Transport & Trucking issue 105 Oct/Nov 2015

STRATEGIC EYRE COMMAND: WE TALK TO FUSO’S RICHARD EYRE ABOUT HIS NEW ROLE

FOR ROAD TRANSPORT & COMMERCIAL VEHICLE PROFESSIONALS

& TRUCKING TODAY www.truckandbus.net.au $8.95 incl. GST Issue 105 Oct/Nov 2015

EXCLUSIVE! FUSO TO IMPORT INDIAN BUILT TRUCKS TO AUSTRALIA

BEST IN BREED AUSTRALIA’S LEADING WAGYU BEEF TRANSPORTER ISSN 1839-6399

9 771839 639013

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ISUZU’S NEW N SERIES

KENWORTH’S HEART CLINIC TATRA’S OFF ROAD SPECIALIST HOME ON THE RANGER

ALL NEW YOU ALREADY KNOW ISUZU AS ‘THE INTELLIGENT TRUCK’, AND THE NEW TRADEPACK IS SMARTER THAN EVER.

on-board sensors will pick it up and deliver

transmissions. Isuzu’s AMT uses two pedals,

power to where it’s needed, putting you right

so it drives like an automatic, but performs like

again, and if need be even apply the brakes

a manual, so it’s both economical and durable.

for you.

Then there’s AMT, or Automated Manual

If that wasn’t enough, Isuzu’s new Tradepack has an entirely redesigned body, featuring

Firstly, we’ve introduced IESC, or Isuzu Electronic Stability

Transmission. At Isuzu, we’ve combined

sleek black hinges and latches, plus there’s

Control. With IESC, if any of your wheels begin to slip, intelligent

the best of both automatic and manual

also a convenient pull out step for easier access

F•S•A/ISZ10217

to the new upgraded ladder racks. And down below,

models also feature reduced tray overhang enabling

further behind. So, now that you know all about it.

a handy wash station so you can clean up before

comfortable parking in the average residential

Are you ready to stand out?

taking off.

driveway or street. And if you’d like some eyes in the

Tradepack comes in four models; silver cab Premium with AMT or white cab 6-speed manual

back of your head, there’s a clever reversing camera.

The Tradepack was already the ultimate way to

and for the first time, it now comes in a ‘Short’

stand out on the worksite. But now that it’s even

wheelbase (SWB) variation of each. The SWB

better, it looks like the pack is about to fall even

Find out more at isuzu.com.au

CONTROLLING COSTS GIVES YOU THE

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EXCLUSIVE

FUSO TO SELL INDIAN BUILT TRUCKS HERE Eyre’s new globetrotting role has put trucks from the sub-continent on the Australian menu!

THE NEWS THAT Richard Eyre would be moving out of his role as general manager of Fuso Trucks in Australia to take on the dual role of GM of Strategic Partners and Business Development for Daimler Truck and Bus in Australia and also regionally for Daimler Trucks Asia

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(as reported in T&TT issue 104) took the industry by storm when it broke in July.

Based on the news Eyre granted T&TT editor Allan Whiting an interview for this issue and quietly dropped the news into the conversation that the company is likely to be sourcing Fusos from India for

the Australian market.

This is likely to really shake things up in the light to medium duty market and give Fuso a very well priced and specced option in one of the most competitive market sectors in the industry. It will certainly have execs at both Isuzu and

Hino sitting up and taking notice.

Eyre told editor Whiting that India can supply a line of Fuso based trucks to fill the gap between its light-duty Canter and the Fighter medium-duty range.

As you can read in our story on page 20 of this issue. Eyre would not be

drawn on detail but our investigations leads us to believe that the most likely contenders will be the trucks sold in India as the BharatBenz 914, a 9.6 tonne GVM 4x2 rigid powered by Fuso’s four cylinder 3.9 litre diesel and the larger BharatBenz 1214, a 12.8 tonne GVM 4x2 rigid version powered by a larger six cylinder engine. There may also be a 6x4 model that will also come here from the sub-continent.

Exactly what spec and engine/driveline the Indian trucks come with is yet to be decided but it’s fair to say that anything that is brought here will be tailored to our local demands and would need to meet the latest emission and safety expectations. Eyre made it clear the trucks will be badged and branded Fuso in Australia.

The 914 and 1214 are based on the Fighter chassis using a Canter cab and manufactured in Daimler’s state of the art factory in the suburbs of Chennai, which is just over three years old, a factor which should ensure high manufacturing standards.

The Indian sourced Fusos may open the gates to a range of Indian built trucks from other manufacturers as well. T&TT has been told that a number of different companies are looking closely at importing Indian built trucks. Indian giant Tata, which already sells its utes here via its distributor, Fusion Automotive, a subsidiary of the Walkinshaw Group which also runs Holden Special Vehicles and the Holden Racing Team. Fusion and Tata has looked closely at the possibility of selling its larger trucks here. It is understood a number of key Tata executives were keen observers at the Brisbane Truck Show earlier this year.

There have also been strong rumours that a range of Nissan light duty trucks built in India might be Australia bound while a local bus importer with links to India’s Ashok Leyland corporation has been investigating the Avia range of light duty trucks which could potentially come from India.

See the full story and interview on page 20 of this issue.

ATA WELCOMES ELECTRONIC WORK DIARY DECISIONS Voluntary EWD compliance for Queensland

THE AUSTRALIAN TRUCKING Association (ATA) has welcomed the announcement by Queensland Deputy Premier and Minister for Transport; Jackie Trad that Electronic Work Diary use will be on a voluntary basis only.

Minister Trad made the statement in her second reading comments on the Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill 2015, which was passed by the Queensland Parliament yesterday.

“I must stress that the adoption of electronic work diaries is voluntary. It provides operators in the industry with a choice to either adopt this emerging technology or continue, as they currently do, with the paper based system,” Deputy Premier Trad said.

“This is about providing flexibility for the industry to choose

the approach that fits best and recognises that there can be significant differences from one road transport operator to another.”

ATA Chief Executive Officer Christopher Melham welcomed the announcement.

“Although electronic work diaries offer great advantages for some businesses, installing them would be an unnecessary cost for small operators and businesses that only operate heavy vehicles occasionally,” Mr. Melham said.

Mr. Melham said the risk of facing a stricter EWD regulatory regime could also deter some operators from swapping over their paper work diaries, despite the potential reduction in red tape.

“The Heavy Vehicle National Law requires drivers of fatigueregulated heavy vehicles to fill out

work diaries to record their work and rest hours. The time periods in the existing paper work diaries are recorded in 15 minute blocks, and are hand-written by the driver,” Mr. Melham said.

“The electronic diaries approved under this Bill automatically round to the nearest one minute interval, with a tolerance for small work time breaches of eight minutes in a 24 hour period. There is no tolerance for errors in rest times.

“I welcome the NTC’s commitment to review the treatment of small work time breaches after two years. This review is essential in order to make sure that EWD users are not subject to a stricter regulatory regime than those who use the paper diaries.”

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OLD SCHOOL KENWORTH RETURNS PACCAR brings back the legendary T950 as a Retro star! Howard Shanks reports KENWORTH HAS ANNOUNCED it is relaunching a limited edition version of its legendary T950 The T950 with its set forward front axle was introduced in 1992 and was originally modelled on the SAR. It has everything that comes to mind when you think of a traditional American-style long bonneted truck.

As well as looking the part, the T950 was designed to operate in almost any application from logging to livestock whether pulling a single trailer or a triple road train.

During its 15 year production run the T950 built up a considerable fan base and is remembered fondly with other legendary Kenworth classics like the W-Model and SAR. In fact Slim Dusty immortalised the T950 in his song “Mechanised Swaggy”.

In 2007 it was phased out as a result of the demands of Cummins ISX and Signature engines with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems, which required increased cooling capacity to meet the ADR 80/02 emission standards.

Increasing the size of the radiator on the T950 in a vertical direction basically

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turned it into a T904 that consequently evolved into a T908 for the 2008 model year so the T950 model was phased out.

“The idea behind the Limited Edition Legend 950 can probably be attributed to Cummins’ Mike Fowler who jokingly hinted over a beer that we could re-introduce the ‘950 now they have their e5 SCR engine which doesn’t have such high cooling demands as the EGR engine,” said Kenworth Australia’s general sales manager, Brad May. “We wanted to capture all the traditional things that guys would remember on their truck that they had back in the seventies and eighties,” Brad May added. “We also wanted to capture our roots and we’ve added a few little extras as well. In essence we wanted to capture the heart and soul that made Australian trucking great.”

Probably the first thing you notice is the old style Kenworth badge on the bonnet. Kenworth has cleverly used a retro theme throughout the truck using the original branding from back in 1971 when the first Australian built Kenworths rolled out of the Bayswater plant.

Then there are the extra grill bars, the

old school Kenworth Bug with the serif font, round indicators, which back in the day had 18-volt globes but are now LED with the retro look and which sit on top of modern day LED Speaker headlights.

Everywhere you look there are retro touches that add to the aura of the 950.

“I’ve got a photo of my old man’s truck and he had a Cummins badge underneath the Kenworth so we asked Cummins if they’d be interested in coming on board the project and supply some old school badges,” Brad May added.

Cummins were so keen in fact they even supplied the engines painted in Cummins Beige, which was their engine colour back in the 70s.

There are raised air-intakes with smooth stainless risers and chrome party hats to suit the 70’s theme. Then there is the two-piece stainless sun visor and on top of the cab there are old school bullet lights.

The exhaust and shrouds have been meticulously modelled on an early W-Model including the chrome elbow while tank steps are traditional ribbed style with polished tanks.

Inside the cabin the theme continues, with ‘Ox Blood’ diamond button trim embossed with a ‘Legend 950’ insignia.

The seats are current top of range ISRI with leather trim again embossed with the Legend 950 insignia, a traditional flat dash has been incorporated with specially built VDO gauges that carry the retro Kenworth Bug while the leather wrapped sport steering wheel also gets the old Bug. Even Eaton came on board supplying a custom gearshift knob with the old ‘Fuller’ branding that was prevalent in the seventies.

To finish it off it comes with custommade black mud flaps again with the Kenworth Bug. For those that might miss out a one of these Limited Edition 950s, the mudflaps will be available from PACCAR Parts.

Kenworth is only building 75 of the Limited Edition Legend 950, a truck which not only captures the heritage of Australian trucking but the skills and passion of the people behind the Australian built Kenworth and why it’s the number one heavy truck builder in the country.

CHOOSE THE ENGINE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU. The new generation Freightliner Argosy now comes with a choice of either Cummins® or Detroit® power plants. If you’re into Cummins® engines, you have the option of an ISX Euro 5 SCR, Signature EGR or the ISX EGR. If you’d prefer a Detroit®, then the DD15 has the goods to get you moving. The choice is yours.

Please visit freightliner.com.au/Trucks/Argosy or call your closest dealer on 1300 66 22 30 today. www.truckandbus.net.au 009

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CMI LOGS HALF CENTURY WITH HINO IN OZ Australia’s oldest Hino dealership logs major milestone HINO DEALERSHIP CMI Hino in Adelaide is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a truck and bus dealer and is now the oldest Hino dealer in Australia having taken onto brand back in 1965 when Hino first came to this country.

Joint managing director Paul Crawford is one of three brothers running the family owned CMI dealership and explained how it all started.

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“In the early ’60s we became involved with Toyota Motor Corporation through Thiess Toyota, and that then led us in the mid’60s to become involved with this new brand, Hino trucks,” Mr. Crawford said.

“In those days Hino was really setting new benchmarks for reliability and durability which was not seen up until then. Obviously Hino trucks have really evolved over the last 50 years, but I’ve

got to say that the foundation for the Hino brand – particularly its core, QDR (quality, durability and reliability) – was there from the beginning, and is still there today.”

With the celebration, Mr. Crawford added how he is still proud to sell a product with such confidence.

CMI’s 45th birthday celebrations included adorning its well-preserved

1970 Hino KL 300 with livery of a long-standing customer, Harris Bros of Lenswood, South Australia.

The KL 300 is a part of CMI’s vehicle collection. The KL 300 has covered over 1.6 million kilometres in its lifetime while remaining in good condition.

It is equipped with an EC 100 engine that develops 88kW and 298Nm of torque.

YoU

sCania

HaVe FUel, PoWer, reliaBilitY.

Matt WilliaMson Fleet Manager - MilkFloW

“Our R 730s are pulling 67-tonnes, at higher average speeds, using less fuel, and covering 300,000km a year.”

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Scania Bunbury Tel: (08) 9724 6200

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WILL VW’S EMISSIONS SCANDAL HAVE AN EFFECT ON TRUCKS? Tech editor Meredith asks truck makers to publish emission performance T&TT TECH EDITOR David Meredith has taken a close interest in the VW emission scandal since it broke in mid September and has been looking closely at whether the German giant’s emission test cheating may have some ramification on truck emission tests. He takes up the story: While on a recent interstate run in a couple of new Scanias, the owner of the Swedish truck brand was going through its biggest corporate challenge since its inception pre World War II. Emissions control claims on its VW diesel cars are all under a cloud of alleged fraud, and with the global reach of its engine control systems, it is expected that the fall-out will hit Australian owners of VW group diesel

engines sooner rather than later.

The two Scanias we were driving recently are both rolling advertisements for its Euro 6 emissions technology, even down to being painted a dazzling kermit green with “Euro 6” emblazoned on the sides.

However it’s important to note that diesel truck engines are subject to an entirely different test cycle than passenger cars. The testing is still done in factory laboratories, but it uses a common duty cycle that is run on the engine only. The only question is that the European and US test cycles are different and each authority argues its version is more indicative of real-time commercial use.

The Euro V (ETC) testing is conducted

on a dynamometer with different driving conditions over three parts of the ETC cycle, including urban, rural and motorway driving. The duration of the entire cycle is 30 minutes.

Part one represents city driving with a maximum speed of 50 km/h, frequent starts, stops, and idling.

Part two is rural driving starting with a steep acceleration segment. The average speed is about 72 km/h Part three is motorway driving with average speed of about 88 km/h.

The testing was originally planned as both in-chassis and engine dyno testing, but for the purpose of engine certification/type approval, the ETC cycle is performed on an engine dynamometer only.

Either way, no truck publication has the wherewithal to verify compliance with the stringent Euro standards of nitrous oxide and particulate matter emissions. At this stage, we rely entirely on the manufacturer’s claim that the engines meet the required regulations, without publishing the actual outputs. But as the testing regimen is a published schedule, here at T&TT we felt that maybe it’s time that we request the test results by brand and see who meets it easily and those who just sneak in. So we’re currently asking the question of each engine builder.

Stay tuned - we’ll let you know who wants to provide the data and who doesn’t.”

THERE’S SOMETHING ‘INTER’ AIR International announces Over-the-Air engine programming NAVISTAR’S INTERNATIONAL brand in the US has announced it will launch over-the-air (OTA) reprogramming of engine control modules (ECM) from next year in the US domestic market only at this stage.

International says it plans to offer over-the-air reprogramming of engine control modules for its Navistar N9, N10 and N13 engines.

The company claims it is the first

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commercial vehicle manufacturer to offer this, and has completed its initial testing.

“Over-the-air reprogramming in International trucks will revolutionize the way our customers’ trucks are serviced and maintained,” said Bill Kozek, Navistar president, truck and parts.

“This is another important example of how our connected vehicle leadership is paving the way for future advancements that will drive improvements in vehicle

uptime and real-world, bottom-line results for our customers.”

The company said in the initial launch phase, International Truck’s OTA technology will be available on model year 2017 International trucks. The technology will enable the driver or fleet manager to use a mobile interface to initiate reprogramming over a Wi-Fi connection.

“OTA lays the groundwork for a

pipeline of connected vehicle services such as partner engine and component calibration updates, body control module updates and future cellular capabilities,” said Mike Cerilli, general manager, Navistar’s Connected Vehicle Business. “These and future advancements will provide improved customer uptime, fuel efficiency and other benefits that will drive added value for customers.”

OFF THE BOOK Meat company goes non-traditional finance to help expand business ETERNITY MEAT, a meat wholesale company based in Balliang in Victoria, had been struggling to keep up with customer demand using its existing infrastructure that was until they sought a non-traditional finance option.

The booming transport business relied on old and out dated trailers one of which dated back to 1982, forcing the owner to borrow from business associates in order to honour his haulage contracts.

Owner Alistair Sadler said the older model trailers were beginning to negatively impact the company’s

current clients; one issue was the meat-hanging rails were incompatible with the rails at the meat processing plant, which made unloading difficult.

“We got by and that, I suppose, is the key to our business: We say ‘yes’ and then we wonder how we’re going to do it!” said Mr. Sadler.

When Mr. Sadler heard another transport company [WickhamFreightLines] was selling used trailers, he knew he had to move fast.

The trailers in question, the 1997 and 2004 model FTE fiberglass meathanger trailers are highly sought-after

meat-hanger refrigerated trailers that are rarely seen on the open market.

In a bid to secure finance, Alistair contacted the companies he was already leasing trucks and other equipment from, but they were unreceptive.

“When you grow quickly, you get to a point where your financial exposure is such your lenders don’t want you taking on any more debt,” explains Mr. Sadler.

Mr. Sadler approached GoGetta, a specialist equipment funder in the transport sector, after a recommendation from a finance broker:

a decision that allowed Mr. Sadler to get his business back on the road, improve efficiencies and added profitability to his bottom line.

Mr. Sadlers said that each week one of his trailers costs him a mere $800 in rent, but it pays for itself over and over from the in come it’s generating.

“We’ve used Go Getta as a tool to get where we need to be,” Mr. Sadler said.

“It allowed us to quickly get the trailers on the road and working.

Had we waited six months until we had more equity in the business, we would have missed the opportunity.”

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New Release

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EVOLUTION OF THE SPECIES ISUZU PREVIEWED ITS UPGRADED N SERIES AT THIS YEAR’S BRISBANE TRUCK SHOW. ALLAN WHITING HAS SINCE TEST DRIVEN THE NEW MODELS AND HAS COME OVER ALL REFLECTIVE.

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he N Series has been with us Down Under since 1972 and has been light truck market leader for at least 26 years. That’s not a oneoff performance: it’s the top-selling cab-over light truck in the USA and is Number One in 18 other countries.

There’s no magic formula for this level of success; just constant product development.

In Australia, Isuzu Trucks has always had capable people, a great dealer organisation and the ear of Japan’s engineering team, to ensure specifications that are best for this market.

Like other Japanese vehicle makers Isuzu isn’t at the cutting edge of technology. Given the local company’s maxim that ‘reliability is everything’ it’s been Isuzu’s practice to evaluate and test new technology before putting it into production.

An example is the latest N Series’ electronic stability control (IESC). Some other light commercial brands have had this technology for years, but Isuzu wanted to be sure all the ‘bugs’ were out of the system before releasing it for series production.

Some of the pre-release IESC work involved developing calibrations for chassis changes - mainly wheelbase alterations that could affect the response of the electronic stability system. Calibrations are available in 5mm wheelbase increments.

Gradual change If we look back over the past 40+ years it’s

obvious that product improvements since the current N Series’ predecessor - 1972’s Isuzu Elf 350 - have been introduced progressively, so they get taken almost for granted.

The Elf was shyly branded ‘Bedford by Isuzu’, because it was something of a gamble for General Motors-Holden Sales. The English Bedford had been GMH’s light truck brand after WWII and it was felt that an unknown ‘Isuzu’ badge might alienate buyers.

I can well remember driving these early Isuzus and being impressed by the build quality of the powertrain and the cabs, compared with the ‘she’ll be right’ fit and finish of British and North American vehicles.

The Elf 350 specifications listed a ladder frame, with front and rear beam axles on leaf springs; power from a four-cylinder diesel engine, coupled to an all-synchromesh transmission. Basically, the N Series reads the same today, but let’s look at the specifications and equipment levels in detail.

Although well-equipped for its time – it had vacuum-assisted drum brakes; transmission drum handbrake; a spare wheel carrier; fivespeed box; laminated windscreen; standard ventilation system (heater optional) and an adjustable driver’s seat - the 3280mm wheelbase Elf 350 was light. Full of fuel (85 litres) it tipped the scales at only 1900kg.

Given a rated GVM of 5800kg that left 3900kg for body and payload, but in many markets where the Elf was sold a truck wasn’t considered loaded until some of the freight started to fall off, so its axle capacities

A new face for the classy N Series cab.

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were well in excess of its GVM: 2000kg front and 5000kg rear. That’s where the reliability factor came in.

The Elf 350’s naturally aspirated 3.6-litre diesel put out a claimed 100hp (75kW) at 3400rpm, with peak torque of 235Nm at 2000rpm. For its day, performance was acceptable, but car drivers didn’t like getting stuck behind one on a long pull.

The modern equivalent of the Elf 350 is the new NPR65/45-190. It has a ladder frame, beam axles, leaf springs, a transmission handbrake and a four-cylinder diesel engine, but that’s where the similarities end.

The NPR equipment list includes: softriding taper-leaf front springs; tilting cab; trimmed interior; seat belts with outboardseat pre-tensioners; four disc brakes with ABS, ASR (anti-slip traction control) IESC (Isuzu electronic stability control) and hill start assistance; six-speed manual box or automated manual (AMT); exhaust brake; air conditioning; driver and passenger SRS airbags; tilt-telescopic power steering; suspension driver’s seat; power windows: remote central locking; cruise control and trip computer pack with AMT; powered and heated main mirrors and manual spot mirrors; fog lamps; centre console; door pockets; cup holders; digital audio visual entertainment (DAVE) system with DAB radio, USB and SD slots, and Bluetooth. Phew!

Options include a full Isuzu Telematics suite, satellite navigation, up to four reversing cameras, air deflector, tyre pressure

The new suspension seat has easy weight adjustment.

“THE N SERIES HAS BEEN WITH US DOWN UNDER SINCE 1972 AND HAS BEEN LIGHT TRUCK MARKET LEADER FOR AT LEAST 26 YEARS.“ Performance is impressive, across the entire range.

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monitoring and an airbag-compatible ’roo bar.

All that kit and a wider cab have added some pudding, so the NPR’s tare weight is 2630kg.

To preserve 3900kg of body and payload allowance the GVM has risen to 6500kg, but there’s still the inbuilt reserve axle capacity pioneered by the Elf 350; the NPR has a 3300kg front axle and a 6000kg rear.

Engine size has gone up over the years, to 5.2 litres, along with attendant turbo, intercooler and particulate filter, so that has also added some weight. This much cleaner running donk lacks the black smoke cloud that a hardworking Elf 350 emitted and produces almost twice the power -188hp (140kW) – and more than double the torque – 513Nm at 16002600rpm - of the old 4BB1 engine.

On road in the new N Series The major mechanical changes to the N Series for the second half of 2015 are the addition of IESC package with traction control to all models except the 8000/8700kg

GVM NQR models and the 4x4 NLS and NPS variants. NQRs will get IESC in 2016.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to test the effectiveness of electronic stability control on the road-test route: you need a skid-pan for that. However, I could evaluate the other changes to several models.

My first mount was a narrow-cab NLR 45150 AMT. It had the cab trim upgrades already reported from the Brisbane Show and the compact NLR with AMT was at home around town. It had ample performance, was quiet and proved easy to park in car-sized bays.

Next up the scale was a wider-cab NNR 45-150 AMT that behaved similarly. The manual-transmission version of this model has revised ratios for 2015 that are said to improve shift quality.

Four of the test vehicles were NPR models, with the 5.2 litre Isuzu 4HK1 engine at 114kW(153hp)/419Nm and the newly released 140kW(188hp)/ 513Nm settings. The 188hp models come with an MZZ-6F six-speed transmission with

manual or AMT shift method, offering increased torque capacity.

The additional power and torque provided strong performance, even in the 7500kg-rated NPR model.

An interesting variant I didn’t get to drive is the new NPR 45-190; a de-rated NPR 65 model that can be driven on a car driver’s licence. That should go like a rocket.

The common factor that I perceived during the on-road driving program was the similarity in power to laden weight ratio across all the new variants. Regardless of N Series model or weight, the performance felt the same, indicating careful matching of power, torque and gearing to GVM, over the whole range.

Isuzu has led the Australian truck market for nearly three decades and is planning already for its 30th year of leadership party. That might be seen by some as presumptive, but the company’s focus on progressively updating product should guarantee continued success.

“IT WASN’T POSSIBLE TO TEST THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL ON THE ROAD-TEST ROUTE.“

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After 80 years we know what makes business tick.

At UD Trucks we’re celebrating 80 years of going the extra mile.

For a limited time all our trucks come with complimentary 12 months comprehensive insurance and upgrades.

✓ Complimentary

12 months Insurance

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✓ Complimentary MEDIA UNIT UPGRADE **

NEW 6.1” touchscreen

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Going the Extra Mile To find out more, contact your UD Trucks dealer on 1300 852 915 or visit udtrucks.com.au UDT0362D * Complimentary insurance is available at participating UD Trucks dealers on new orders of new trucks during the period 1st June 2015 until 31st Decemeber 2015. Insurance excludes logging, dangerous goods, livestock, underground mining and government vehicles. An excess is applicable on all claims. Basic excess is 1% of the applicable total vehicle value, minimum $1,000 (incl. GST). Insurance cover cannot be exchanged for either a discount off the purchase price or for cash. For full details of the terms, conditions and limitations of the covers, refer to the Product Disclosure Statement available from Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd (ABN 31 081 358 303, AFSL 238369)(‘Marsh’) on request. Volvo Finance Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 83 071 774 233, AR No. 1007361) and Volvo Group Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 27 000 761 259 , AR No. 1007361) (‘Volvo’) are each appointed as authorised representatives of Marsh. The insurance is underwritten by QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd (ABN78 003 191 035, AFSL 239545), Marsh and Volvo arrange the insurance and are not the insurer. **Complimentary Fleet Max Plus Telematics with 12 months data, complimentary media unit upgrade, speaker upgrade, and reverse camera upgrade is valid on all new orders of new UD trucks during the period 1st June 2015 until 31st December 2015.

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Interview

INTERVIEW

STRATEGIC EYRE COMMAND FUSO’S RICHARD EYRE IS PICKING UP INTERNATIONAL DAIMLER TRUCK AND BUS RESPONSIBILITY. ALLAN WHITING CAUGHT UP WITH THE NOW GLOBETROTTING EXECUTIVE.

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he General Manager of Daimler’s Fuso brand, Richard Eyre, has a new job starting November 1. Richard will take on the dual role of GM Strategic Partners and Business Development for Daimler Truck and Bus in Australia and also regionally for Daimler Trucks Asia.

AW: Richard, you’re very well-known and respected in the Australian trucking scene and I’m sure many people will want to know whether this new appointment is your choice, or whether it’s the equivalent of getting a ‘special projects’ title – the seat nearest the door?

RE: I’m sure there’s been some speculation, but it’s time for a change and I couldn’t be happier with this new dual role.

I’ve worked in this great industry for 40 years - 25 in retail and 15 in wholesale - and I now want to employ my experience and knowledge to expand the Daimler Trucks and Bus business both here and overseas.

AW: General Manager of Strategic Partners and Business Development sounds very important, Richard: what’s involved?

RE: Yes, it’s quite a handle, isn’t it? Essentially, one part of the role involves taking a holistic approach to supplying the ideal vehicles, or mix of vehicles, to suit a customer’s needs.

We already work with many large fleets whose requirements span from local pick-up and delivery trucks to 320-tonnes-GCM 8x8 prime movers used in high-utilisation mining applications.

AW: So it’s a multi-brand job, then.

RE: Exactly. Daimler has the widest range of trucks and buses in its portfolio and I look forward to analysing which Daimler models are best suited to different tasks.

Some of our larger Australian-based companies have vehicles operating in South East Asia and our aim is to provide a central contact point for them, so they can access our products and services in all regions.

I will also be using my industry experience to check out what other Daimler global vehicles might be suitable for the Australian and other markets in this region.

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AW: You say ‘part’ of your job; what else is involved?

RE: I will also work with some of our regional teams across the globe and mentor the younger sales and regional managers.

As you know, Daimler is growing quickly across many regions and I am looking forward to being part of this growth by providing support, where needed, for the younger managers.

AW: You already have a generous mix of Daimler brands in the Australian market, don’t you?

RE: Sure: we have Mercedes-Benz from Europe, Freightliner from the US and Fuso from Japan, but there are other possibilities.

AW: What other brands are you looking at?

RE: Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has a range of tough trucks branded New Fuso that we’re investigating for introduction in Australia and other markets.

AW: I’m not familiar with these trucks: tell us more.

RE: DICV and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) jointly operate under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia (DTA).

DTA continues to utilise the long-serving Fuso plant near Tokyo to supply Japan and 160 export markets, and a new production facility near Chennai in India to supply the Sub-Continent, Asia and Africa.

Daimler trucks manufactured in India have Mercedes-Benz and Fuso components and are built to exceed Daimler’s global manufacturing standards.

They’re designed to supply India and other export markets.

AW: What models are you looking at for Australian introduction?

RE: It’s too early to say at this stage, but we’re analysing some market segments where these ruggedly specified vehicles will fit.

We have, for instance, a Fuso-based truck that spans the gap between the light and medium truck segments. It is fitted with a Canter cab on a Fighter chassis and is ideally specified and priced to fill this gap.

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1.

1. Component integration is obvious in the new Fuso heavies and this same family mix is evident in the range of Indian-built Fusos.

2. Canter cab on an Indian-made Fighter chassis.

3. Ready to roll agitator

2.

BETTER GET IT INDIA! Any one who has travelled to the Subcontinent or seen films or videos of the chaotic roads and streets will be familiar with rickety old trucks with crude, low spec diesel engines belching smoke, but things are changing and changing quickly in India.

It is estimated that there are more than five million trucks on Indian roads servicing the world’s second most populous nation with more than 1.2 billion people, a number which is fast gaining on the most populous country, China.

The reality of that many people and that many vehicles packing on to the nation’s roads has meant India has had to embrace new and better technology and companies such as Daimler Benz have been at the forefront of helping to transform road transport across the country.

Daimler established the BharatBenz brand in 2009 for the Indian market offering a range of trucks in the 6-49 tonne range with vehicles for a range of applications.

The BharatBenz range includes light duty and heavy duty in 9, 12, 25, 31 and 49 tonne categories, featuring various applications.

In February 2013 DICV launched its light/ medium-duty range based on FUSO platforms.

Daimler’s Bus division launched its Mercedes-Benz inter-city luxury coaches in India in 2008. The initial entrance into India was achieved through DICV’s sister company, Mercedes-Benz India, however with the establishment of DICV, Daimler Buses transferred across to that entity in April 2013.

In March last year work commenced on an all new bus plant at Oragadam. The bus plant opened earlier this year and will design, develop and manufacture BharatBenz and Mercedes-Benz buses for the Indian market.

Benz has been involved in India since 1954 when it entered a licencing agreement with industrial giant, Tata. For a brief period in the mid-2000s it entered another agreement with the Hero corporation, best known for its Honda motorcycle production in India. The latter agreement was for the production of light trucks but this was short lived with the GFC and other influences seeing it dissolved a year later. This led directly to the formation of a wholly owned subsidiary, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles ( DICV) The headquarters of DICV is in Chennai, capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The production plant at Oragadum, near Chennai is spread over 160 hectares and was opened in April 2012.The plant features a full production facility including body shop, paint and assembly and all logistics required for local truck production as well as its own 6 km test-track that simulates Indian conditions.

Before the launch of BharatBenz trucks in India in 2012, Daimler Trucks were available in India with the Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks assembled at the Mercedes-Benz India plant at Chakan in Pune.

The Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks are now also assembled at DICV’s Oragadam plant.

EXCLUSIVE!

INDIAN FUSOS COMING TO OZ?

3.

As Richard Eyre revealed in the exclusive interview with T&TT, that Fuso is looking closely and seriously at bringing Indian sourced Fuso trucks to Australia as an adjunct to its existing range of Japanese built trucks.

As Richard Eyre intimated in the interview, India can supply a line of Fuso based trucks that could fill the gap between Fuso’s light-duty Canter range and its Fighter medium- duty trucks. While he would not be drawn on detail, T&TT investigations have led us to believe that the most likely contenders will be the BharatBenz 914, a 9.6 tonne GVM 4x2 rigid powered by Fuso’s four cylinder 3.9 litre diesel along and the BharatBenz 1214, a 12.8 tonne GVM 4x2 rigid version. There is also a 6x4 configuration under consideration.

Exactly what spec and engine/driveline the Indian trucks come with is yet to be decided but its fair to say that anything that is brought here will be tailored to our local demands and would need to meet the latest emission and safety expectations.

The 914 and 1214 are mix and match trucks and in a design sense at least are hybrids of sorts, based on the Fighter chassis using a Canter cab and manufactured in Daimler’s state of the art factory in the suburbs of Chennai, which is just over three years old, a factor which will ensure the highest manufacturing standards.

Anyone skeptical about the ability for quality trucks to come from a factory in a

developing nation should realise that most of the dominant Japanese designed and engineered one tonne utes sold in Australia are now built in plants in Thailand, utilizing not just designs imported from Japan but also most of the manufacturing equipment and the manufacturing systems as well. Trans-plants, as they are known in the industry, are a reality of the 21st century with most of the world’s leading makers sending production to lower cost countries as labour and manufacturing costs become too high in their home lands.

The Indian sourced Fusos may open the gates to a range of Indian built trucks from other manufacturers as well. T&TT has been told that a number of different companies are looking closely at importing Indian built trucks. Indian giant Tata, which already sells its utes here via its distributor, Fusion Automotive, a subsidiary of the Walkinshaw Group which also runs Holden Special Vehicles and the Holden Racing Team, has looked closely at the possibility of selling its larger trucks here. It is understood a number of key Tata executives were keen observers at the Brisbane Truck Show earlier this year.

There have also strong rumours that a range of Nissan light duty trucks built in India might be Australia bound while a local bus importer with links to India’s Ashok Leyland corporation has been investigating the Avia range of light duty trucks which could potentially come from India

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AW: Is the DICV range only light vehicles?

RE: No, there are mediums and heavies that use Mercedes-Benz engines, transmissions and cab components.

There is a range of fully-built-up agitator trucks available, with mixers manufactured in Chennai by a German company, Schwing Stetter.

There are also several factory-built, heavyduty tippers in many configurations.

As with the smaller truck models, we could bring these in as basic, tough vehicles or upgrade them with automated manual transmissions and other options.

AW: Everyone is familiar with photos of Indian trucks that have 1950s cabs, are the DICV products derived from these vehicles?

RE: No way! They’re Daimler global-standard products, manufactured in a state-of-theart facility. I’ve visited many truck plants around the world and this one is on a par with the best of them.

The standard products don’t have a lot of

the inclusions we have grown to expect in the Australian market, but they’re very strongly made for Asian markets where overloading is rife. These trucks won’t break!

We’re in the process of considering what options Australian truck customers might need, in addition to standard air conditioning, driver’s suspension seat and Euro 5 emission compliance.

facility.

In fact, the customer service training procedure has impressed Daimler senior management to the point where it may be adopted globally.

AW: How’s it work?

AW: Australian truck buyers might be

RE: India has hundreds of dialects, so that posed a communication issue when it came to training customer service technicians and production line operators.

DICV resolved it by developing a TV based, touch-screen training program, where every assembly process is taught by this animated instruction system.

wary of Indian production quality, mightn’t they?

AW: When will we see the first Fuso trucks

RE: There’s certainly not the familiarity that

and buses from the Chennai production facility Down Under?

buyers have with US, European or Japanese manufacturing practice, but customers buy brands with a strong reputation for quality, reliability and customer service. The product quality control at the Chennai plant is no different from any other worldwide Daimler

RE: It’s still early days, but I am confident it will happen. I’m also confident the products will be well accepted, as everyone operating trucks is striving to improve the bottom line.

AW: What brand will they have in Australia?

RE: All export trucks and buses will be branded Fuso.

“THEY’RE DAIMLER GLOBAL-STANDARD PRODUCTS, MANUFACTURED IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY.“

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It’s a hi-tech fleet management system that can help you: • improve driver performance • increase uptime • maximise fuel efficiency • reduce maintenance costs • minimise your environmental footprint For more information on Mack Telematics Call 1300 MYMACK (1300 69 6225) or visit macktrucks.com.au

www.truckandbus.net.au 017

Road Test

HEART TO HEART

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FOR THE MAJORITY OF AUSTRALIANS WHO LIVE IN BIG CITIES THE AVAILABILITY AND PROXIMITY OF SPECIALIST MEDICAL SERVICES IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED BUT WHILE WE ARE THE MOST URBANIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THERE ARE THOUSAND OF PEOPLE LIVING IN REMOTE COUNTRY REGIONS WHERE ACCESS TO THESE SERVICES CAN BE A LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE. KENWORTH IS HELPING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BY ASSISTING AN INNOVATIVE QUEENSLAND CARDIOLOGIST TO TAKE HIS PRACTICE ON THE ROAD IN A PURPOSE BUILT RIG DELIVERING SPECIALIST HEART CARE SERVICES TO RURAL AND REGIONAL AREAS OF AUSTRALIA. TRANSPORT & TRUCKING TODAY ROVING REPORTER HOWARD SHANKS TRAVELLED TO DALBY IN QUEENSLAND TO SEE THIS UNIQUE TRUCK IN OPERATION.

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1.

2.

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1. The state-of-the-art control unit to operate the fold down balcony is concealed behind this panel.

2. There is wheel chair access at the rear of the trailer as well as these stairs.

3. The reception area in the trailer resembles a traditional doctor’s office.

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very second Thursday a little before dawn in the sleeping town of Dalby, roughly two and half hours west of Brisbane, the silver K200 Kenworth hauling the Heart of Australia’s purpose built trailer rolls into town and sets up for the day.

The “Heart of Australia” brings specialist medical services to rural communities on a 25m-long custom-designed clinic-on-wheels, hauled by the Kenworth K200 prime mover which has been donated by PACCAR. In terms of the area it will cover, this also promises to be the most ambitious service of its kind anywhere in the world.

The fully-air-conditioned purpose-built, self-sufficient trailer provides two private clinic rooms, a testing room, a reception area for patients and is wheelchair accessible. It is the brainchild of Dr. Rolf Gomes who spent more than $1 million developing the mobile medical clinic, which he dubbed “Heart of Australia”.

“The idea came to me more than five years ago when I was practicing out in some of the regional areas as a junior doctor and registrar,” Dr Gomes explained.

“I experienced at that time how difficult it was for patients out in these areas to access the services that patients in the city take for granted.”

Dr. Gomes says cardiovascular disease

remains the leading cause of death in Australia, with one person dying every 12 minutes, yet people living in remote areas have a far higher rate of hospitalisation and death resulting from the disease.

“The key problem is that so many of these communities do not have specialist cardiac health services,” Dr. Gomes said. “That’s the reason I founded Heart of Australia – to give people in the bush access to the same services the rest of Australia takes for granted.”

In its first year, the mobile unit aims to travel more than 72,000 km, covering an area of over 450,000 square km. This will allow people from remote areas to access specialist services they would usually have to travel sometimes thousands of kilometres to reach.

Although Heart of Australia was launched in Toowoomba, the nearby town of Dalby will act as a hub for the south-west Queensland phase of the program. The mobile clinic aims to service at least five rural and remote towns – and surrounding communities – in its first year of operation.

The project will begin by visiting communities in the Surat Basin, including Roma, Charleville, Dalby, Goondiwindi and St George. The planned second phase will focus on the central west, visiting towns such as Barcaldine, Winton, Hughenden and Moranbah.

The mobile unit will stop in each town for

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4. The wheel chair access at the rear of the trailer.

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two days and return for another two days each fortnight.

“The fortnightly visits will enable us to examine all the patients in a town referred by local general practitioners, and follow-up on the progress of patients seen on earlier visits,” Dr. Gomes said. “In addition, we will have experts in different specialties on different visits.

“On our first visit, for example, we would have a cardiologist. On our second visit to the town, we may have a cardiologist and an endocrinologist. On visits, when a particular specialist isn’t onboard, they can still conduct follow-up consultations via teleconferencing and telemedicine,” he explained.

Onboard at all times will be a nurse, a consulting cardiologist and a cardiac scientist/sonographer. Other specialists and support staff will fly into towns and join the mobile clinic when required.

Heart of Australia has attracted widespread support from the Australian Medical Association Queensland, the Medicare local health bodies which co-ordinate regional services and also a growing number of local GPs and councils. In addition, Dr. Gomes has gained the backing of Queensland’s largest private cardiology group, the Queensland Cardiovascular Group, which will assist with the provision of the required cardiologists.

5. The examination rooms are spacious and similar to what you’d expect when you see a doctor in the city.

6. Model hearts are used to visually explain the heart operation and where heart disease can occur and importantly what can be do to prevent heart damage.

7. The trailer also carries equipment to perform stress testing on site.

In addition, the program has received funding from the Australian and Queensland governments, and support from various corporate sponsors including Arrow Energy, St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, Bayer Australia and IOR Petroleum.

PACCAR Australia was the first to back the program with the provision of a Kenworth prime mover for 12 months, covering the first phase of the program. In addition, Brown and Hurley, PACCAR’s longest-serving and largest dealer group, will provide truck service and maintenance throughout this time.

“We’re proud to have PACCAR as our major transport partner – they have been critical to the success of this program,” Dr. Gomes said.

“Heart of Australia is a great cause, but it will only be successful if people understand the issues and appreciate what’s needed,” Dr. Gomes explained. “PACCAR Australia understood immediately. When you’re behind the iconic Kenworth name, you know full well the vast distances between the city and the bush, and just how remote so many of these communities are. PACCAR recognised the program’s potential in terms of improving health outcomes in those areas, and they have remained committed ever since,” he added.

PACCAR Australia’s managing director,

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8. Founder of the Heart of Australia, Dr Rolf Gomes discusses treatment with a patient in the trailer’s consultation room.

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Kenworth Australia supplied this K200, that is serviced

by Brown and Hurley to haul the Heart of Australia trailer throughout the Outback.

“HEART OF AUSTRALIA IS AN IMPORTANT MEDICAL RESOURCE, WHICH WILL IMPROVE LIFE IN MANY COMMUNITIES, AND, NO DOUBT, SAVE LIVES” Mike Dozier, said he was excited about supporting a worthy and much-needed service.

“We are delighted to be contributing to this unique initiative, and we’re looking forward to the possibility of a longerterm relationship. Heart of Australia is an important medical resource, which will improve life in many communities, and, no doubt, save lives as well. You cannot put a price on this service, and that’s why we got involved,” he said.

“The mobile health clinic will be visiting a number of rural mining and agricultural areas which rely heavily on road-based transport,” Mr Dozier added.

All medical tests and consultations will be conducted in Heart of Australia’s selfcontained medical clinic trailer, which was custom built by Varley Group in Brisbane. It comprises a variety of air-conditioned rooms,

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including a reception and waiting area, several consultation rooms, a testing room and an amenities area. A wheelchair access lift has also been fitted.

All non-invasive tests available to patients in Brisbane will be available onboard the mobile clinic. This includes everything from an echocardiogram, cardiac ultrasound and cardiac stress testing to heart monitoring, blood pressure monitoring and sleep apnoea testing.

“Once a patient has been referred by their GP, they will be seen by a specialist who will run a series of non-invasive tests,” Dr Gomes said. “The results will be available immediately or usually within a few hours. This enables the specialist to make a diagnosis, have a follow-up consultation with the patient and start treatment generally within 24 hours. There’s not the delay you have when you see a specialist in the city,

where the whole process could take weeks or even months, from the initial appointment to tests scheduled at a later time and then the follow-up usually weeks after that. With Heart of Australia, the entire procedure occurs virtually on the spot in the patient’s home town,” he explained.

“When I began working on this program, one of the aims was to ultimately offer a range of specialist services beyond cardiology. We have achieved this even before the program has begun. We will be offering respiratory physicians as well as an immunologist and endocrinologist. That’s just the start. Before long we’ll be offering other medical disciplines.” Dr. Gomes said.

“Heart of Australia was my vision, but it’s the result of a joint effort by a large number of individuals and organisations, including generous sponsors, like PACCAR Australia,” he concluded.

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Operator

Photography: Murray Clifford

BEST IN BREED 032 www.truckandbus.net.au

THEY BREED 'EM TOUGH IN QUEENSLAND, TOUGH THAT IS IN EVERYWAY EXCEPT FOR THE TENDERNESS OF THEIR WAGYU BEEF. THE NEW POSTER CHILD OF THE BEEF INDUSTRY SEEMS TO POP UP EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK THESE DAYS FROM HAMBURGER PATTIES TO STEAKS WITH VITAL MARBLE SCORES. T&TT TAKES A LOOK AT A DARLING DOWNS FLEET WHICH IS HELPING SATISFY OUR GROWING DEMAND FOR THE SUCCULENT MEAT.

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agyu is a cattle breed and while it is all-pervasive now it is surprising to realise that the first Wagyu cattle were only introduced to Australia in 1991 but since then the demand for the meat produced from the Japanese origin cattle has gone through the roof and so has the price the carcasses fetch.

For George Johnston the proprietor of Johnston’s Livestock Transport Wagyu is a big chunk of his business these days specialising in the breed for his major client Australian Agricultural Company (AACo).

George and his crew have been hauling Wagyu for more than 20 years and they specialise in transporting the cattle across some vast distances from every corner of the country. In 2014 AACo produced more than 40,000 head of Wagyu cattle emphasising the growing demand for the meat they produced.

Based at Oakey, just west of Toowoomba, the livestock transport company has recently embraced Iveco’s Powerstar 7800 prime movers to haul some of the most valuable and sought after cattle in the world. George purchased three of the Ivecos in August 2014 and they work alongside an even newer Western Star 4900 and an older Kenworth T908. All of the Johnston trucks are Cummins powered, proving the former farmer is as much a red-blooded engine man as he is a cattle farmer. His loyalty to Cummins is longstanding and he can count more than 20 years with the engine maker.

Johnston’s Livestock Transport based in Oakey, west of Toowoomba has been in the livestock transport business for more than 40 years. In the early 1990s company principal, George Johnston, decided to specialise.

A former grazier himself, George knows the livestock transport business inside out, which is probably part of the reason he was chosen by AACo to cart its prized Wagyu all around the country using a variety of trailer combnations from B-Double to B-Triple and road train. Johnstons regularly hauls across the continent from Esperance and Geraldton in the west to the Darling Downs region and everywhere in between.

Johnston’s now employ six full time drivers, along with three casuals, a yard manager and a mechanic at its base. But George is quick to emphasise that he is a cattle man first and a truck operator second.

“I came from the farm,” says George. “ I was born into a family which carved out a living as cattle farmers at Tambo in Queensland and at Cabarita in NSW and I

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only got involved in trucks when the cattle price collapsed in 1972 forcing me to find another source of income,” he added.

Trucking appeared to be the road to the future and in 1973 he purchase a Mack B61 with a tri-axle tipper scoring a job haul base material for the Brisbane Airport redevelopment.

“That was a pretty solid job, it lasted two years and there were 140 trucks operating on it, it set us up quite well and gave us the taste for the transport industry,” said George.

When the Brisbane Airport job concluded George headed back to the family property at Tambo working the farm but utilising his truck to haul liverstock or for tipper work to supplement the farm income.

George got serious about the livestock hauling business in the 1990s when he bought a N14 Cummins powered International S-Line and since then has never looked back.

George bought the three Iveco Powerstars in August 2014 after some disappointment with Kenworth and reckons that since then he has been very happy with the Ivecos as well as his newer Western Star. The common thread with these two brands is Black Truck Sales, the large Toowoomba dealer which trades in both Iveco and Western Star.

“Drivers had some issues with the Kenworths we had been using in recent times, mostly around warranty, ride comfort and road friendliness and we decided to give the latest Powerstar a go,” George said.

“In the past we had three of the original Powerstars – 7500 models which were launched in Alice Springs, with the early Cummins Signature 600 engines all of them covering more than a million kilometres with very few problems. They were beautiful to drive and ride in.

“We also have a very good and long standing relationship with, Black Trucks, and that helped seal our decision to give the new Ivecos a try and the same goes for the Western Star which came out of Black’s operation in Roma,” he added.

The three Iveco Powerstars are equipped with Cummins Signature 15-litre EGR engines mated to 18-speed Eaton Roadranger gearboxes and are endorsed for up to 140 tonnes while the Western Star uses the 15 litre Signature with SCR. In the year since joining the Johnston’s fleet the three Iveco’s have now each covered more than 200,000 kilometres with very few problems, and are expected to average a similar amount of hard work all across the country each year.

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1. Iveco is currently dominating the JLT fleet with three Powerstar 7800s on the fleet pulling stock crates.

2. Company principal, veteran livestock transporter, farmer and Grandpa George Johnston here with the next gen, his grandson Connor.

3. The JLT fleet carts cattle from all corners of the country in all types of country and conditions.

4. The Johnston fleet operates with a variety of configurations from singles to B-Doubles, B-Triples and up to roadtrain spec.

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“THE THREE IVECOS HAVE NOW EACH COVERED MORE THAN 200,000 KILOMETRES WITH VERY FEW PROBLEMS“

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“We have a wide range of load demands, on rare days we could run just two decks of cattle or more often we could have three, four, five or six decks, most of the time in B-Double configuration but quite often as full triple road train configurations,” George said.

“We are very happy with the Powerstars so far, the drivers love them because they steer well and have such a good ride. After a five day drive, they step out feeling great and a lot less fatigued. They are also well equipped with fridge and TV and have a comfortable homely interior.

“After sales support is also important for us; we have to depend on the trucks’ reliability and ensure they have a strong warranty and after sales service. Downtime is a crucial issue to the viability of my business and indeed the transport industry in general.”

Johnston’s role in carting the valued Wagyu cattle for Australian Agricultural Company – the world’s largest Wagyu breeder and feedlotter – is critical to the viability of the company. Johnston’s Livestock Transport is constantly transporting cattle to various holdings around the country to ensure the best conditions and feed, and to get the cattle

to market in the best condition possible and on time.

“The demand for Wagyu is outstripping supply so we are continuously engaged ensuring cattle are in the right place at the right time. Recently for instance we have picked up cattle in Alice Springs and brought them back to Oakey. We have also in the past brought cattle from Western Australia to Queensland, as well as our normal movements up and down the East Coast and throughout Eastern and Central Australia,” George said.

“When we started carting Wagyu cattle it was selling for around $5000 for a good grading carcass. Now it’s $7,000 to $9,000 for a good carcass, not bad money as that equates to about $408,000.00 per B-Double and sometimes we do 40 B-Doubles per week!” George said.

The key factor in Wagyu meat is the intra muscular fat, fine threads of fat that flow through the muscle rather than around it, delivering the two most sought after qualities of both taste and tenderness. Getting the cattle to the abattoir in peak condition is vital and Johnston’s ability to deliver reliably and

on time is why they have carved out such a strong relationship with AACo. “The success of this company is down to our valued loyal clients and workforce and also the support of suppliers like Blacks, Cummins and Iveco,” said George.

Given the value of the cargo that Johnston’s Transport work with, reliability in the fleet is paramount. George is also impressed with the cooling system with the Cummins engines, which ensures cooler running and more efficient operation in the arid and remotes areas that he operates in.

“The cooling capacity is the best in the market which is pretty important given that for much of the year many of the places we travel to can have temperatures well into the 30s – if you want the power that we require, then you are going to produce heat which requires a very good cooling system,” he said.

The distinctive gold JTL logo sitting front and centre on the prime movers and the green and white stock crates make for an impressive look on the roads but not half as impressive as the contribution Johnston’s is making to the true gastronomic experience that comes from the pinnacle of eating beef.

“GIVEN THE VALUE OF THE CARGO THAT JOHNSTON’S TRANSPORT WORK WITH, RELIABILITY IN THE FLEET IS PARAMOUNT.” The JTL drivers love the Iveco Powerstars because of the quality of the steering and ride they deliver

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\ Paul Jukes Victorian State Manager, Hertz Truck Rental

Efficiency for hire Australian Truck and 4WD Rentals, the Hertz Truck Rental franchisee for South Australia, NSW and Victoria, has decided to replace all of the manual trucks in its fleet with Allison fully automatic equipped trucks.

Paul Jukes, Victorian State Manager, Hertz Truck Rentals, reckons that since adding Allison equipped UD Trucks to the Hertz fleet they have delivered lower maintenance and repair costs as well as saving money when it comes to operating costs.

“Our Allison automatic trucks are easier on clutches and brakes and that means we save money, not to mention the reduced down time,” says Paul Jukes.

Hertz customers can now enjoy improved productivity through full powershifts, with faster acceleration and increase fuel efficiency in city, and suburban applications thanks to Allison.

Fully integrated, sophisticated electronic controls enable precise, smooth shifts and provide expanded prognostics and diagnostic capabilities which reduce driver fatigue, enhance safety and make the truck more reliable and efficient to operate.

Make the smart choice…. Allison automatics

www.truckandbus.net.au 017 © 2015 Allison Transmission Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Road Test

CZECH MATE

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CZECH TRUCKMAKER TATRA IS A MINOR PLAYER IN THIS COUNTRY WITH A RELATIVELY SMALL IMPORTER SUPPLYING SPECIALIST TRUCKS TO BUYERS IN DIFFICULT AND CHALLENGING APPLICATIONS. THEY ARE SEEN IN SOME OF THE MOST REMOTE PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WITH SUSPENSION SYSTEMS AND TRACTABILITY THAT FEW OTHER VEHICLES CAN MATCH. TECH EDITOR DAVID MEREDITH TOOK A LOOK AT THE QUIRKY TATRA BRAND RECENTLY AND CAME AWAY IMPRESSED

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At best, the cockpit is ‘functional.’ But it’s comfortable and most importantly, doesn’t break

Tatra keeps big company in some of the most inhospitable locations

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his isn’t so much a road test as it is a system analysis. Tatra builds trucks, and aims them at a market most other builders try to satisfy with parts-bin concoctions which are reliable but are often too compromised for maximum performance. We are talking about a highly specialised and relatively small market so the product needs to be as precisely targeted as the role demands.

Off-road construction, mining operations and heavy-duty emergency service roles chew up conventionally built trucks and spit them out as useless hulks usually after relatively just a few bone-shattering years working in the dust, mud, salt, sand, rocks and hills, on goat tracks or no tracks and in any other challenging landscape “Terra Australis” can serve up.

A service company or exploration team would do well to look for transport that is

more at home in those conditions if they are going to operate safely and efficiently which is where the Tatra design package comes into its own.

In Australia Tatra sells relatively few trucks each year with the sales being specialist placements and because the trucks tend to disappear into the bush they’re not widely seen and remain off the radar.

Larry Gill’s Offroad Trucks Australia has been importing Tatra Trucks in their many forms for the last 16-years. He has a customer list of several hundred, and they operate the vehicles in highly specialised applications particularly in the Queensland and WA mining communities.

It’s only really in the last decade that Tatra has expanded its appeal by teaming up with the global Paccar group to offer the outstanding DAF XF cab and MX13 engine on a Tatra chassis and running gear offering

“SOPHISTICATION TO THOSE APPLICATIONS WHERE TATRAS COME OUT OF THE BUSH AND INTERACT WITH OTHER NORMAL TRUCKS.“ 1 and 3. Tatra is big in fire and emergency vehicles, delivering fully equipped trucks in any market.

2. Mad Max the movie used a couple of Tatras as the chassis for the War Rig

an additional model range. Known as the Phoenix, the new cab brings some on-road Getting heavy equipment to places otherwise out of reach so that it still works when it gets there, means building a platform that will get reliable power to tyres, retaining maximum surface contact while maintaining as level a ride as possible.

Tatra deals with that engineering puzzle by employing swing axles a configuration that was once used in VW passenger vehicles but which was eventually scorned as the concept caused problems with rear wheels ‘tucking in’ under hard cornering, causing Beetles to flip at the most inconvenient times.

Swing axles are to cars what seat belts would be to motorcyclists - all peachy until things go pear-shaped. However when you need to get three, four or five drive wheels on each side of a truck pulling their weight individually, swing axles are the solution.

The Tatra system was developed in the early thirties, and in fact was used by Dr Porsche as the basis for VW’s original rear suspension.

Tatra used to also build cars back then.

They were so fast and slinky in their day that when the Wermacht invaded the then Czechoslovakia its commissioned ranks appropriated them in droves. However the German army soon banned them as more officers were wiped out by rolling Tatras than were killed on the battlefield.

Which makes the swing axle either a design advantage or a flaw depending on your point of view.

Since then Tatra has changed owners almost as often as Australia has changed Prime Ministers, but the theme of the company’s product line hasn’t really moved off course.

The independent half-axle suspension is simple but effective. Each axle is cushioned

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“CABLES, PLATFORMS AND GUNS PLUS ALL THE FILM CREW PARAPHENAILIA MAKING THE TATRA A FILM STAR OF SORTS“ Phoenix is a DAF cab on the Tatra chassis. Paccar MX13 engine is optional

by a coil spring enclosed in an air bellows which is mounted on the top of the axle and secured to the centrally mounted tubular chassis. In a bogie axle arrangement for instance the application may demand ultra heavy-duty use and so the axles can also be linked with a multi-leaf steel spring.

The air supply to the bellows is controlled by the load and axle position, maintaining spring frequency no matter the load on the individual wheel.

As a result, when the truck moves across broken terrain a wheel that drops into a pothole has no effect on the wheel on the opposite side of the truck. The chassis is insulated against twisting moments and the load is protected.

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Additionally both wheels maintain complete contact with the ground surface and traction is maximised. Axle differentials, inter-axle differentials and reduction hubs complete the traction formula.

The tubular backbone chassis deserves special mention. As it is modular, sections can be added or taken off without having to cut metal. You can add a drive, a lazy or a drive/steer building the capability and capacity of your Tatra to suit your load profile.

Driving all of that is Tatra’s own unique air-cooled V8 diesel engine. It’s a 13-litre Euro 5 unit with optional outputs - 375hp and 1800Nm or 435hp and 2100Nm. The

power peaks at 1800rpm and the torque at 1100. It’s an SCR system so a 67-litre AdBlue tank is included. The large centrally mounted engine air fan draws air into the vee and spits more than two thirds of it out the top. The rest circulates through the cylinder fins to maintain operating temperature. It’s a credit to the efficiency of the system that Tatra operates in the widest temperature variations on the planet without engine cooling problems. The bonus is of course, no coolant to check, no plumbing to leak and no radiators to puncture.

In addition to the new Phoenix, Tatra is a strong contender in fire and emergency services tenders across Australia. The fire equipment available directly from the

1.

2.

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1. Czech fire fighting gear is world class.

2. Bogie axle in heavy duty mode includes a leaf spring.

3. Unladen chassis reveals swing axles.

4. Mud doesn’t seem to stop Tatra.

5. Air cooled 13-litre Euro 5 V8 keeps its cool in ay conditions without plumbing.

4.

factory is industry-leading and can be specified ex-factory.

Military version Tatras dot the globe and can be seen in many military displays.

India’s land-based defence force uses Tatras exclusively as launch vehicles for the joint Russian/Indian Brahmos cruise missile system.

Another out-there application for Tatra’s adaptable chassis was the War Rig featured in the latest Mad Max movie franchise.

That truck boasted several tonnes of trailer, a tanker, half a Chevy body as well as an old VeeDub shell along with various rods, cables, platforms and guns plus all the film crew paraphenailia making the Tatra a film star of sorts.

5.

We recently climbed over and under a couple of Tatra models with Larry Gill recently and got on board a fire truck he has imported fully built up for display to emergency services tenders. The cab is a full-ROPS compliant steel unit with strictly functional floor, seating and 90 degree opening doors.

Our spin around the suburbs resulted in a feeling of invincibility. Tatra is a heavy truck and it will never succeed in tare weight sensitive on-road applications. However the road handling was still good with the axle and suspension configuration flexibility meaning there was very little chop in the ride.

The chassis remained level and stable no

matter what was going on underneath. So even though it looks pure utility the ride is excellent.

Off Road Trucks made some big claim about its parts operation. Larry Gill told T&TT that every Tatra in Australia has a complete set of parts in-country and ready for immediate shipment.

It was a claim we found hard to believe until we were taken around the store and found all components from entire drivelines to full cabs stacked and ready to go.

It‘s an impressive asset, made more so by the fact that there was no-one there behind counters. Nothing happens until something breaks – and by the look of the parts store, it rarely does.

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Road Test

Photography: Howard Shanks

HIGH COUNTRY KENWORTH

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TRADITIONALLY KENWORTH BUYERS HAVE BEEN OFFERED THE CHOICE OF A RANGE OF US SOURCED POWER PLANTS FROM ALL THE USUAL SUSPECTS BUT PACCAR HAS STARTED OFFERING ITS EURO DEVELOPED MX13 ENGINE IN ITS KENWORTH RANGE. T&TT ROVING REPORTER HOWARD SHANKS RECENTLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE AN MX EQUIPPED T409SAR FOR A RUN IN THE VICTORIAN HIGH COUNTRY AND HERE IS HIS REPORT.

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T

he rugged High Country of Victoria is a region where the measure of a workingman and his horse, or machine, is a revered honor and in some cases etched in a poetic verse as in the tale of Banjo Paterson’s “Man from Snowy River”. What better place then, to put the new kid in the Kenworth camp through its paces, to see if it would live up to the legendary reputation its forefather the W925SAR earned.

For this run through the picturesque Victorian High Country, I called an old mate, Paul Thomas, who lives in Mansfield, to see if he’d like to be the test pilot. He jumped at the opportunity. Paul’s been around trucks since he was kid and seen his fair share of, trucks and trailers, rough rugged roads and changed a tyre or two when “it’s 110 degees in the water-bag”.

During the week Paul drives a 2007, 580 Cummins Signature powered International Eagle towing a B-Double carrying locally produced goods to interstate regions in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. He

then returns with raw materials and groceries for the town and the surrounding areas.

Mansfield was formerly heavily dependent on farming and logging, however in recent times has transformed into a Tourist-Centre.

Now it is the support town for the large ski resort of Mount Buller and boating paradise of Lake Eildon. It has a long association with the High Country tradition of alpine cattle grazing, and was really put on the map in the film ‘The Man from Snowy River’, which was made around the town.

A hint of late spring frost lay gingerly on the ground nearby as Paul reversed the T409SAR in under his B-Double trailers early one Sunday morning. Then with a distinct clunk, the jaws of the Jost JSK-37 fifth-wheel closed around the kingpin. Paul ran the tape over the combination before setting off and it measured 25.9 meters, with the turntable set at 50mm positive of the drive-centre. Then he slowly turned the `SAR to check the swing clearance and there was ample room.

With the heater notched up, Paul guided the

T409SAR out of the yard and the test run with his fully-loaded B-Double began in earnest.

Before he got to the end of the street he glanced at the tacho and said, “God! it pulls well.”

At first glance this new Kenworth looks like the current T409SAR and essentially it is, except that is, for the PACCAR MX13 engine under the hood. Back in 2012, PACCAR Australia commenced an extensive field test program slotting its well tested and proven MX-13 engines, currently running in real world applications in DAF vehicles since 2007, into various Kenworth applications.

This trial extends to T403, T409 and T409SAR Kenworth models.

The MX-13 engine’s credentials and specifications are ideal for a variety of heavyduty applications from single trailers, tipper and dog through to B-Doubles.

One of the major validation areas for Kenworth is the move from their traditional 12-volt electrical system to 24-volt system, and the trial is also looking at how the components cope with Australian conditions.

“THE KENWORTH LOOKS LIKE THE CURRENT T409SAR AND ESSENTIALLY IT IS, EXCEPT THAT IS, FOR THE PACCAR MX-13 ENGINE UNDER THE HOOD“

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4.

2.

1.

1. The trailer tucks neatly behind the bunk to minimize wind resistance.

2. Driver Paul Thomas is impressed with the Kenworth cabin, ride comfort and handling.

3. Plumbing of the air intake system to the turbo is neat on the right hand side of the engine 4. All the daily checks are performed on the left hand side of the engine.

The wide spread use of multi-voltage lights in trailers in recent times have made this transition far easier and more acceptable in the market.

A Kenworth spokesperson said, “The field testing program is delivering the ‘Voice of Customer’ feedback enabling identified product enhancements to be integrated and tested prior to production release.”

According to the engine brochure the PACCAR MX-13 engine provides the optimal balance of power and fuel economy.

The six cylinder in-line turbo charged diesel engine is being trialled with 460hp and 510hp ratings, offering 1,700 and 1,850 lbft of torque respectively, which is available over a wide rpm range from 1000rpm to 1410rpm.

The PACCAR MX-13 engine incorporates a number of design innovations, including, but not limited to compact graphite iron used in the block and head design, fractured cap technology used with connecting rods and main bearing cap, aluminium ladder frame construction, integrated lubrication module, rear of engine gear train, encapsulated wiring harness and integrated engine brake for optimum stopping power.

To comply with ADR80/03 emission requirements, the MX-13 utilises SCR technology. In addition, SMART fuel injection technology is used to deliver high injection pressures combined with precise injection timing and mutli-point injection. The outcome is an optimised combustion process resulting in low emissions of particulate matter and excellent fuel efficiency.

DAF customers confirm that the MX-13 engine in both the 460hp and 510hp rating

delivers exceptional fuel economy with engine oil drain intervals out to 50,000 kilometres.

On the safety front this T409SAR was fitted with Kenworth Electronic Brake Safety Systems (EBSS) that is based on the internationally renowned Bendix ABS-6 Advanced system. This system has been extensively tested by Kenworth and customised to suit Australia’s unique road conditions and applications.

Meantime the running gear includes an Eaton RTLO20918B 18-speed transmission, coupled to Meritor RT46-160 rear axles with a 4.10 ratio riding on Kenworth’s Airglide 460 rear suspension.

Half an hour or so after leaving the yard, Paul decided to take the T409SAR up some steep pinches to the north east of town to really put the MX-13’s broad torque band to test. “You’ll get some nice pictures of Mt Buller in the background out there,” he added.

The MX-13 is very quiet engine, with very little engine noise inside the cabin, which mean changing gears requires a quick glance at the rev-counter.

“There is certainly no changing gears by sound,” Paul remarked as the T409SAR began its assent up the steep incline. “I’d have already dropped half a gear in my Eagle at least three hundred meters back, yet this MX engine is still hanging on,” he added.

The MX-13 was sitting on 1150 rpm when it crested the long pull a whole gear higher than Paul’s Eagle, testament that Kenworth engineers gamble to run the taller 4.10 final drive ratio for optimum fuel economy haven’t affected the truck’s gradability. There were

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several more long pulls on the route and the MX-13 repeated its performance as it crested each climb a full gear higher than his Eagle.

“There is no question these Kenworth’s are a well put together truck,” Paul volunteered.

“They are just finished off so much better than anything else on the market. Mechanically Kenworth have thought of everything from the remote mounted diff and transmission breathers to the extended grease lines to the clutch linkage. There is no comparison to those Iveco’s we’ve got, they were cheap and they’re always breaking down and going back to dealership for repairs,” Paul said.

“So you can understand my skepticism towards a European powered truck after that experience,” he added.

“Even the interior of the Kenworth is well laid out,” Paul smiled. “The wood-grain dash and gold bezel gauges really give the cabin a touch of class that make you want to come to work and you can see why Kenworth drivers really are proud of their trucks.”

“The visibility and road manners of this truck are exceptional,” Paul revealed. “These

narrow roads around here are not the best, yet there is no wandering when the steer wheels drop into the dips in the edge of the bitumen once you have to move way off to the left when there is another vehicle approaching. The ride and feel is really great.

I could sure get use to this,” Paul added.

“The power’s there, the torque’s there, the speed’s there. And it’s nice and quiet,” Paul concluded. “It’s a real thoroughbred and I think its time we get one.”

While the MX engine has been available for sale in Kenworths since the start of 2015 the uptake has been slow, which is hard to fathom given the fuel economy and service interval advantages it delivers.

As one pundit told us its an easy sell for any one who has used the engine in a DAF but a more difficult propostion for traditional Kennie owners.

But the world has changed and the most valuable asset any transport operator needs today is an open mind and having one in this instance could be even more valuable for the bottom line.

“THE MX-13 REPEATED ITS PERFORMANCE AS IT CRESTED EACH CLIMB A FULL GEAR HIGHER THAN HIS EAGLE.” The PACCAR MX powered T409SAR is well suited to B-Double applications such as this general freight run.

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Industry

ON THE ROAD AGAIN MACK HAS TAKEN A FAIR CHUNK OF ITS RANGE ON A ROAD TRIP TO TOP ALL ROAD TRIPS, A FOUR MONTH ODYSSEY WITH 16 STOPS, CRISS-CROSSING THE COUNTRY VISITING EVERY MACK DEALER IN THE NATION. T&TT JOINED THE TOUR FOR ONE SMALL SECTION TO GET A HANDLE ON HOW MACK IS REACHING OUT TO RECONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS OLD AND NEW.

F

or Mack vice president of sales, Dean Bestwick, the 2015 Heartland Tour is partly a way to reach out to customers and partly a way to transition Mack from a brand all about being tough and durable to a brand that is tough and durable but which also boasts the latest technology and after sales support systems.

“From our perspective number one focus is to get all our product out there to the dealers, particularly to the regional areas,” says Bestwick.

“There are a lot of customers in those regional areas who have not been exposed to all of our range in particular the smaller Metroliners and the Granite and also to experience our latest integrated drivelines etc.,” he added.

So, is it an acknowledgment that Mack has had a disconnect from its traditional buyers and given up some ground to competitor brands? Bestwick says no!

“I don’t believe there has been a disconnect, to me it’s more of a transition period, its about communicating our changing technology and getting our latest product out to the regions,” he says.

Bestwick was quick to emphasise the Heartland Tour also helps get potential

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“IF THEY TRY IT THEY WILL LIKE IT AND THEY WILL APPRECIATE THINGS LIKE THE AUTOMATED MANUAL AND OUR LATEST DRIVELINES“ 2.

3.

1. The impressive fleet proved eye catching on the Pacific Highway with the black and gold Heartland signage and the matching graphics 2. The Mack Trident tipper was an important part of the tour allowing regional buyers to sample a tipper configuration along with the prime movers 3. Some people say we are Shellfish, we say we’re just misunderstood 4. The convoy roused the attention of other road users particular on the way from Townsville to Ravenshoe

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4.

buyers behind the wheel of a latest gen Mack and that once they drive the truck, then half the battle is won.

“If they try it they will like it and they will appreciate things like the automated manual and our latest drivelines,” he said.

“A lot of the traditional Mack customers are still buying our products but if we don’t reach out to all potential customers and keep them across what we are doing, how our technology is moving with things such as Telelmatics and automated gearboxes and other things then you will fall behind.

“The best way is to get the trucks out there and let people sample them for themselves so they can better understand the advantages they offer and that is what the Heartland Tour does,” says Bestwick.

The 2015 Heartland Tour kicked off in Queensland in August and won’t wind up until late November when it hits Adelaide to coincide with the opening of the new CMV dealership.

Transport and Trucking got the chance to climb aboard the Mack train for one brief leg of the trip from its Newcastle dealership in Beresfield to North Coast centre of Coffs Harbour.

The impressive fleet proved eye catching on the Pacific Highway with the black and gold Heartland signage and the matching graphics rousing attention from other drivers on the road.

In between the transport legs up and down the nations roads the Heartland Tour is about reaching out to Mack customers, past present and potentially future with showcase events at each dealer.

It is particularly focusing on Mack’s own driveline, the MP8 and MP10 engines and M Drive automated manual transmissions as well as ensuring the full range reaches existing and potential Mack customers in every part of the country particularly those regional areas.

In a PR masterpiece part of the opening weeks of the Mack Tour embraced an event in the North Queensland town of Ravenshoe, a town devastated by a tragic accident in early June, when a vehicle crashed into a café hitting a gas tank that triggered a massive explosion killing two and injuring 20.

Mack was cautious about trying to make too much mileage out of staging an event there, instead making the it more of a break from the Tour to bring some fun and much needed relief to a town that has had a pretty tough time of late. To make this happen they brought Golden Guitar winner Amber Lawrence and the Girls of Country along to perform, hosted a free community barbecue and engaged with

the people of the rural settlement Along with that, Mack also involved some local acts in the show, spent money in the town and gave out merchandise, generally making people feel good about the event in their town and not doing any hard sell.

To emphasise that Mack wasn’t on a sales mission in Ravenshoe and was more about healing than selling, it didn’t take all of its range but did recruit Mack the Truck, the Transporter from Disney’s Cars movie which added to the joy and fun for the local kids and it turned out to be the most popular truck at the Ravenshoe shindig.

Following the visit to Ravenshoe the Heartland Tour hit the road again heading back to McKay and then Rockhampton.

Having already done Brisbane, Toowoomba and Townsville the convoy headed across the board to Tamworth and then on to Newcastle, which was where T&TT joined the tour, albeit just for a day.

The team that is running the Heartland Tour is made up of Paul Munro – the National Customer Product Trainer for the Volvo Group, product manager for Mack Trucks, Mark Gamble, Heartland Tour logistics coordinator John Moore and Mack Trucks marketing intern Laura Boulier. That small group is joined on various legs by dealer staff and also selected customers who are invited by the local dealer to do a leg for a better insight into how the latest Macks perform on the road, full laden and working as a normal truck would day to day.

When T&TT joined the tour we had the chance to drive just about all the trucks in the convoy. We started out in the Granite powered by the Mack MP 800 mated to the 13 speed M Drive and hauling the Mack display trailer, the nerve centre for the tour’s dealer stopovers.

As trainer Paul Munro says as soon as you slip behind the wheel of the Granite you’re quickly won over. The M Drive shifts smoothly and swiftly and the 800 cubic inch MP8 (] the US origins of the Mack brand reflected in the old cubic inch measure which equates to a shade over 13 litres). The display trailer and day cab Granite tipped the scales at 17 tonnes, so it wasn’t overtaxed and performed well.

Next up was the B Double, a Mack Superliner hauling a B Double rig grossing around 58 tonnes and powered by the MP10 (1000 cubic inch/15 litre) 685 hp engine with a massive 2300 foot pounds of torque or 3100Nm in today’s language. It hauled up the hills effortlessly and tracked well, the MDrive seamlessly shifting and the torque of the MP10 enabling the engine to sit easily in the peak torque band between 1100 and 1500 rpm.

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From Taree to Clybucca we slid behind the wheel of the low loader being hauled by the Mack Trident AB with sleeper cab powered by an MP8 boasting 585 hp and again coupled to the 13-speed M Drive. On the low loader was an empty Mack Granite tipper bringing the GVM to a shade over 22 tonnes. After the hard haul over what is left of O’Sullivans Gap in the Superliner, the run along the flatter and mostly dual carriageway Pacific to Clybucca was an easy canter for the Granite.

Our final stead was the Trident tipper with an MP8 and 13-speed MDrive laden with ballast to 12.5 tonnes. It found itself amongst friends with an awful lot of earthmoving going on around us in the massive construction task that is taking place north of Port Macquarie. The long overdue Pacific Highway duplication is taking place at a pace that never before witnessed on a highway project in this country. The value of the overhaul was witnessed first hand on the notorious Macksville bridge where a south bound low loader carrying a large motor yacht almost tangled with our convoy. The

bypass and the new twin bridges over the Nambucca cannot come soon enough.

All too soon our time in the Mack convoy was over as we arrived at Mack/Volvo dealer Southside Trucks in Coffs Harbour.

Mack says The Heartland Tour is also giving it another opportunity to promote its ‘Win a Mack Truck for a Year’ promotion, which will see a lucky customer win the use of a new Mack for 12 months.

The contest is designed to showcase its total package of support, with the winner receiving a truck tailored for the application of their choice and decked out in their company’s livery, while the prize also includes telematics, servicing and driver development. All the customer has to cover is the truck’s running costs – a driver, fuel, replacement tyres etc.

Dean Bestwick reckons the Win a Mack for a Year promotion and the Heartland Tour are both primarily about spreading the word of the company’s products and aftersales support.

“They both showcase everything that we have on offer, with a package tailored for the

particular winning customer showcasing our application focus and the total offering,” he said.

“The Heartland Tours are quite significant for us giving us the chance get out and speak to our dealerships and bring a whole range of models and applications with us that are ready to be driven.

There have been plenty of roadshows by truck makers over the years but the Mack Trucks Heartland Tour certainly seems to be have hit the mark. When this was written around the half way point of the 16 week campaign Mack claims it could attribute six truck sales directly to the Heartland Tour and you can be sure that with truck buying schedules the way they are that sales as a result of contact with the tour will accrue for some time to come.

Even without those direct sales, as a rolling demo fleet of new models allowing customers and dealers to gain an insight into the Bulldog’s latest products and after sales support the Heartland Tour would have to be considered a success.

“THE HEARTLAND TOUR WOULD HAVE TO BE CONSIDERED A SUCCESS.” 1.

1. On the road again! an unrelenting 16 week tour from coast to coast 2. Mack the Truck, Disney’s character from the animated movie Cars was a big hit in Ravenshoe particularly with the kids 3. The Superliner with its 685 hp MP10 was the flagship and star of the Heartland Tour 4. I love a sunburnt country! The Heartland Tour will see plenty of it on the 2015 program

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2.

3.

4.

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GRAVEL ROADS AUSTRALIA COMING SOON! MARCH 2016

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 early 2016 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.

successful transport website, www.truckandbus.net.au.

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 feature great writers with features and news produced by some of the best journalists in Australia with high quality photography and design.

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RANGER MARK II SHOOTS FOR NO.1

FORD HAS MADE NO SECRET OF THE FACT THAT IT WANTS THE HILUX’S TRADITIONAL MARKETLEADING UTE TITLE. AFTER DRIVING THE LATEST MODEL EDITOR ALLAN WHITING RECKONS, FORD’S MKII RANGER MIGHT JUST DO IT IN 2016,

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ord Ranger sales were up five percent in 2015 as HiLux sales slumped. Mitsubishi’s keenly priced new Triton and the all-new Navara are also snapping at the HiLux’s back wheels. Toyota is pinning its hopes on the 2016 HiLux to stem the competitive advance, but on paper, the new Toyota doesn’t match some of the offerings from its competitors:

particularly the well-equipped Ranger MkII. “The new technologies and safety enhancements available in the 2015 range will continue to cement the Ranger’s reputation as one of the most technologically advanced and capable light trucks in Australia,” said Graeme Whickman, Ford President and CEO. “Ranger continues to win friends and

customers across the country, from urban trade people looking for a smart workhorse during the week, to rural folks who require a robust, stylish and capable light truck,” Whickman said.

For 2015, the PX Ranger MkII retains its four and five cylinder diesel powertrains, although it was interesting to note that there were only two manual-transmission vehicles

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in Ford’s press-release fleet of a dozen machines. The manual six-speed didn’t have a happy introduction to the Australian market, with some early dramas. The MkII manual box comes with a new cable-shift mechanism.

The Ranger MkII retains a towing capacity of up to 3500kg and wading depth of up to 800 mm.

Obvious changes to the MkII model are restyled frontal appearance, with new fenders, bonnet, bumper and trapezoidal grille. The headlamps are higher-mounted and there’s a brush guard incorporated in the bumper design.

The PX Ranger MkII features soft-touch materials and a new instrument cluster and centre panel.

Much development work was put into making the Ranger interior quieter with improved levels of noise, vibration and harshness. Fluid-filled engine mounts replace solid rubber ones, for better vibration isolation.

An electric power-assisted steering (EPAS) system replaces the previous hydraulic power steering box and provides varying degrees of assistance, based on speed, steering wheel angle, cornering forces and acceleration or deceleration.

By eliminating the power steering pump used in a traditional power-steering system, EPAS also results in a quieter vehicle and reduces fuel consumption by up to three percent.

Other new features include tyre pressure monitoring, an adjustable speed limiter, auto Stop/Start on manual transmission models and a 230V inverter on Double and Super Cab models.

The 2015 model range continues with XL,

 It’s subjective but most people believe the Ranger has the best styling of all the onetonne pickups on the Australian market

XL Plus, XLS, XLT and Wildtrak equipment grades and pricing runs from the entrylevel 4x2 Single Cab Chassis 2.2-litre TDCi model’s $27,390 up to the range-topping 4x4 Wildtrak Double Cab Pick-up 3.2-litre TDCi model’s $60,090.

As with the first PX model, Australia’s Product Development and Broadmeadowsbased Design Centre led the design and development of the MkII. The Ranger project’s Melbourne-based Global Chief Programme Engineer, Ian Foston, told T&TA that his brief was roughly: “Upgrade the Ranger and incorporate new technology, but don’t compromise its proved appeal across 180 global markets”.

So, no pressure there, Ian! The Ranger MkII is powered by the latestgeneration 3.2-litre TDCi engine that delivers 147kW and 470Nm, or the 2.2-litre TDCi engine that delivers 118kW and 385Nm. Both engines are available with a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.

Emergency Assistance is available across the range and is designed to deliver critical information directly to 000 operators, indicating that the vehicle has been involved in an accident. The system advises the vehicle’s GPS location before opening the line for hands-free communication with the vehicle occupants.

Emergency Assistance uses the driver’s own paired mobile phone if it’s within mobile phone range.

Importantly, SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance has no contracts or subscriptions to maintain the service. It’s free for the life of the vehicle.

What you get Ranger XL models are Single Cab 2.2-litre 4x2s, a ute and a cab/chassis, on the lowheight frame and four 2.2-litre 4x2 High Ride models: a Single Cab/chassis; a Super Cab/ chassis and a Double Cab/chassis and a Double Cab ute.

All High Ride 4x2 models come with a driver-actuated rear-axle differential lock, as do all 4x4 versions in all grades.

XL 4x4s come in all cab styles, with a choice of 2.2-litre or 3.2-litre engines. There are also XL Plus models in Single Cab and Double Cab configurations.

XLs have 16-inch steel wheels; bucket seats with a driver’s manual-adjust seat that has lumbar support; auto headlamps; air conditioning; vinyl floor mats; 230V inverter in Double and Super Cabs; Bluetooth AM/FM stereo radio /MP3 CD player with voice control; USB/iPod integration; 4.2-inch colour multi-function display; SYNC1; alarm with perimeter, interior motion and vehicle movement sensors and cruise control with steering wheel mounted buttons.

Ranger XL Plus adds: 17-inch steel wheels with all-terrain tyres; daytime running lamps; plastic side steps; an expanded wiring harness with four-switch auxiliary bezel and a second battery.

The two XLS 4x4 models are both Double Cab utes with 2.2-litre or 3.2-litre engines and have all XL equipment, plus 16-inch aluminium wheels; front fog lamps and carpet with front floor mats The four Ranger XLT models are 3.2-litre

 A refreshed interior with a new steering wheel stirs electric, not hydraulic power assistance.

“FORD RANGER SALES WERE UP FIVE PER CENT IN 2015 AS HILUX SALES SLUMPED.” Super Cab or Double Cab utes with 4x2 High Ride or 4x4 drivelines.

Each has XLS features plus: 17-inch aluminium wheels; towbar; chrome exterior trim; plastic side steps with bright inserts; sports bar with load box illumination; privacy glass; steel rear step bumper; powerfold mirrors; projector headlamps; auto wipers; dual colour 4.2-inch cluster screens; dual-zone climate control; cooled console; leather wrapped steering wheel and gear knob; electro-chromatic rear view mirror; SD card slot; eight-inch colour touch screen; satellite navigation with traffic management channel; SYNC 2; DAB radio; mobile WiFi hotspot; tyre pressure monitoring; rear park assist and a bedliner with 12V socket.

An optional Tech Pack includes: reverse camera; adaptive cruise control with forward collision alert; driver impairment monitor; lane keep assist and lane departure warning.

The single Ranger Wildtrak model is a Double Cab ute that has XLT features plus: 18-inch aluminium wheels; plastic side steps with brushed inserts; Wildtrak sports bar; chromed rear step bumper; puddle lamps; eight-way power driver’s seat adjustment with lumbar support; heated, leather front seats; front and rear floor mats; ambient lighting; front park assist; reverse camera and

a roller shutter tray cover.

The Tech Pack option for the XLT can be added to the Wildtrak.

With the Ranger’s 3200kg GVM for most models and all tare weights under the twotonne mark, theoretical payloads are at least one-tonne, across the range.

On and off road Ford put on a two-day test drive for the press, with conditions varying from freeways to narrow gravel forest roads. I checked off-road performance at the Melbourne 4x4 Training and Proving Ground that offers a variety of traction, ground clearance and wading challenges.

I didn’t get a stint in the manual and so can’t comment on the new gear linkage, but we’ll endeavour to grab a press vehicle as soon as possible.

I was already familiar with the Ford Ranger powertrain, so my main concentration was on the MkII’s changed suspension, steering and interior.

The front-coil, rear-leaf arrangement is substantially the same as before, but subtle changes to settings and rates have softened the unladen ride.

Electric power steering is being fitted to most new vehicles, offering some fuel

efficiency advantages, along with reduced noise and more variable power assistance than is possible with conventional hydraulic systems.

In the case of the Ford Ranger the steering was very good, with just about the right amount of powered help at varying speeds and in different road conditions. Wheel rim effort was very low at manoeuvring speeds.

I also checked out the lane-keeping function that loads the steering wheel when the system detects a lane change without indicator action. It worked very well.

The Ranger was already a fairly quiet ute, but the MkII’s interior has car-like noise levels, even at idle.

Off road the Ranger MkII behaved similarly to its predecessor, aided by a powerful traction control system and a rear difflock that’s easier to use than most.

It engages at up to 30km/h and will stay engaged until 80km/h if the driver doesn’t hit the disengage button.

It was particularly helpful in the 4x2 High Ride test vehicles, giving these twowheel-drive utes an ability to negotiate slippery building sites that would strand a normal 4x2 ute.

Look out Toyota: the new Ranger may be more than a match for the HiLux.

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NISSAN’S NEW BEAUT UTE AFTER SAMPLING THE LATEST NISSAN NAVARA NP 300 T&TT CAME AWAY LESS THAN IMPRESSED WITH THE DAMPING IN THE FLAGSHIP VARIANT, HOWEVER EDITOR ALLAN WHITING AND OUR RESIDENT 4X4 TESTER JON THOMSON HAVE SAMPLED ALL OF THE MODELS AND STILL RECKON NISSAN’S NEW COIL SPRUNG WORKHORSE HAS SOME ENDEARING QUALITIES.

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he new Navara is not a bad vehicle but there are some small but perplexing anomalies that left us scratching our heads and wondering whether Nissan will ultimately be able to match it with the latest crop of utes from rival makers including Mitsubishi, Ford, Mazda and the upcoming Toyota Hi Lux. There are so many good things about the Navara but the biggest let down is the suspension in the top of the line ST-X.

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The new chassis retains coil-front suspension but uses coil rear springs on dual-cab models.

When the workhorse single and king cab models come later this year they will have leaf rear springs being load-priority models.

The problem arose for us with Navara’s top of the line ST-X which one would have imagined would have had the most controlled and smoothest ride, or at least that is what we thought with a vehicle costing this much. But that wasn’t the case and in fact we

were more impressed with the work horse entry level RX when it came to refinement and ride quality.

In a week long extensive drive to the NSW north coast with forays on dirt roads as well as give and take local tarmac which was choppy, bumpy and uneven, the headlining Navara felt all wrong. Its damping just didn’t cope and jingled and jittered on the slightest bumps making the Navara neither comfortable nor relaxing for passengers or

the driver for that matter.

A couple of weeks later in the base entry level model we were scratching our heads and wondering why the low cost model had better ride and damping than the all bells and whistles, leather trimmed flagship model.

The 2015 Nissan Navara range will eventually be available in Short, King and Dual Cab models, but initially the NP300 4WD is offered just in dual cab with three grades - RX, ST and ST-X, with singleturbo and twin-turbo diesel engines, and six-speed manual and seven-speed automatic transmissions.

Dual cab pick-up models went on sale in early June with prices ranging from $39,990 for the RX up to $58,873 for the ST0X, while

the short and king cab models will be along in coming months.

As we said the top-shelf ST-X model doesn’t leave much change out of 60 grand.

On the plus side of the price equation is a spec’ level that many wagons can’t match.

While our North Coast drive in the ST-X was not heavily laden it did have three blokes and plenty of gear on board which should have negated any problems with heavy commercial springs, but that wasn’t the case.

Colleague and T&TT editor Allan Whiting filled his test ST-X with garden mulch and reckoned the ride was pretty good. Our assessment is that the ST-X Navara’s damping is simply not well matched to its suspension package. We hear from a company insider

that the alarm bells have already gone off and Nissan has come up with a fix for the ride issues that will flow into production models coming in from here on in.

Whiting had heard some early reports that the coil rear end didn’t like a load, but with 550kg on board he reports while the rear bodywork dropped, it was no more than similarly loaded leaf-sprung utes and the vehicle didn’t appear strained with acceptable handling. Putting more than half a tonne in the tub softened the ride, but didn’t increase the tendency to bottom out on sharp bumps he reckoned.

Performance from the twin-turbo diesel four was good and the six-speed auto shifted flawlessly. We ran the test vehicle for

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1. Creature comforts such as heated, leathertrimmed seats , dual zone climate control and sunroof with electric one-touch power tilt and slide are all standard on the ST-X. 2. The NP300 Navara is handsome looking ute but the plastic sidesteps on the ST-X would be a hinderance off road.

3. Just so your bum doesn’t get cold in winter the ST-X has heated leather seats as standard.

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2000 plus kilometres, on and off road and averaged 8.7l/100km.

Ground clearance on Navaras has always been compromised by the desire to reduce centre of gravity height, for improved onroad handling and the ST-X could have done with 50mm more air under its belly.

Minor ground scraping apart the Navara proved to be very capable on our rocky test track, climbing with very little wheelspin, thanks to traction control and a rear diff lock.

Opting for the 16-inch wheel package from the ST and fitting taller-profile LT tyres would help increase ground clearance.

Those who take the ST-X off-road regularly will be best advised to leave the unnecessary plastic side steps in the garage.

Off road gearing was deep enough to let the engine idle its way over most obstacles and hill descent control kept downhill speed to walking pace.

A combination of high body waistline and upwardly swept front mudguards meant that the vast bonnet intruded on forward vision when the vehicle was climbing steep grades, leaving the driver ‘flying blind’ at the top.

It’s a shame that vehicle stylists don’t drive off road.

Ergonomics in the ST-X were very good and the seats had better seat-back support than the non-powered items in the ST we tried..

Noise levels inside the cabin were car-like and the sound system was high quality.

The twin-turbo diesel YS23DDTT engine boasts 140kW and 450Nm of torque in ST and ST-X levels while the RX has 120kW

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and 403Nm. As mentioned there is five-link coil-spring rear suspension in all the dual cab pick-up variants including the RX which along with the ST we reckoned had better ride than the ST-X. If you don’t need the luxury then choose the lower grade and save the bikkies and your back!

The Navara is equipped with seven airbags including driver knee airbag and has some quirky features as well including a rear power sliding window which could be quite handy with a canopy fitted to the load tray. In Thailand that’s how you communicate with family members sitting in the tub, but for this market it could be useful for ventilating the cargo area when there’s a canopy in place.

Maximum braked towing capacity for the new gen Navara is 3500 kilograms on all diesel variants while maximum payload ranges between 880kg and 1112kg, depending on the variant.

The NP300 Navara has reportedly endured more than 40,000 quality tests and 1,000,000 kilometres driven in real-world conditions, including in rural and metropolitan Australia, we just wonder how the test drivers coped with the ST-X ride or whether their reports were ignored!

Hill Start Assist is standard on the ST-X 4x4 models along weith Hill Descent Control while manoeuvrebility has been improved with around a metre being lopped off the kerb to kerb turning circle compared to its predecessor. All dual cab pickup grades feature ventilated disc front brakes and rear drum brakes.

Wheels are 18-inch aluminium on ST-X grades, 16-inch aluminium on ST and 16inch steel on RX. The Utili-Track system is fitted to ST-X grade, allowing for load securing options.

This innovative cargo restraint system includes two channels and four heavy-duty forged aluminium cleats that lock anywhere along each channel. The ST-X also has a protective tub liner, alloy sports bar, roof rails and heated door mirrors with power adjustment and folding, and integrated LED indicator lights.

Creature comforts such as heated, leathertrimmed seats , dual zone climate control and sunroof with electric one-touch power tilt and slide are all standard on the ST-X grade, along with intelligent key and remote keyless entry, illuminated push button engine start and rear interior lights.

We have to say that the navigation system that had quite good bush mapping, plus a map-zoom feature with simple dial control that we haven’t found in any other 4WD. Storage trays are positioned on top of the dashboard and in the centre console all of which are very convenient and extremely well thought out while there are four front row and two rear row cup holders, and two bottle holders for both front and rear rows.

Introducing a coil-rear-sprung ute is a bold move by Nissan, but it just might work. If they sort the damping out in the ST-X we reckon it would be an extremely good thing, certainly its lesser spec siblings work better and if the story of the fix is right it will also be a contender in time.

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MONEY MATTERS PAUL CLITHEROE HOARDING CASH NOT THE WAY TO RICHES

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recent Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) study looked at the lifespan of Australian bank notes. What it found in the process, is that some Australians are hoarding vast quantities of cash.

The RBA’s research revealed that most bank notes have a tough life. The common denominations - $5, $10 and $20 notes, only last for around five years. After this, notes are returned to the Reserve Bank and destroyed. Even $50 notes are ready for the scrap heap after 10 to 15 years.

It’s when we look at $100 notes that the picture changes radically. Unlike other denominations, the RBA found fewer than 10 per cent of all $100 notes ever printed have worn out from use.

According to the RBA this is because ì$100 banknotes are generally held by the

on investment returns.

Moreover, the purchasing power of cash declines over time thanks to inflation. So it makes good sense to get any spare cash out from under mattresses and put it to work.

Your money could earn up to 3.5% in a savings accounts, or if you have a home loan, using hoarded cash to make a lump sum payment could see you earn a tax-free return equal to your loan interest rate.

Another option is to tip the money into your super, or consider using stashed cash to invest in a managed fund – it could be the start of a healthy investment portfolio.

If you’re not convinced, bear in mind that the world’s wealthiest people didn’t get that way by sliding notes under their mattresses.

On the other hand faced with high property prices, plenty of Gen Ys - Australians born between 1980 and the early 2000s - are

watchdog, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (ARRA), to slow down the growth of investment lending and thereby help to maintain property price growth at sustainable levels.

Ultimately that’s a good thing for all property owners. In practical terms it means a widening gap between the interest rates that apply to investment loans versus owner occupied loans.

Research by comparison site RateCity shows 55 lenders have introduced different interest rates for investors as opposed to home owners. Across the board, investor rates have climbed by up to 0.48% in recent months while rates for owner occupiers have dropped by up to 0.39%.

This sort of two-tiered rate system is not new. We saw it widely in Australia until about a decade ago, and on the plus side it

“Another option is to tip the money into your super, or consider using stashed cash to invest in a managed fund” public as a store of value.î Put simply, we have a tendency to hoard $100 bills.

This research is backed up by a 2014 study by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA). It found the nation’s households are collectively hoarding around $1.2 billion in coins and a whopping $10 billion in bank notes.

In fact, it’s estimated that at least 500,000 of us hoard significant sums of money at home - an average of $20,000 per person among serial hoarders.

The same APCA report noted that our note-hoarding habits were confirmed during the 2009 Victorian bushfire disaster, when substantial quantities of singed banknotes (most in neat bundles) were returned to the RBA for replacement. Presumably, more seriously burnt banknotes simply went up in smoke.

Hoarding cash is fine – if it’s in a bank account. But stockpiling bank notes doesn’t just increase your exposure to loss through, say, theft, or fire, it also means missing out

making their first property purchase a rental investment rather than an owner occupied home.

In fact, according to an industry study, almost one in five Gen Ys own at least one rental property.

There are merits to buying as an investor rather than as a home owner - and there’s more to it than being able to claim the ongoing costs of a rental property on tax.

Buying as an investor means you’re more likely to make a purchase decision with your head - not your heart. And because personal needs about a property don’t really matter, you can choose from a broader range of areas and property types.

Sure, your rental property may not be where you’d choose to live, but getting onto a rung on the property ladder is likely to be a good thing.

However all would-be property investors need to bear in mind that interest rates on investment loans are rising.

This follows requests by banking

really forced investors to do the maths and check that a rental property stacked up as a solid long term investment.

On the flipside, RateCity say some lenders are trying to entice home buyers into the market with eye-catching deals like $2,000 cash-back offers.

I would certainly caution against taking out a home loan based on a short term perk. The really important things are the merits of the property itself and your ability to comfortably make repayments, especially when and if interest rates rise ñ and this applies to both owner occupiers and investors.

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 www. paulsmoney.com.au for more information.

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