Truck Makers Roll Out New Products for Spring Show Season

With major truck shows being held around the country this spring, including this week’s 2002 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., truck makers are rolling out new and improved products in the hopes of wooing customers.

Freightliner, Mack and Kenworth all presented items at, or made announcements in conjunction with, the Mid-America show, focusing mainly on product improvements and new offerings for drivers.

Freightliner, a division of DaimlerChrysler AG, introduced a factory-configured model of its Century Class SleeperCab at the show.

In its announcement, the company said that the previously owned Century Class would see new life as a converted day cab. It has a raised roof and is 10 inches longer, providing extra storage space behind the seats, the company said.

Freightliner also announced plans to ramp up its production of its new Coronado heavy-duty truck in June, which is being marketed to the independent owner-operator.

enworth did not debut a new heavy-duty truck line this spring, but did announce several improvements to its existing offerings aimed at reducing weight and increasing comfort.

One innovation introduced at the Mid-America show was its AG380 lightweight air suspension. It between 200 and 400 pounds less than traditional trailing arm suspensions employed by other Class 8 trucks, the company said

The new suspension can be “spec’d” on all of Kenworth’s Class 8 offerings now, with full production of the AG380 slated for June.

The company also unveiled a new hood design for its W900L heavy-duty truck, aimed at reducing weight and increasing performance. It is available on W900L’s with curved windshields, and current owners can have their trucks retrofitted with the new hood.

Kenworth debuted one more comfort-related improvement at the show, an extended day cab for its T600, T800 and W900 models. The extended cab adds six inches to the cab’s length and allows for more legroom and easier reclining of the truck’s seats.

Meanwhile, Mack unveiled what it called a breakthrough in the vocational trucking industry’s quest to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2002 emissions standards.

The new Application Specific Engine Technology platform will be the basis for Mack’s EPA ’02 solution, the company said. The ASET uses an internal exhaust gas recirculation to reduce emissions, especially in the severe driving conditions vocational trucks often operate in.

The recirculation allows a certain percentage of exhaust gases to remain in the cylinders of an engine from one combustion cycle to the next, the company said, thus maintaining a consistent level of emissions.

Ramped up production of the new platform on several of Mack’s vocational offerings begins in June.

Freightliner also debuted a new line of vocational trucks, its Business Class M2 medium-duty, at the Mid-America show.

The new line, available in Class 5-8 models, features a 106-inch tractor, with extended cab models being slated for production late in 2002. Production of the M2 line begins in June, the company said.

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