transportation, and tradition of our brands. TON stands for tonnage and ON relates to ‘always on,’ – the ultimate goal of our customers and our attitude in order to make everything possible for them,” he explained.

Renschler cited his strategy as brand performance, global expansion in all relevant markets, corporation synergies within group and external partners for future business models.

“Being smart does not mean doing everything and owning everything yourself. I am convinced those days have gone. Acting smart together with strong partners is the way forward. Being smart also means being fast by trust.

In collaboration we are growing and enhancing together,” he added This message saw Traton use the IAA to officially sign its vaunted new partnerships with Hino Motors, Sinotruk (of which MAN holds a 25 per cent stake) in China and digital specialists Solera from the USA. “Within the next decade every second truck in our range will have the same common base engine, which is a great result of joint engineering activism Renschler said.

Traton subsidiary MAN showed a whole range of electric commercials in Hanover including the eTGE electric van, the brand new electric CitE truck, and the eTGM electric bus prototype.

MAN’s aim was to cover all classes of city logistics from light through medium to heavy duty with a zero emission vehicle.

“We believe that the future of goods and passenger transport in the city is electric,” said Joachim Drees, chairman of MAN. MAN’s electric van, the eTGF is the company’s first series production electric vehicle and is be produced in Poland, alongside VW’s eCrafter and diesel powered Crafter.

Meantime MAN’s all-electric distribution truck is a26 ton electric

“ WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN HEAVY TRANSPORT AND SCANIA AIMS TO LEAD THE WAY”

medium duty truck featured a motor with 264 kW power and 3.100 Nm peak and will likely be built in Poland.

Entirely new in Hanover was the MAN CitE electric city truck, which the company considered the “highlight of the show”.

The 15-tonne vehicle was developed in just 18 months and was designed for inner cities offering a range of 100 km. The low entry height and especially wide doors allow for easy access in crowded conditions.

On a totally different bent Volkswagen showed its ID Buzz Cargo electric van concept. It has the same iconic styling that traces back to the California surf vibe of the 1960s VW microbuses but optimised as a rolling workshop, mobile office or delivery vehicle.

The van was developed as a joint project

by VW’s passenger car and commercial vehicle divisions and can be configured with different size battery packs to meet a variety of uses and mileage ranges. It is part of a family of electric vehicles the German automaker is bringing to market.

Volkswagen says it plans to put the electric van on sale by 2022 in North America, Europe and China.

Scania was another Traton company that showed trucks that aim to deliver alternative solutions for carbon reduction. Scania displayed trucks for long-haulage, construction, and urban applications, all of which were alternatively fuelled. The Swedish manufacturer featuring ten trucks on its stand at the show, said head of

Scania Trucks, Alexander Vlaskamp.

Continuing the theme Italian company, Iveco displayed a 100 per cent diesel free stand showing its solution to sustainable and zero emissions with current commercial alternative powertrains.

Iveco showed 18 vehicles ranging from electric city buses to long-haul LNG trucks. Iveco described it as ‘a complete offering covering the requirements of every business and every mission’.

This meant its display ranged from the Daily Blue Power which was also named ‘Van of the Year’ at Hanover and the Stralis NP 460 which won the ‘Low Carbon Truck of the Year at the show.

The show coincided with the 40th anniversary of its Daily, which some

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“ELECTRIC MOBILITY IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR LONGTERM COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ZERO EMISSIONS”

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see as the company’s staple in Australia and to celebrate it unveiled a Limited Edition with a specially created design.

Iveco claimed it was the first commercial vehicle maker in the history of the IAA to present a stand without a single diesel engine.

“The transport industry is changing, as the pressure on diesel mounts and the energy transition gains momentum,” said Pierre Lahutte at the press conference in Hanover.

“The Iveco display demonstrated its Electric, CNG and LNG offerings are already available today and are a viable alternative to diesel vehicles in all applications,” said Lahutte.

“In addition, natural gas offers the possibility for a seamless transition to biomethane and renewable energy, achieving zero emissions and opening the door to a circular economy approach that can go so far as achieving negative emissions and carbon sequestration,” he added.

Paccar’s Euro subsidiary DAF showed two electric trucks and a Hybrid in Hanover. Joining the LF Electric and CF Electric trucks was the CF Hybrid while the company also released data on the performance of its portfolio of low emission vehicles.

All three electrified models were designed with varying applications in mind, while, DAF also managed to work with some partners, including VDL as well as Cummins and ZF. The DAF CF Electric features a 170 kWh battery pack for a range of 100 km and a 210 kW electric motor in an allelectric prime mover which DAF builds itself using VDL technology.

DAF’s new LF Electric was also on show with a 250 kW electric motor using Cummins technology and the option to

built-in battery modules with up 222 kWh with a range of up to 220 kilometres when fully loaded.

Rounding out the portfolio was the CF Hybrid truck, which couples a 75 kW electric motor with a Paccar MX-11 diesel engine. DAF has been working with ZF for this system and says that real-world testing is to start next year and will run throughout 2019. The electric drive is supplied by an 85 kWh battery pack for a range of up to 50 kilometres. In addition, the diesel engine can charge the batteries during on-highway operation.

Volvo’s display at the IAA saw it emphasise its objective to start selling electric trucks in Europe next year (2019).

The Swedish company showcased the Volvo FE Electric which was shown as a waste disposal truck with a body that has been built in collaboration with Faun, one of Europe’s leading manufacturer of refuse bodies.

“Electric mobility is an important part of our long-term commitment to sustainable urban development and zero emissions,” said president of Volvo Trucks, Claes Nilsson.

“There is significant market interest in trucks with electric drives. A large number of potential customers have enquired about the opportunities that the new technology has to offer and what this means for their businesses,” stressed Nilsson.

Volvo also displayed the new liquefied natural gas fuelled FH LNG at IAA for regional and long-haul heavy goods transport. With 309 or 338kW Volvo says the LNG trucks have the same power output and the driveability as its diesel-powered models while reducing

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CO2 emissions by between 20 and 100 per cent compared to diesel vehicles, depending on the fuel used.

Also on display was the company’s automated driving project, which was being presented to the general public for the first time.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the market launch of the Volvo FH in 1993 Volvo showed the Volvo FH 25 Year Edition while Volvo had an array of its current trucks on show at the show.

Meantime Cummins again signalled that it is looking to ensure its long-term viability as a power train developer and manufacturer and not just a maker of diesel engines.

Although while it had a strong emphasis on electric drivetrains, Cummins had a another message at this year’s IAA and that was that the Diesel engine is not dead yet.

Cummins’ executive director of product management and innovation, Tim Proctor, said: that while Cummins was maintaining its strong electrification program it was not slowing down its diesel research and development.

It unveiled a concept emissions control system capable it says of meeting the next level of Euro VII regulations anticipated during the coming decade.

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Cummins’ also showed its B6.7 concept engine which has been built to run with diesel, petrol, propane, CNG, LNG or RNG (Renewable Natural Gas) as well as displaying its BP74E, a liquid cooled electrified power unit using advanced lithium-ion technology in a scalable modular design.

The US powertrain company’s main draw card in Hanover was its PowerDrive electric hybrid utility truck housed in a Kenworth T370 to demonstrate the fact that the drive line can be adapted to a variety of trucks and types.

The truck may look like a conventional bonneted truck, but the PowerDrive lacks a conventional transmission and can instead switch between two hybrid and two pure electric modes. Such flexibility helps the PowerDrive strike the right match between toughness and efficiency.

The US Class 6 truck was configured with exportable electric power to recharge other vehicles, a recovery crane operating on either electric or diesel engine power.

Cummins says it boasts an 80km pure electric reducing emissions by up to 80 per cent compared with conventional dieselpowered vehicles. According to Cummins fuel bills can be reduced by between 40 and 80 per cent depending on the drive cycle.

Allison used IAA to announce that its new medium-duty, automatic nine-speed would now be available globally after initially only being offered in its native USA. The company also announced that it has developed an electric hybrid system with a pure electric range extender.

The manufacturer claims that the ninespeed leverages the proven durability of its 2000 Series six-speed auto, which it says has more than 160 billion kilometres under its belt globally. The nine speed uses the same vehicle interfaces as the six-speed allowing easy integration with vehicles currently using the 2000 Series.

The electric hybrid system claims to give a range extension of up to 15km and uses a high energy lithium-ion battery as well as a smaller, lighter dual inverter with water ethylene glycol cooling for more efficiency and fuel economy using the hybrid system to power accessory components like air-conditioning, compressors and power steering.

All in all some exciting commercial vehicle technology at a show that promised not a lot of major truck news, however it delivered rather a lot. It promises to be an incredible era of electric and alternative fuel development ahead, if Hanover is anything to go by.

For road transport operators and businesses who keep the health, wealth and prosperity of this country moving every day.

With more than 40 years of experience designing and manufacturing trucks in Australia, ‘Australian Made. World’s Best.’ is more than just a headline to us. It’s a philosophy that drives us every day and delivers you innovative, productive and reliable trucks that set the benchmark.

New Product

2020 VISION

FREIGHTLINER’S CASCADIA IS HEADING DOWN UNDER AND IS CURRENTLY ON A LONG JOURNEY OF TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT, WHICH DAIMLER BELIEVES WILL RESULT IN A TRUCK THAT IS PERFECTLY TAILORED FOR LOCAL CONDITIONS BY THE TIME IT LOBS IN EARLY 2020.

T&TA HEADED TO THE AUSTRALIAN AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH CENTRE IN ANGLESEA TO DRIVE A COUPLE OF LEFT HAND DRIVE DEVELOPMENT TRUCKS THAT HAVE BEEN POUNDING AUSSIE PAVEMENTS IN A BID TO GET THE CASCADIA RIGHT FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET.

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“THE KEY THING FOR US WITH THE NEW PRODUCT COMING IS TO MAKE SURE THE TRUCKS WE SELL HERE WILL BE FIT FOR PURPOSE AND READY FOR AUSTRALIA”

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hose old enough to remember when the Freighliner Argosy arrived in Australia back in the mid 1990s and the reliability issues that came with it, would understand the anxiety of Daimler management and their desire to never repeat those issues ever again.

It’s that background and the positive lessons learned from the long term testing program for the Mercedes Benz Actros that has Daimler throwing a lot of resources at the new Freightliner Cascadia, before they bring it to market down under.

As we have outlined earlier this year, Daimler Trucks Australia has mapped out a testing and development program over almost two years with the aim of ensuring the Cascadia is near perfect when it goes on sale down under in the first quarter of 2020.

Initially that testing is taking place with two left hand drive versions of the Cascadia, which is the best selling prime mover in North America, pounding around a 600km test loop north of Melbourne every day of the week, with real time telemetry sending data back to Freightliner HQ in Portland Oregon.

So it was that the trade press were invited to the AARC Anglesea test facility south of Geelong to climb aboard both of the test ‘mules’ for a steer, to see what the Cascadia holds in prospect for Australian truck operators.

It’s partly the chequered history of the

Freightliner brand in Australia and partly the success of the Benz Actros test program that has driven this ‘root and branch‘ development program and Freightliner Australia boss Stephen Downes is being very measured and patient in overseeing the two-year long regime.

It would be far quicker and easier, at least in the short term, for Downes and his lieutenants to rush the Cascadia to market and push the factory in the USA for right hand drive models as soon as possible, particularly given Freightliner’s very modest market share at the moment.

However that would only court the same sort of issues that beset the Argosy throughout its early days on the market here.

The other limiting factor would have to be the booming US market where Freightliner is number one and has an order bank running well into the second half of 2019, which means even if the Australian operation put in an order back in June this year it probably wouldn’t get a production slot until late 2019 anyway.

Downes is quietly confident that the testing and development, code named Winter Soldier, will give Freightliner an insight into what will be needed to deliver a truck that is fit for purpose and ready for Australia. Its called, Winter Soldier partly because it started in the dead of the Australian winter and partly because of the camouflage pattern wraps the two left

hand drive Cascadias are finished in.

“The key thing for us with the new product coming is to make sure the trucks we sell here will be fit for purpose and ready for Australia, that’s fundamental so that trucks, which are largely designed and built overseas, don’t just get pasted into the Australian market,” said Downes.

“We all know that Australian applications are different, there are different duty cycles, heavier weights, long distances, higher temperatures so it is very different from America in so many ways,” he added.

Downes says the initial push with the program is mileage accumulation, to extend the test envelope and look at reliability and durability, to analyse service cycles, to gauge optimal oil change intervals and to have a rotation of drivers to understand how the trucks work with different driving styles.

So to get the test program started faster, well before the Freightliner plant in Charlottesville, North Carolina could gear up for right hand drive production, the company imported two left hookers to tackle an unrelenting program and get things underway. The company had to jump through hoops to get approval for two left hand drive trucks to run with loads on Australian roads and both trucks are fitted with enough cameras to run a TV station to ensure safe vision all around for the drivers.

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By the time you read this the first right hand drive models will have been built and be on a ship headed this way to ramp up the program along side the LHD versions.

All the data being collected is being sent to Portland, Oregon in real time so that all of the parameters are being closely watched and the entire program is obviously being carefully documented.

As the program swings into 2019 the focus will shift slightly towards validation of systems including the various suites of safety and driver aid systems, as well as calibration of engines and transmissions, particularly with weights and duty cycles.

“We want to maximise and utilise higher torque settings to ensure good economy and efficiency and its all about durability and reliability and to get a handle on how they handle Australian conditions,” said Downes.

In the opening months of 2020, just prior to the Cascadia launch, the development program will focus on getting the support networks right, training the dealer staff and service technicians, getting tooling and parts systems set up so that the ‘new’ Freightliner can be better and more confidently sold to the cynical truck buyers of this country.

Downes went on to say that the Cascadia will be a significant step ahead of anything else that will be on the Australian market when it arrives so it needs to be right and ready for the market. That is significantly

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ahead of everything except of course, its German cousin, the Mercedes Benz Actros.

In reality the Cascadia is a conventional American truck but with a German accent. This is immediately apparent when you climb behind the wheel and the very ‘Benz’ layout and switch gear is there in front of you. It is even more apparent when you fire it up and move off.

The smoothness of the DD 13 and DD15 drivelines are immediately apparent and in a similar ‘no-fuss’ way they just get about the job like the Actros does, quiet, fuss free and smooth.

All of that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who is studying the globalisation of the truck industry. Volvo Group is doing it across its Volvo, Mack and UD lines, creating common drivelines and shared systems and even instrumentation and controls. Wait till the Mack Anthem gets here and it will be even more apparent.

As we said before, the Cascadia is America’s top selling heavy truck and they are selling them faster than they can make them. So American buyers clearly don’t have an issue with American trucks with European accents, especially since Volvo’s conventional bonneted heavy truck is number two in that market.

As Stephen Downes said, trucks and the tasks they do are very different in America than in Australia so they don’t underestimate the task ahead.

If you look at the heavy duty sales charts in Australia, then you will notice

that with the exception of Kenworth and Mack, which both benefit from being built and developed locally, admittedly on US designed platforms, most of the brands near the top of the charts are European or Japanese. Behind the market leader Kenworth, comes Volvo, Isuzu, Mack in fourth and then Scania, Mercedes Benz, Hino, UD, DAF, Fuso, Iveco and MAN. Fully imported US trucks are languishing with Freightliner, Western Star and International selling just 62 units between them in September, in a market of 1196 heavy-duty trucks for the month.

That translates to just five per cent of the market between three brands with Freightliner selling 33 units for the month.

Based on those numbers Freightliner has a job in front of it given it, as a brand, currently has just 2.8 per cent of the heavy-duty market. The task will be two fold, firstly winning buyers back to Freightliner and secondly to win more buyers to bonneted trucks. Even 30 per cent of market dominant Kenworth’s production are currently cab over models.

So there is a job ahead for the Daimler men and it all underlines the seriousness of the situation that Freightliner is facing.

The first two left hand drive trucks in the test program are both day cabs and when we drove them, both were hauling B Double sets, although the company says that they will at various times run singles and have already been tried in B Triple configuration.

One of the trucks is a 116-inch cab (bumper to back of cab) using the DD13 505hp 13 litre and the other powered by a DD15 600 hp. engine with a 126 inch (BBC) cab and set back front axle. Both were coupled to the Daimler DTM12 speed AMT running through a 3.4:1 final drive and using Freightliner’s own Airliner rear suspension.

In the coming 18 months before the Cascadia launches, Freightliner says it will test an array of drivelines and specs to ensure optimum performance and fuel efficiency for a variety of applications The first truck is what we describe, only half jokingly, as the Linfox spec, in other words ideally suited to intra-state supermarket distribution work, either in single or B Double form, usually with higher volume and lower tonnage up to about 50 tonnes but with the ability to handle 70- 90 tonnes with relative ease.

The wrap around dash of the Cascadia

although different to the Actros has that familiarity that we have already mentioned. Controls are similar, the selector for the DT12 is straight out of central casting in Stuttgart and exactly the same as the Actros, engine brake, wipers, cruise control and other major controls are the same, or at the least very similar.

It is a benefit to all drivers to have a system that is easy to navigate and simple to use all the more so for companies operating Daimler fleets so that drivers hopping out of a Benz will be totally at home in a Freightliner as well.

It is also a benefit for Freightliner as part of a global group. The economies of scale kick in with standardisation, reducing costs and making it easy to incorporate systems and technology across multiple platforms. This has also involved standardising electrical platforms across Daimler’s truck products (and also its bus products as well). This means systems can

be developed and easily shared across all products.

The quality of the Cascadia is obvious any where you look either inside the cab or outside the truck. Inside the dash fit and finish, trim and overall quality is very good while outside the panel fit was excellent and underlines the huge leaps Freightliner has made in recent times.

It will be interesting to look at the test trucks in about a year’s time after they have cycled through a quarter million kilometres or so, suffered an Australian summer and billions of vibrations with lots of rough treatment.

From the driver’s seat the view forward in both trucks is excellent and in the shorter 116 it almost feels like a cab over with a steep bonnet sloping down sharply while the panoramic windscreen gives an excellent view forward.

The remote mirrors offer a great rearward view and a wide spectrum

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of vision so drivers can keep an eye all around them. Who knows, by the time we get the Cascadia, Freightliner may have incorporated Daimler’s new MirrorCam seen recently at the IAA in Hanover.

Select D on the right hand control stalk and the DT12 clicks into gear ready to ease the 50 tonnes or so away from the mark. First up in the DD13 powering the 116, it is quickly up to speed on the large main test track at t Anglesea and the truck sits easily on 100km/h with the adaptive cruise locked in on the target speed. The truck tracked will even over some of the bigger and more severe bumps on the main circuit.

It wasn’t the real world and there was no traffic baulking us but the steering and braking of the truck was very good. The same applied for the DD15 powered 126 inch version.

Both trucks delivered the power smoothly with almost imperceptible gear shifts, easily slotting up and down the box with no fuss. It was time then to turn off the main track and head down a narrow and steep two-lane downhill, winding its way into a gully before climbing back to the main track again.

Engine braking worked supremely well with not a lot of noise, but plenty of retardation as we ambled down the steep descent, barely needing to go near

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the brakes.

The climb back out was the impressive part with the well laden B Double sets climbing the five per cent slope in 9th and only a sharp bump causing my foot to hit the throttle which went past the ‘kick down’ detent on the pedal and saw the DD13 grab seventh for a short time near the top of the climb. If the errant size nine had not stamped on the pedal over the bump it would have gladly crested the hill without changing down.

Interestingly Daimler will apply US emission standards and calibrations to the Freightliner DD power plants while applying European engine emission tune to the Actros offerings. This, Stephen Downes explains will allow Freightliner to immediately access any changes US engineers in Portland may develop for the American built trucks.

There is a long road ahead for Daimler engineers on both sides of the Pacific with the calibrations and matching of engine and transmissions and final drives a way off being resolved, that’s why the program is so extensive and lengthy.

You can bet your bottom dollar the spec will be absolutely spot on by the time the sign off comes next year. Daimler Trucks Australia boss, Daniel Whitehead had a wry smile on his face at Anglesea the day we drive the Cascadias. His team headed

by Stephen Downes and new recruit Rob Griffin who recently joined Freightliner from PACCAR have a very sharp focus on getting this one right and Whitehead is driving the program to ensure they achieve the goal. Call it 2020 vision or a vision for 2020.

It is a long and winding road ahead for Freightliner but as Whitehead and his team realised from the results of the Actros development program, patience and a willingness to invest delivers a strong reward when the trucks hit Aussie roads.

It is a strong product to start with but no one at Daimler is underestimating the task ahead. We reckon it might just work and at the very least this truck will take sales from rivals at the Volvo and PACCAR groups. It is going to be an interesting journey.

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Road Test

THE OFFER TO DRIVE A UD QUON DOWN THE PACIFIC FROM BRISBANE TO SYDNEY WOULD BE THE FIRST CHANCER T&TA HAS HAD TO DRIVE THE JAPANESE PRIME MOVER IN MANY YEARS SO WE CLIMBED ABOARD FOR A DAY AT THE WHEEL OF WHAT MANY BELIEVE IS JAPAN’S BEST ENGINEERED BIG TRUCK. HERE IS WHAT WE FOUND. 028 www.truckandbus.net.au

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t was still dark in the Brisbane Industrial suburb of Wacol when we arrived in to climb aboard the UD Quon for a daylong trip down the Pacific to our base in Sydney. Even with the rapidly expanding freeway conditions it is still a demanding 1000 km odd journey that many trucks have to tackle every day.

Having not driven a UD in some time and a Quon in an even longer time we were interested to find out how the 460 hp prime mover would handle the task hauling a single curtain side taut liner with around 41 tonnes gross on board.

Volvo, the owner of the UD brand for the past 11 years has made no secret that its aim is to produce the best Japanese truck available on the Australian market and it has incorporated Japanese

manufacturing expertise with European influences that extend beyond the Volvo based driveline.

Heading out of Brisbane towards the border in the early pre-dawn the Quon was humming in the cool of the morning and ambling along the motorways towards the Gold Coast and as we crossed into NSW the dawn light had gathered and we settled in for a long day ahead.

While UD Trucks has been a part of the Volvo Group for the past decade or so the control of the Swedish giant has taken a little while to really see a significant influence from Gothenberg. Although the latest truck is still very much a UD you can start to see and feel the results of the exchange of technology and philosophy between UD and its parent, although unlike Mack for instance, UD has retained

its own engines and transmissions since then is evident in the latest UD Quon.

Having said that UD has always had a more engineering based philosophy than its Japanese counterparts.

While the Isuzus and Hinos of the world have large ranges covering everything from light duty to heavy duty, UD has a paired back line-up that concentrates on the area from the upper end of medium duty to the upper mid realm of heavy duty, which was where the Quon we were driving resides.

Hauling the single trailer rig is an 11-litre UD six-cylinder turbo diesel rated at 460hp with maximum torque of 2,200Nm available from 1,200 rpm.

It’s a very responsive and flexible engine particularly for an 11-litre and coped well with the hilly terrain on the northern parts

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of the Pacific Hwy. The abiding feeling was that the truck was doing the job easily and it was effortless behind the wheel for this humble steerer. On the hills and grades it pulled well and strongly marched along the Pacific.

The adaptive cruise control like the other technology that has been brought into the UD from its Swedish masters works well although we were caught out a little on steep descents with the overrun causing some over speed ‘incidents’ but with more experience with this particular truck we feel sure this would be better managed.

Another part of the UD’s suite of electronic wizardry includes a forward

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camera and radar which works with its ‘traffic eye’ safety system, which also has lane departure warning and the aforementioned adaptive cruise control that senses vehicles in the same lane and adjusts cruise speed to maintain a pre determined gap on the road.

Thankfully we did not have to prove the driver alert system’s worth on the journey south. The system sounds a warning should the truck detect a lack of active input from the driver when other traffic, pedestrians or obstacles and applies the truck’s brakes autonomously should determine a potential collision is imminent.

Interestingly UD claims to have been

the world’s first truck maker to use SCR injection almost 15 years ago so it is no surprise that this truck is Euro 6 compliant and a clean, green power plant that is also available in several different specs including a 420hp / 1900Nm version as well as a lower 390hp / 1750Nm rating.

At highway cruising speed the Quon tracked well and was stable and planted on the road only serving to enforce the belief that the truck does the job easily and without fuss.

The Pacific Hwy between Ballina and Grafton is still a war zone with uneven surfaces, lots of speed limited areas and

road works abounding. The Quon took all of this in its stride and tracked well across the variety of road surfaces.

The UD’s ESCOT-6 12 speed A/MT transmission does the job well shifting smoothly and crisply and importantly at the right time. The shifter can be moved forward and back to select drive neutral or reverse and when you want to select manual mode there are buttons that can be clicked up and down to select the desired gear and can be easily managed by the driver with the press of a finger or thumb.

You can also downshift manually when the transmission is in automated mode to enhance braking performance and to boost

the effect of the engine braking.

For enhanced fuel economy the transmission features what UD calls Escot roll which automatically puts the gearbox into neutral so that the engine is just idling as the truck uses gravity to maintain speed down hill, minimising fuel consumption and improving the bottom line. This system only works when the engine brake is switched off.

Speaking of the engine brake, the Quon boasts a four-stage system which was able to retard the down hill progress of the Quon and its 41tonne GVM. Engine compression braking is activated in the final two stages of the system while in the initial two stages

the exhaust brake is activated. The Quon boasts a blended braking system engaging the engine brake when the driver applies the service brakes ensuring brake wear is reduced on the trucks all wheel disc brake system but also to ensure the most efficient and safest braking effort.

Inside the cab the UD dash layout is excellent although like its heavy duty counterparts from Hino and Isuzu as well as Fuso the bunk is small and getting into and out of it is a chore thanks to the ‘furniture’ between the driver’s and passenger seats.

On the dash the instruments are large and easy to read with the tacho and

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speedo dominating the nicely designed controls sitting as they do either side of an electronic screen in the middle of the panel with fuel and air pressure gauges are electronic LED displays and they are easy to read at a glance in all light conditions. The dash in the latest Quon is more curved and better designed for overall use and convenience.

The evolution of the Quon cab design boasts a dash that positions all the controls and information within easy reach, the latest version has evolved further and boasts a really interesting piece of customisation technology including the ability for switch panels to be moved about within the dash to suit the needs of drivers or the fleet. Each of the switches has its own IP address so wherever it is moved it will still control the same functions. The switches are housed in four panels, two on the right of the steering column and the other two on the left. There are four switches in each managing various functions, such as stability control, traction control, idle up and down, lane-keeping control, mirror heating and air supply etc. So you can easily move them around to suit particular ergonomic or layout needs.

It’s a clever system indeed.

There are both 12v and 24v electrical outlets are available in the cabin along with a USB socket and there is a fantastic hot and cold drink holder located in the centre console, which is a convenient and useful carry over from the previous Quon.

The cab is quiet and comfortable and the suspension seat works very well, so that even after ten hours of driving down the Pacific it is a relaxed and relatively fatigue free. We alighted fresh and feeling good, as we said it was doing it easy.

The cab of the test truck was fitted with a roof spoiler and extensions at the rear of the cab as part of its overall aerokit which added to quite good fuel economy on the trip which UD claims is up to five per cent better than the previous model.

We came away impressed by the Quon and its performance as a single trailer prime mover and reckon for drivers hauling around the 40 tonne mark on shorter runs, where a full sleeper is not an absolute requirement, then this is a truck that delivers by bringing the best of Europe and Japan together in a very good package.

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Industry

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DESPITE RUMOURS AND INNUENDO ABOUT IVECO’S LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO LOCAL ASSEMBLY AND MANUFACTURING, THE ITALIAN TRUCK MAKER HAS JOINED THE OTHER TRUCK MAKERS IN AUSTRALIA, PACCAR AND VOLVO, IN ANNOUNCING BIG INVESTMENT IN LOCAL PRODUCTION. IVECO HAS ALSO ANNOUNCED SOME NEW TRUCKS INCLUDING A NEW VERSION OF THE ACCO WITH A DISTINCTLY EUROPEAN ACCENT, RATHER THAN ITS TRADITIONAL AUSSIE TWANG. TTA WAS AT IVECO’S BIG LAUNCH NIGHT IN MELBOURNE TO SEE WHERE IT IS ALL HEADED.

I

t could be a case of saying ‘hoo-roo’ to the uniquely Aussie Acco and ‘Benevento’ to a new and different type of Acco, with a distinctive Italian/European heritage.

The announcement of the new Acco, to be built on the Stralis platform alongside the new locally assembled and adapted Stralis, called X-Way, was made at a lavish dinner Iveco hosted in Melbourne’ s convention centre in midOctober. The event was to launch not only the new version of the Acco, but also the new Euro 6-rated X-Way range.

Its fair to say Iveco has been struggling a bit in recent times down under. While it is one of Europe’s biggest truck makers, a part of the Fiat Empire under its Case New Holland Industrial umbrella, in Australia its sales are less than stellar and it needs a reset.

Here in Australia the Acco has been the company’s staple. It has traditionally been the market leader in the waste market but the writing has been on the wall for the old Acco, which can trace its lineage back to the war time blitz wagons and the Acco designed here by International in the 1960s.

The changing face of truck safety, emissions, noise levels and technology means that the Acco based on the current platform would require a major re-design to be able to meet future regulatory demands, not to mention changing customer demands.

As well as the announcement that Acco would be getting an update, there was also the announcement that Iveco Stralis would start to be assembled at Dandenong with an Aussie specific version to be called the Stralis X-Way.

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“THE RELEASE OF THE STRALIS X-WAY WILL SIGNIFICANTLY STRENGTHEN IVECO’S HEAVY MARKET PRODUCT OFFERINGS IN AUSTRALIA”

In the space of two months each of the three local truck manufacturers have announced major commitments to expanding local manufacturing operations and it was finally Iveco’s turn in October, after PACCAR and Volvo Group both announced $AUD 30 million investments.

That means that close to $90 million has been committed for investment in local truck manufacturing. No government handouts here, no protective tariffs and no corporate whinging. In fact, some would say the Australian truck industry doesn’t shout loud enough about its achievements and value to our economy, and we believe it should.

The Stralis X-Way range will be built at the company’s venerable Dandenong facility alongside current generation Euro 5 Stralis AS-L models, the new Acco and its Delta and Graduate bus chassis.

Iveco says that the Stralis X-Way project is the culmination of a four year engineering program between Iveco Australia and the company’s global engineering centre, resulting in models that combine extensive local development with the latest technologies from Europe.

The program represents an investment which is believed to be around $AUD23 million and was signed off by the late Sergio Marchione. As we already explained Iveco is a part of the giant Fiat empire that Marchione controlled prior to his untimely death earlier in 2018.

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The company also says that the new models have undergone extensive on-road testing in Australia and in Europe over a three-year period.

The new Acco will also be built at Iveco in Melbourne and unlike the model it replaces it will share the ‘architecture’ with the new Stralis X-Way, however while the new Acco is, in reality a version of the European designed Stralis, Iveco says it will also include some of the best features of the previous generation Acco, which is the favoured truck for rugged vocational applications in Australia such as waste, agitator and tipper work.

Iveco’s Australia business director, Bruce Healy said the Acco was an Australian transport industry legend, and that given its status in the market, Iveco was working tirelessly to ensure a new Acco would do the iconic nameplate proud.

“Developed for the Australian army in the years following World War II, the Acco is Australia’s first locally-designed and manufactured truck,” Mr Healy said.

“Following its inception, the model quickly made the transition from army to civilian life and found a home in all manner of applications, from vocational work to line-haul and everything in between.

“With extensive development over the years, the Acco still continues to hold its own in today’s ultra-competitive truck market, attracting a strong legion

of followers who appreciate its rugged Australian design, lean architecture and reputation for durability,” he added.

“To replace a transport legend is no mean feat, so extensive local development has been undertaken in preparation for the next chapter of the Acco’s product life.

“In developing the new Acco, Iveco has combined many of the much-loved attributes of the previous model with cutting-edge technology borrowed from the Stralis X-Way platform – it’s been a joint effort between our local engineering department and the design team at Iveco’s European headquarters,” said Healey.

Its clear the rationale for switching the Acco nameplate to the Stralis platform was made to ensure Iveco could meet potential vehicle safety rules in the next few years, which the old chassis and cab had little hope of meeting.

The new Acco range is a long way ahead of the current Acco particularly in safety terms with standard is Adaptive Cruise Control, ABS Anti-lock Braking, Electronic Braking System, Advanced Emergency Braking System, Electronic Stability Program, axle load indicator, electronic battery cut-out and L.E.D daytime running lamps and rear L.E.D lights.

Iveco says that operators will also benefit from the new cabin design that offers additional visibility and comfort combined with the easy access the previous generation Accos were regarded for.

One major ‘carryover’ is the familiar three-piece steel front bumper with headlight mesh protection providing added durability and lower maintenance costs for rough and tumble applications The new Stralis based Acco will be available in 6x4 and 8x4 configurations, using Iveco front axles, tapered two-leaf parabolic suspension and rear Iveco 8 bag electronically controlled air suspension, with Meritor tandem drive axles with active traction control and driver controlled diff locks.

The new Stralis X-Way range will comprise 6x4 AD/AT and 6x4 AS prime mover models as well as 6x4 AD/AT, 8x4 AD/AT and 8x4 AS rigids.

Cabin options include a ‘Day’, ‘Sleeper’ and ‘Active Space Sleeper’ for prime movers and rigid models while wheelbase options are 3900 and 4200mm for the prime movers and 5720, 5800, 6300 and 6500mm depending on the rigid model selected.

“The release of the Stralis X-Way will significantly strengthen Iveco’s heavy market product offerings in Australia, opening the brand for consideration by a whole range of new customers,” said Marco Quaranta, product manager for Australia and New Zealand “The launch of this new model will provide Iveco with greater coverage in some existing market segments while also allowing us to compete in several new applications where our previous trucks may not have had the ideal specifications.

The Stralis X-Way will be powered

by Iveco’s own Cursor 9, 11 and 13litre engines with outputs range from 310 hp and 1300 Nm of torque for the entry level Cursor 9litre up to 510 hp and 2300 Nm for the Cursor 13 litre.

Iveco says the Cursor 11 and 13 engines benefit from a new turbocharger providing immediate response at low engine speeds and superior engine braking.

The company says its engines meet Euro 6 emissions levels through the use of its own Hi-eSCR system as used in the latest Eurocargo launched in Australia last year.

“The addition of a Euro 6 8x4 at 460 hp with extensive safety equipment will see Iveco build sales in general freight applications, as will a smaller Euro6 6x4 rigid at 360 hp. We also see the revised model mix doing well in single trailer applications as well as in vocational work,” said Marco Quaranta.

“More broadly, the combination of cleaner, more efficient Euro 6-rated

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engines, the clever new HitroniX transmission and a full suite of advanced safety equipment, will appeal to government fleets and safety and environmentally conscious companies,” Mr Quaranta added.

The new locally assembled Ivecos all use the excellent ZF 12 speed, which Iveco renames as the HiTroniX automated transmission. The new Acco will also have the option of an Allison automatic to meet customer demands in waste and agitator work especially.

The HitroniX comes equipped with ‘Rocking’ and ‘Creeping’ modes for recovering traction in slippery conditions and for slow manoeuvring as well as high load take off and as well it comes with four reverse gears.

With Acco for the most important refuse collection applications, Iveco says it will continue to offer a factory dual control system and says it is consulting extensively with the waste industry to develop a variety of body mounting and chassis layout options to suit a variety of bodies. The model is also

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available with a Parker Chelsea PTO, a favourite for waste collection work.

Acco models will use SCR Euro 6, Cursor 9 engines with between 310 and 360hp and 1300 and 1650 Nm of torque with emission control using the Hi-eSCR system. AS mentioned earlier, in a bid to continue the appeal for the waste industry, it will be matched to the Allison Generation Five 3200 Series, 6-speed full automatic transmission.

One factor that may cause some angst with current Acco users is the fact that the new Acco will not be available with a Cummins engine, the long time power plant relied upon by Iveco for the old Acco.

For the cynical amongst the truck buyers of Australia some might say that the only connection the new Acco has with the old one is the same four letters on the badge, but you would have to be a cynic.

Australia needs Iveco to keep building trucks here, and so does Paccar and Volvo Group. Iveco gives the local industry critical mass and if Australia loses it as a local assembler, then it may have a knock on effect at Paccar and Volvo by way of

component suppliers etc.

Paccar and Volvo would probably go on, but speak to anyone with those organisations off the record and they will tell you they want Iveco to stay in business as an local assembler because of the implications that would arise if it shut down here.

The announcement of this investment and commitment by Iveco needs to be embraced and applauded, it is important for the ongoing viability of Australian truck assembly and whether the new Acco has an Aussie accent or an Italian one doesn’t much matter so long as it does the job and operators by it and its sibling the X-Way.

XAVIER_HINO36265

THE ALL-NEW STREET SMART TRUCK.

Introducing our next generation truck with the most comprehensive active safety package offered by a Japanese medium duty manufacturer. Delivering the next generation of operating efficiency and performance, with an all-new car like interior, designed to raise the bar for style and driver comfort. For more information visit hino.com.au

New Model

A SIMPLE RECIPE OF STRONG BUSINESS PRINCIPLES, GOOD MACHINERY AND LOYALTY TO STAFF AND CUSTOMERS HAS HELPED TOWNSVILLE WASTE REMOVAL COMPANY SUN CITY SKIPS NAVIGATE ALMOST TWO DECADES IN BUSINESS WITH GROWING SUCCESS. T&TA VISITED THE SUN CITY YARD IN TOWNSVILLE TO FIND OUT WHAT MAKES THE COMPANY TICK.

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S

ome will have you believe that the far north Queensland city of Townsville is suffering thorough tough times and in some ways it is. The closure of the notorious Clive Palmer owned nickel refinery, the many for lease signs in shop windows and a pretty ordinary year for their beloved Cowboys has meant difficult times for the usually tough as teak Townsville locals.

For one little Townsville company however, the downturn is all rubbish, quite literally, with a fleet of hook trucks and skip bins servicing the building and residential skip bin market.

Sun City Skips is a small operation that has been built steadily over the past 19 years starting with a single hook truck and 40 bins in the hands of company founder David George and his wife Trish Today almost two decades later the company runs a fleet of seven Hino hook trucks and close to 300 skip bins of various sizes and a staff of eight drivers and labourers. Interestingly Sun City actually builds its own bins in its small but purposeful workshop in Townsville, underlining the resourcefulness and can do attitude of the small company.

While David George started the company and still very much owns and operates it, Ryan Jeffrey is the day-to-day manager; having started with Sun City skips 17 years ago as a labourer. Ryan is the company’s longest serving employee and along with several other employees who have been with the company more than a decade they epitomise the long term loyalty and family nature of Sun City Skips. “We are a family here and we operate the business that way, we go out to dinners together once a month and that is reflected in the way we conduct the business and

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the way we deal with our customers,” Ryan said.

Loyalty is clearly an important factor for David George with strong staff retention and a commitment to the Hino brand for Sun City Skip’s throughout that time.

The company has built its reputation on reliability and customer service and concentrates on sorting and recycling as much waste as it can as it comes through its yard in Townsville’s industrial area.

“We recycle everything we can, from timber to green waste, old bitumen and concrete which we crush and recycle,” said Ryan Jeffrey.

“We try to take as little as possible to the dump, which helps our bottom line in two ways, firstly it means less dumping fees and secondly it provides another income strand by selling the recycled materials,” he added.

“We’ve always done it that way and in many ways we were quite advanced really, It’s a matter of working smarter not harder.

“We try to work smarter then the next guy and try to be as innovative as possible,” he added.

While TTA was in Townsville visiting Sun City the yard was buzzing as drivers returned from jobs with full bins which were tipped out and sorted with a great deal of speed and efficiency. Within a short time green waste was separated out into its own bunker, timber was selected and moved into a recycling bay while other building material was sorted into items that could be reused and a small unusable residual was sent to the dump, all of this happening with no fuss or wasted time.

Later we headed into downtown Townsville with Ryan and one of his drivers to a major hotel restaurant redevelopment. The small Hino easily negotiated the tight loading area, shuffling a couple of bins around and whipping through the surprisingly busy Townsville roads with out bother.

Approximately 80 per cent of Sun City’s work is with building and trade customers while residential accounts for about 20 per cent of the operation’s tasks.

Sun City’s loyalty to Hino is another factor in the success of the company according to Ryan.

“They have always been reliable for us, they are easy to service and really economical to run, which is vital for a relatively small business like ours,” Ryan emphasised.

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The Sun City fleet uses Hino FCs exclusively with a couple of older Ranger Pros, two newer 1018s and three 1022s.

The company currently operates a range of skips from two cubic metres up to 12 cubic metres, however Sun City is looking closely at adding a larger 6x4 Hino 500 to allow it to handle bigger jobs and larger 20 and 30 cubic metre bins.

“It is becoming necessary for us to look at the larger truck and bins because it will improve our efficiency in dumping sending one larger truck to the tip instead of two or three smaller trips doing the shuttle to the Stewart or Bluewater dumps which are about an hour away,” said Ryan.

The Sun City skips manager underlined the fact that their Hinos run 10 or 11 hours a day and each one generally covers around 60,000km a year.

“They have always been trouble free and dependable and the drivers love them,” Ryan reckons.

Ryan tested the comfort of one of the recent Hino additions to the company fleet when he flew to Sydney to pick the FC 1022 from the body builder and drove it the 2500 kilometres home to Townsville.

“It was a long drive but the truck worked really well and drove easily and comfortably throughout, the worst part was battling Sydney traffic,” Ryan laughed.

“The Hinos are very economical we run them for around two days between refuels and they are on the go all the time, using the PTO to load and unload the skips and working hard,” he added.

“You jump in the Hinos every day and just turn the key, they start first time every time and never let you down and the after sales and service from Hino is very good, lets face it if the trucks aren’t turning they aren’t making money and they understand that,” he said.

Ryan says that most minor services and things such as tyre changes are handled in house but major services and any other repairs are handled by the local Hino dealer.

Its clear that this minor Townsville success story has ridden out some significant peaks and troughs in the FNQ economy but has always stuck to its principles of loyalty and good customer service while also sticking to Hino which have rewarded Sun City with reliability and low cost of operation. Sounds like a pretty good formula to us.

“ WE TRY TO TAKE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE TO THE DUMP, WHICH HELPS OUR BOTTOM LINE IN TWO WAYS, FIRSTLY IT MEANS LESS DUMPING FEES AND SECONDLY IT PROVIDES ANOTHER INCOME STRAND BY SELLING THE RECYCLED MATERIALS”

Sun City Skips operations manager Ryan Jeffrey

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Operator

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KENWORTH’S T610 WAS ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED ARRIVALS AMONGST CONVENTIONAL TRUCK BUYERS ON THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET WHEN IT WAS LAUNCHED IN LATE 2016 AND ONE FLEET THAT QUICKLY SNAPPED UP SOME SAR VARIANTS OF THE NEW MODEL WAS SYDNEY BASED HI QUALITY GROUP. T&TA HAD A CHAT WITH HI QUALITY TO SEE HOW THE NEW KENNYS ARE PERFORMING.

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A

first time Kenworth buyer Hi Quality took the plunge by trying some new T610 SARs after has a half century of operation as a family owned company with three generations of the Hallinan family involved in the diverse operations of the company.

Initially Hi Quality purchased ten of the new T610 SARs but 18 months down the track it has expanded that to 22 of the new gen Kenworths for truck and quad dog trailer applications as a result of the strong performance and the strong acceptance by drivers.

Adam Hallinan is Hi Quality Group’s

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procurement manager and says that they had considered the Kenworth T409 but thought they were a bit short in the cab and held off for the launch of the T610.

“We always going to go down the Kenworth path but held off until the launch of the T610 because we had thought the T409 was a bit short of interior space and then we heard about the new T610 and that ticked all the boxes for us,” said Adam.

Adam is part of that third generation of the Hallinan family working in the Hi Quality business, founded by his grandfather Jim Hallinan back in the 1960s, carried on by Adam’s Dad Patrick

and which now also includes Adam’s brothers, Stephen and Bryan.

Adam says the drivers love the T610 SAR and reports no negative feedback on the new Kennys.

“When talking with the team there has been no negative feedback and in fact we have two drivers in particular who came from competitor brands and they like the new T610 so much so that you can’t get them out of them, they are brilliant,” Adam added.

The performance of the initial ten T610s was the impetus to add more and that continues to grow as demand for quarry products in the Sydney basin continues

to increase with the high levels of growth and the infrastructure boom.

The Hi Quality fleet numbers more than 70 trucks and support vehicles which include not just the T610s but also a number of K200 cabover Kennys for heavy haulage and now also numbers some Kenworth 909s for tipper dog work as well, along with Isuzu FYJ 8x4 rigids fitted with aluminium tipper bodies which were recently added.

The Hi Quality Group has become a diverse business spanning everything from transport and logistics to plant hire as well as civil and environmental services including quarrying, resource recovery,

recycling, waste management and landfill along with building and landscaping product supplies, skip bins, construction site clearance and property development.

The Group’s operations are located over four Australian States.

The company operates a number of sites across various divisions providing extended market coverage and efficient supply including at Kemps Creek, Menangle, Bringelly, Wallacia, Mt Hunter and St Marys in Greater Sydney as well as Windellama and Oallen Ford in the Southern Highlands and operations in Canberra, Brisbane and in the outer Melbourne suburb of Sunbury.

While the T610 SARs are handling the tipper and quad dog workload the Kenworth K200 cabovers have gradually replaced previous Mack and Western Star trucks in the company’s Heavy Haulage Division.

“We make sure our drivers are happy and have pride in their trucks so we optioned the T610s with stainless steel and chrome trim along with fridges for the drivers,” said Adam.

The T610s use Cummins ISXe5 engines rated at 580 hp with Eaton UltraShift Plus 18 speed AMTs while they have a 4.33:1 axle ratio delivering a road speed of 100 km/h at 1650 rpm.

“ WE MAKE SURE OUR DRIVERS ARE HAPPY AND HAVE PRIDE IN THEIR TRUCKS SO WE OPTION THE T610S WITH STAINLESS STEEL AND CHROME TRIM ALONG WITH FRIDGES FOR THE DRIVERS”

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Adam and his team worked closely with Peter Davis at Muscat Trailers to achieve the PBS payloads and says that at this weight rating they can access anywhere without being restricted to high-mass routes under PBS requirements that come into affect when operating over that length.

“The T610 has many features that have impressed us apart from the added interior space,” said Adam.

“Things such as the improved vision across the low hood and the revised design of the mirrors as well as the reduction in the interior noise levels are all things that have impressed us.

Adam says that the company has now standardised on automated manuals and that is also contributing to a reduction in driver fatigue, which along with the Wabco EBS, ABS and roll-stability throughout the T610 combinations ensuring the company delivers maximum available safety standards.

“The EBS and roll-stability systems have evolved in recent years and drivers have come to accept the advantages they provide,” said Adam.

“By combining these benefits with lower interior noise levels, increased driver comfort and the AMTs, we have significantly minimised driver fatigue and we have also simplified coupling through standardising on one large connector plug, rather than two smaller units,” he added.

On average each of Hi Quality’s T610s typically cover a around 80,000 km a year operating out of the company HQ at Kemps Creek.

Safety and compliance are vital for Hi Quality and to that end the company employs the latest in the ever-changing

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world of vehicle monitoring “All our trucks are monitored through CTrack satellite tracking and we also add blind-spot camera for the left hand and right side of the cab, together with rearvision reverse cameras on both the truck and trailer,” said Adam.

The company also ensures high driver standards by running its own driver training programs on a regular basis “We do our own training with annual check tests and through satellite tracking we can monitor driver behaviour, fuel economy and be aware of any harsh braking applications,” he said.

“We also download the performance data collected by the Wabco EBS system and our own service and maintenance division can access this during our weekly service schedule,” he added The company handles all its own regular maintenance and repairs in its own workshops, apart from any warranty work which goes back to Gilbert and Roach at Huntingwood.

“To ensure operational efficiency we have our mechanics starting work in the afternoons and working through the night to work on the trucks an have everything ready to work the next morning,” added Adam.

Clearly Hi Quality has established a strong alliance with Kenworth and with its dealer Gilbert and Roach and the new T610 SARs have delivered on the promise that Hi Quality believed they had and Kenworth promised they had when the truck was launched. Meantime Hi Quality is likely to add more in the future with the ongoing demand in its major markets of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra.

“ TO ENSURE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY WE HAVE OUR MECHANICS STARTING WORK IN THE AFTERNOONS AND WORKING THROUGH THE NIGHT TO WORK ON THE TRUCKS AN HAVE EVERYTHING READY TO WORK THE NEXT MORNING”

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New Model

TO THE NTH DEGREE – ISUZU UPDATES ITS LIGHT DUTY MODELS 050 www.truckandbus.net.au

MARKET LEADER ISUZU HAS CLEARLY EMBRACED THE JAPANESE CONCEPT OF KAIZEN, A PHILOSOPHY OF CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT, THAT WAS APPARENT WITH THE BRAND’S LATES UPGRADES TO ITS EVER POPULAR N SERIES AS WELL AS THE INCLUSION OF THE ONLY FACTORY TWO PEDAL FOUR WHEEL DRIVE TRUCKS ON THE MARKET. WE TRAVELLED TO THE NATIONAL MEDIA BRIEFING TO GET THE LOADOWN.

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I

suzu is the dominant player in the Australian truck market, If you didn’t already know that, then you’ve probably been living in a remote Amazonian rainforest for the past three decades.

The behemoth that is Isuzu in this country, will this year log up 30 years of market leadership and is headed for a potential record 10000 sales in 2018.

It holds just under a quarter of the overall Australian truck market. As a company it outpoints its nearest rival Hino by 10 percentage points in the market and for every six trucks Hino sells Isuzu sells around 10.

The fact is Isuzu in Australia has never been afraid to innovate and try to stay ahead of its rivals no matter how far in front it has been in the market. That is driven by its chief engineer and product planning guru, Simon Humphries and CEO Phil Taylor.

The company is always coming up with running changes to keep the edge and that was again demonstrated when the company invited the trade press to a briefing and the chance to drive the latest updates to its market leading N series range in Melbourne recently.

Isuzu has introduced a number of running changes to the popular light/ medium range including independent front suspension in some of the smaller NNR versions as well as the inclusion of its own AMT in to the off-road NPS 4x4 variants.

Along with those changes there have been some running updates to its fluid coupling equipped AMT, including more intuitive and predictive shifting, while a new multi media system has enhanced the cockpit experience.

As Isuzu zeroes in on its 30 straight years of market leadership its clear that ongoing evolution and ongoing improvements are the reason why it has been able to pull ahead of the opposition and command almost a quarter of new truck sales in Australia.

Behind the wheel of the NNL with the new IFS system and rack and pinion steering in place the ride and handling were a major step up from the often choppy and uncomfortable ride delivered by the old style I-beam front axle and suspension. The steering is precise and well weighted and makes the truck very easy to drive. This is a perhaps a predictor of things to come and we can see the IFS eventually spreading further across the range as demand gathers.

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On some choppy roads around Melbourne’s western suburban outskirts the IFS was smooth, controlled and very comfortable particularly by comparison with the old style system.

The Isuzu AMT seems to get better every time and is now much more decisive and proactive particularly in situations approaching roundabouts and intersections where the ability for the driver to quickly accelerate into traffic without waiting for the box to belatedly figure out what gear it needs is critical for smooth and safe operation. The latest spec is able to do just that and is a delight to drive.

Off road we had the chance to drive a variety of NPS variants on a steep and challenging course in the Lederderg Forest and the two pedal AMT showed it will be a strong contender for fire services, mining companies, farmers and off road adventurers . The smoothness of the power delivery with the AMT was impressive and its climbing and descending performance was faultless.

Isuzu claims its the first ever two-pedal AMT equipped 4x4 light truck available as a factory fit on the Australian market. The company claims that the five-speed AMT has been calibrated specifically for and exhaustively tested in Australian off-road conditions and climate to measure up to

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the expectations of local customers.

The newly promoted COO of Isuzu, Andrew Harbison said the 2018 N Series range provides more of what Australian truck customers are looking for.

“We strive to provide our customers with a choice of products closely suited to and aligned with their business needs,” said Harbison.

“It’s what’s kept us at the top of their list when considering the purchase of road transport equipment, and we’re pleased to announce that out latest release delivers in spades,” he said.

Isuzu’s knowledgeable and always approachable chief engineer Simon Humphries told us that the company invested a lot of time and effort into developing the two-pedal 4x4 AMT package from the ground up.

“The result is a superior product for all operators looking for a 4x4 light truck that’s easier than ever to drive,” said Humphries and having driven it we would have to agree.

The NPS 4x4 uses a high-torque four cylinder 5.2 litre 4HK1 engine with155 hp at 2,600 rpm and 419 Nm of torque between 1,600 and 2,600 rpm and boasts a GVM of 4.5 tonnes making it legal on a car licence, a huge advantage to organisations like volunteer rural fire services.

In terms of the suspension and steering upgrades Humphries was particularly proud and eager to sing the praises of the upgrades.

“With most of the NNR line-up we’ve moved away from the more rigid leafsprung solid axle set-up to the independent coil sprung assembly,” said Humphries.

“This is improves ride quality and handling while still being able to support a decent payload and is coupled to the new rack-and-pinion power steering delivering sharper response and a more enjoyable driving experience,” he added.

Humphries was also eager to spruik the improvements to the cab interior particularly the upgraded multi media system.

The new system uses a 6.2-inch touch screen with improved brightness and resolution and operates on the Android Automotive operating system. It has USB 3.0 connectivity, V4 Bluetooth connectivity as well as AM/ FM/ DAB+ and internet radio capability through a connected smartphone using WiFi. At the end of the day Isuzu has done a cracking job on the N series upgrade and we came away impressed with its performance and refinement and that will continue to give light duty buyers a strong reason to buy.

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New Model

MERCEDES-BENZ HAS LAUNCHED ITS NEW SPRINTER MODELS WITH A NEW DESIGN, MORE SAFETY FEATURES, BETTER COST-EFFECTIVENESS, MORE CUSTOMER AND WORK-ORIENTED FEATURES AND A NEW INFO-TAINMENT AND TELEMATICS PACKAGE DESIGNED FOR WHAT BENZ DESCRIBES AS ‘THE NEXT ERA’. TTA ATTENDED THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA LAUNCH TO GET THE LOW DOWN ON THE NEW SPRINTER.

M

ercedes Benz leads the Australian van market and holds close to 40 per cent of sales and the new Sprinter should help keep the threepointed star at the head of the pack for some time to come.

Benz claims there are now more than 1700 different Sprinter variants through the various options of body lengths, sizes, cab designs, heights, tonnages and load compartment heights transmissions, engines and can be generated by combining body types, drive configurations, cab designs, body lengths, tonnages and load compartment heights.

The versatility is quite extensive

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and makes the Sprinter well targeted for a wide range of transport needs and sectors.

Benz says the ‘bandwidth’ ranges from a construction site vehicle to a luxuriously equipped minibus.

The local Sprinter media launch saw the van and cab chassis variants unveiled and these will be followed by the minibus and what the company calls the ‘tractor head’ versions early next year. The ‘tractor head’ version refers to the ability to supply a bare cab with controls and seats allowing a custom body to be built on the platform behind depending on operators needs.

An all wheel drive version will also become available in 2019 The new Sprinter is now available

in front drive versions along with the traditional and well-proven rear drive configuration while as we mentioned the all wheel drive variants are on there way.

The new front drive variants for reasons inherent to the design, deliver an extra 50kg of payload compared to the previous model, and an 80mm lower loading sill which makes loading and unloading as well as access considerably more convenient.

Benz has launched two newly developed transmissions for the front-wheel drive Sprinter including a nine-speed automatic torque converter transmission, which is a first in the large van segment along with a newly developed standard six-speed manual transmission. There is now a new

OVERALL THE NEW SPRINTER IS VERY IMPRESSIVE COMMERCIALLY AND WE WERE PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED WITH THE CAB CHASSIS MODELS

optional nine-speed auto features paddle shifters allowing the driver to select gears manually when needed. Standard auto however is the tried and proven seven speed 7G-TRONIC PLUS self-shifter.

As with all Benz offerings the Sprinter has a plethora of the latest technologically advanced safety features, which have until now been mostly the preserve of passenger cars.

Standard safety equipment on the Sprinter includes Active Brake Assist, Blind Spot Assist (on the van but not the cab chassis variants), reversing camera, Lane Keeping Assist, ATTENTION ASSIST and front and window airbags for driver and co-driver. Crosswind Assist

continues on board as standard, as it makes van journeys considerably safer, especially at higher speeds on freeways.

Benz says that in addition there are now a range of optional safety and assistance systems available including its radar-based distance control system DISTRONIC, Active Lane Keeping Assist, and a Parking Package with 360 degree camera.

During the launch, Mercedes gave the media the chance to try some of the safety technology first hand. In one of the exercises we were given the chance to drive in a controlled area, with all the windows blacked out, negotiating a low speed manoeuvring exercise between witches hats, using only the

dash mounted 360 deg. camera system.

While it was no easy task it was possible and proved the worth of the all round visibility available to drivers making busy loading docks and car parks that much easier to negotiate safely.

One of the big steps up in the new third gen Sprinter are its high def. display screens and the new multimedia systems that go along with them. In the past vans have been fairly rudimentary when it comes to the displays and the multi media interface but the Sprinter changes all that.

The Sprinter has actually become only the second product from the three pointed star to get the latest connectivity platform, following the introduction in

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the A Class passenger car recently. The MBUX multimedia system, which stands for Mercedes-Benz User Experience uses either a 7” HD display as standard or a huge optional 10.25” head unit and is controlled either via touch-capable steering wheel controls, or finally for Benz through new touchscreen displays, replacing the company’s old and clunky control wheel interface.

There is also a completely new voice control system that means you can tell the system what you want. With satellite navigation on board this is operated by keywords such as “Hey Mercedes”, and also registers turns of phrase in everyday speech.

The majority of the new Sprinter models are powered by the 2.1 litre four cylinder turbo diesel with three different power options in rear drive, 84 kW, 105 kW or 120 kW and three power outputs in front drive including 85kW, 105kW and exclusively for motorhome configurations a 130kW variant.

The company has also now introduced a new V6 3.0 litre turbo diesel delivering 140 kW of power and 440 Nm of torque delivered between 1,600 and 2,600 rpm.

Benz says it is the only six-cylinder in the large van segment. Unfortunately due to a quirk of the drive program scheduling we did not get the chance to drive the V6 but hope to bring you a full rundown in coming weeks.

Ergonomically the new Sprinter builds on predecessor, which was already arguably the best in class, and achieves further progress with comfort, quietness and smoothness as well as new equipment features including keyless ignition and

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entry, optimised air conditioning systems, newly designed and very comfortable seats, improved visibility and a wide variety of adjustments for optimal driving comfort. The optional electrically adjustable front seats with a memory function are new in the van segment. They store the seat and exterior mirror settings for up to three drivers – an important convenience in pool vehicles that are used by several drivers.

New Sprinter also boasts optional loadable wheel arches and fully usable load compartment heights in combination with front-wheel drive to increase the versatility of the load compartment. The maximum load capacity is now as much as 17 cubic metres and up to five tonnes.

The maximum payload in the five tonne permissible GVW is 2920kgs.

Optional LED lighting strips ensure optimum visibility in the load compartment while the rear doors can be opened to the sidewalls even more easily.

Benz told us that further customisation is also possible thanks to an extensive range of options including the LED high performance lights, bulkheads and specially designed barn doors opening to the sidewall.

The company revealed that the new Sprinter variants now have service intervals of up to a maximum of 40 000 kilometres or two years and a three year or 200 000km warranty which also gives standard 24/7 roadside assist anywhere in Australia at no extra cost during the warranty period.

Benz has also packaged a simple and flexible range of ServiceCare pay as you go and pre- paid capped priced servicing

options will provide transparent servicing costs and peace of mind. It is a great package and will be of major appeal to fleet or single vehicle owners alike.

Overall the new Sprinter is as very impressive commercial and we were particularly impressed with the cab chassis models which we believe give light truck buyers a viable and much more comfortable alternative to the light duty cab over cab chassis alternatives from the Japanese makers.

The Sprinter van range is quite well priced we reckon and it is not surprising it is already the market leader. The range starts from $46008 plus on roads for the 311CDi short wheel base, six speed manual 84kW 2.1 litre with a 3.55tonne GVM ranging up to $71,880 for the 419CDi LWB rear drive with the 140kW V6 diesel with the seven speed auto. The seven-speed auto is a $2875 option over the manual and the nine speed is only available on FWD variants and is a $2875 option over the seven-speed version.

Like wise the cab chassis pricing kicks in at $41,238 for the 311 CDi single cab front drive medium wheel base with a six speed manual and the 84kW 2.1 litre diesel with a 3.55tonne GVM and heads north to the dual cab long wheel base 519 CDi with a five tonne GVM and equipped with the V6 140kW diesel and the seven speed auto at $69,332.

The matrix of prices is extensive and too big to publish here but should be available on the Mercedes vans website.

All in all an impressive overhaul of what was already a sector leading vehicle and we look forward to driving some more variants and reporting back.

COMING SOON!

AN ALL NEW MAGAZINE AIMED SQUARELY AT BUILDING AND MAINTAINING GRAVEL ROADS IN THIS COUNTRY

WELCOME TO GRAVEL ROADS AUSTRALIA AN ALL-NEW niche publication will be hitting your desk in mid 2019 when Gravel Roads Australia arrives on the scene.

Gravel roads make up almost 66 per cent of the nation’s road network with close to 600,000 kms of unsealed thoroughfares across this wide brown land. Many have low traffic volumes while others are vital arteries providing access to some of our most valuable resource assets.

Building and maintaining our unsealed road network is a major industry in itself with Local Govt, Civil Contractors, Mining Companies, Forestry, Farmers and a

myriad of others all involved in ensuring these vital routes are available to industry and travellers alike.

Now, for the first time, this sector will have its own journal featuring interesting stories about road construction practices, new equipment, case studies, planned projects and new techniques – in fact anything that involves the building and maintaining of gravel roads.

Gravel Roads Australia will be a high quality 64 page publication, produced four times a year by Grayhaze Publishing, publisher of Transport & Trucking Australia and Coach and Bus magazine

as well as the highly successful transport website, www.truckandbus.net.au Gravel Roads Australia will feature great writers with features and news produced by some of the best journalists in Australia with high quality photography and design.

The first edition will be published in March 2019 and then in June, September and December each year. The magazine will be direct mailed to more than 3000 Local Govt Works Officers, Civil Contractors, Transport Operators, Machinery Dealers and Manufacturers as well as Mining Companies.

For advertising please contact: Transport Publishing 02 9938 6408 admin@truckandbus.net.au – ads@truckandbus.net.au

Company Car

LIKE MANY OF OUR WORKING CLASS SUBURBS WHICH HAVE BECOME MORE AND MORE GENTRIFIED OVER THE YEARS LAND ROVER’S DISCOVERY HAS BECOME MORE AND MORE A BOULEVARD CRUISER AND THIS IS VERY APPARENT WITH THE LATEST SIXTH GENERATION VERSION, HOWEVER WHILE IT IS AT HOME OUTSIDE A FLASH HOTEL, WE FOUND ITS ALSO JUST AS CAPABLE GETTING YOU TO A REMOTE CAMPSITE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

F

rom the start we would like to make a declaration that we are huge fans of the Land Rover Discovery, always have been.

We were lucky enough to be on the media launch for the first two generations of what is the bridge between the traditional workhorse Land Rover Defender and the luxury Range Rover and have always loved the fact that the Disco is as much at home on a rough dirt track as it is on the drive of a luxury hotel.

We had the pleasure of being given a week in the latest Discover recently and it is still an impressive bit of kit even though we feel it has lost some of its connection with the bush and looks like it is more comfortable in the city these days.

That is not to say that the Disco has lost any of its off road capabilities, it just

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looks to nice and flashy and most buyers would be reluctant to risk it in serious off road conditions. Sitting on its low profile ‘tarmac hugging’ tyres on those big alloy rims –which have to be a large diameter to fit over the massive brake package the Land over engineers have fitted to enable the big SUV to stop on a sixpence – it all seems a bit vulnrable and easily damaged. Like everything life is a compromise.

This is after all a luxury vehicle that is capable of carrying seven in absolute luxury on rough roads and smooth with great aplomb and a fair turn of speed and acceleration.

Some people love the shape of the sixth generation Disco, just as many, it seems, hate it. It is a very different shape to all of the previous generations and many believe the epoch was the previous fifth gen model

with its beautifully elegant square shape.

However things evolve and change, nothing stays still and change is after all the only constant. Another declaration, we prefer the gen 5 styling but we feel sure the new shape will grow on people and a few years down the track most will love it.

Under the bonnet is a two-litre fourcylinder turbo charged Ingenium diesel engine in the TD4 SE that we had on test although there is a choice of three power plants. The TD4 we tested had a strong 132kW of power and 430Nm of torque enough to push a largish and heavy (it tips the scales at around two-tonnes) SUV like the Discovery to 100km/h in around 10.5 secs, and a claimed fuel economy of 6.3 litre/100km average, although the best we achieved in the week with the Disco was around 7.4 litre/ per 100km.

The engine was mated to the smooth as silk and extremely well managed ZF eight-speed auto, one of the best, if not the best auto around at the moment. Of course the auto puts the power out to all four wheels enhancing the Disco’s already impeccable manners.

While we were reticent to put the Disco on dirt, when we did the reality struck home that this is one hell of a vehicle and still has unbelievable performance on the dirt while also being a pleasure to drive on tarmac.

While there is a desire not to get the beautiful paintwork and alloy wheels dirty or subject them to stone chips one of the secrets is the adjustable air bag suspension which allows the driver to lift ground clearance at the twist of a knob.

This means that if you do encounter some

particularly gnarly conditions you can pump the ride height up and amble over the top of it, with caution of course.

The Disco feels at home on sandy, muddy, gravel or rutted roads and as we said when the rubber hits the tarmac it has road holding beyond belief.

The Discovery can boast maximum ground clearance of 283 mm, an extraordinary 500mm of wheel articulation while also delivering a 900mm wading depth, that is more than 200mm better than the gen 5 Disco.

All of the Discovery models, save for the less-frills, entry-level S model come with Land Rover’s always-excellent air suspension, a system developed and honed on the upper level Range Rovers. It is an excellent system indeed.

The Discovery bristles with electronic

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aids that help a driver cope with just about every off road obstacle and condition short of a sheer cliff face.

There is a range of pre-programmed terrain settings that can be dialled in to cope with gravel, snow, sand, mud and ruts as well as rock crawling and of course highway or street driving. There is hill descent control, gradient release control and roll stability control, more control in fact than an episode of Get Smart.

Enhancing that is the already mentioned air suspension, which can also raise the vehicle up to 7.5cm over difficult conditions.

Heading down a steep and slippery slope holds no fear for a Discovery driver with the electronics in the Hill Descent Control taking over and masterfully controlling the speed of the vehicle in even the most marginal conditions.

Land Rover, like its sibling Jaguar, has adopted the rotary gearshift selector knob to select gears. We aren’t fans of the system, we find it a little slow and fiddly and for us a little unnatural. It works fine and our opposition is purely personal preference, who knows, you might even get used to it over time.

The Discovery’s Touch infotainment system works well enough but there are plenty of systems around that are slicker and more advanced these days, then again some designers are too smart for their own good and forget that the they are designing a system that needs to be controlled while driving down a highway at around 100km/h. Still the Disco works well and the sound system is very good indeed. Like anything, once you live with a system for a

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while you will master it and familiarity will make it easier and instinctive to use.

The system is based around a large touchscreen controlling most functions and systems with a conventional instrument binnacle ahead of the driver, for speed, revs, fuel, temp and other vitals. Its easy to ready and aesthetically pleasing.

In fact the entire interior is aesthetically pleasing and beautifully finished in a dreadfully British way.

Comfort levels are high with marvellous electrically controlled seats up front and a multiple split rear seat (the middle seat if you have chosen the seven seater). The very rear seven seat option is surprisingly comfortable and easily copes with adults.

All the seats are controlled by electric switches that raise and lower the second and third row of seats.

Access to the rear is very good indeed thanks to large rear door and very good architecture. Similarly a sliding rail system gives great and easy access of the third row of seats. Down the back there are even cupholders and USB outlets for the aft passengers, although with seven seats in play there is very little room left for luggage, you can’t have everything I suppose.

If you aren’t using the rear seats they fold flat for an enormous luggage/cargo space, which can be further enhanced with the second row folding down as well.

One feature we loved was the Active key wristband which allows a driver to lock the vehicle key fob in inside while going for a swim or surf and then come back and open it up by touching the wristband to the D on the Discovery badge on the tailgate. Clever

idea and it came in handy for us down at the beach.

Finally safety is an aspect Land Rover engineers have paid plenty of attention to in the latest Disco. There is a full suite of electronic safety aids built in with autonomous emergency braking including pedestrian detection, blind spot monitoring and warning, closing vehicle speed sensing, lane departure warning and lane keep assist and a high def surround camera system.

The Disco also comes with park assist, adaptive cruise, sign recognition, a driver condition monitor, auto high beam dipping and intelligent speed limiting.

The Discovery is an impressive package and we enjoyed our all too short time with the machine. Its road manners, its luxury interior, comfort, ride and handling and the well integrated technology. It is also a good package size and although it is big and roomy the exterior design makes it feel smaller and more compact.

Prices for the latest Disco start from what we believe is a good value $79,950 with a range of options and levels to choose from, too numerous to mention here in fact.

Over the years Land Rover Discos and Range Rovers haven’t enjoyed the best of reputations but we hear the reliability has improved out of sight with the company’s Indian owners, the Tata company, investing heavily in design and engineering and it shows.

We loved the Disco and we feel certain you will too if you’re after a luxury, impeccable handling and economical big SUV. It ticked all the boxes and comes up trumps in our eyes.

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MONEY MATTERS PAUL CLITHROE SUPER SHINES BUT CONTRIBUTIONS FADE AND DON’T PANIC IN A SHAREMARKET DIP

T

he end of the year can be a cash squeeze. But it’s also a good opportunity to take stock, and budget permitting, grow your super.

Figures from research group SuperRatings show Australians have tightened up their voluntary super contributions over the last 12 months.

Maybe the sharemarket highs of 2017/18 have seen us take a breather from actively growing our super, but the average voluntary contribution over the course of 2017/18 was just $1,054. That’s 10 percent less than the previous year.

Super funds have seen a short term pullback in recent weeks, when a major market sell-off impacted fund returns. In the first two weeks of October alone, the Aussie sharemarket fell 4.8%. Just how much your super balance felt the squeeze depends on how your nest egg is invested: The greater the exposure to shares, the more your super savings will feel the hit.

The thing is, the vast majority of Australians have their super in a balanced style of fund, where your money is spread across a large range of asset classes. The result according to SuperRatings is that $100,000 of super invested in a balanced option would only have dipped by 2.7% following that 4.8% sharemarket fall. This reflects the benefits of a diverse portfolio.

The bigger picture is that our super has generally enjoyed a good run in recent years. Balanced funds have delivered a median return of 9.7% over the year ended 30 September 2018, with 5-year gains of 8.3%. Not a bad result at all.

Good times should never be taken for granted when investing, and while

market dips are likely to impact your super balance, superannuation is, for many Australians, a very long term investment.

There is usually ample time for your fund to recover any lost ground.

Past returns are never a guide for the future, but $100,000 invested in the median balanced fund 10 years ago could be worth anywhere from $156,000 to $213,150 today depending on how your particular fund performed. It goes to show that compounding returns really can work magic over time regardless of short term lows.

It’s not a bad idea to use the summer break to get to know your super. If you can, add a bit extra to your super savings – you’ll be glad you did when retirement rolls around.

MEANTIME THE AUSTRALIAN SHAREMARKE T HAS TAKEN A DIP IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS BUT I T PAYS TO KEEP THINGS IN PER SPECTIVE.

Australian shares have experienced a run of volatility since mid-October, when we saw headlines warning that $50 billion had been wiped off the value of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

These sorts of reports are always unsettling. I don’t enjoy watching the value of my share portfolio fall any more than anyone else does. But let’s look at the bigger picture.

The total value of stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is $1.9 trillion. So while a fall in the ASX 200 Index, which tracks the nation’s 200 biggest listed companies, from 6,172 at the start of October to 5,834 in mid-November is significant, it doesn’t mean the sky is falling in.

However, it does help to understand what’s going on.

First up, interest rates are moving higher in the US. It’s a sign that the US economy is in good shape – so much so that the US Federal Reserve (the equivalent of our Reserve Bank) has not just raised rates but has also made it clear that more rate hikes could be on the cards.

That matters to sharemarkets because for many years, US companies have paid near-zero interest rates. Many have taken advantage of cheap loans to increase their debt levels, and just as higher lending rates force households to tighten their belts, the same can be said of companies.

The thing is, sharemarkets react, and some would say overreact, to different pieces of news all the time. Unlike the property market, where it takes weeks, even months, to sell a home, shares can be easily – and very quickly – traded online. That’s not a bad thing, but it does mean that when investors become rattled, it can be very tempting to bail out of the market in a hurry – even though it can mean copping a capital loss.

On the plus side, the Australian economy is continuing to grow, interest rates are still very low, and sharemarket investors can still pick up some very healthy and tax-friendly dividends.

Sure we’ve had a rough end to the year so far, and shares could fall further over the short term. But the trend for global – and local – economic growth is upwards. This will help to support good earnings growth among Australian companies.

Resisting the urge to panic sell when markets go through short term lows gives you a far better chance of pocketing healthy long term gains. If you’re invested according to your long term goals, a temporary dip is no reason to switch plans mid-stream.

Paul Clitheroe is a founding director of financial planning firm ipac, chairman of the Australian Government Financial Literacy Board and chief commentator for Money magazine.

Visit: paulsmoney.com.au for more information.

ALL IT TAKES At Kumho, we deliver a smoother, safer ride for you and your cargo – on tyres designed to perform in all Australian conditions. Whether it’s a light load or heavy highway haulage, our commitment to quality will deliver you great value and a safer tomorrow.

And like a circle, it never ends. We’ll continue to look for new ways to make your experience better. It’s just what we do.

KUMHO TYRE. BETTER, ALL-WAYS.

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THE TRANSMISSION TO DEFY CONVENTION. THE UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTIONAL. The Mack mDrive is an advanced 12-speed automated manual transmission that takes all the effort and guesswork out of gear changes by selecting the right gear, at the right time, every time. Gear up to a more comfortable drive and outstanding fuel efficiency with the mDrive.

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