Volvo Announces New Fuel-Efficiency Program for VNL 760, 860 Models
AUSTIN, Texas — With the price of diesel steadily rising, Volvo Trucks is promoting the improved fuel efficiency of its new Xceed package that will be available in January on its 2020 model-year VNL 760 and VNL 860 trucks.
Agebrand by Dan Ronan/Transport Topics
The Greensboro, N.C.-based company made the announcement at a news conference at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here Oct. 29.
“The new Xceed fuel-efficiency package is the most efficient package Volvo has ever offered for the VNL series, and it’s tailored for our large sleeper models operating with dry van and refrigerated trailers, which make up more than three-quarters of the trailers used in on-highway operations,” said Johan Agebrand, Volvo Trucks North America director of product marketing.
Volvo said the Xceed package is an 11% improvement when compared with Volvo’s Fuel Efficiency Plus specification. Xceed is 3.5% more efficient than the Fuel Efficiency Advanced specification, which was Volvo’s most efficient offering prior to the new Xceed fuel-efficiency package.
Volvo said Xceed combines five key components to improve fuel efficiency:
- The XE powertrain, which includes the Volvo I-shift automated manual transmission.
- Turbo compounding.
- Extended fairings.
- Ground effect.
- Volvo’s D13 engine.
“What have we seen in the last year? We have seen powertrain enhancements. We are building on the strength of our proprietary components, and we strongly believe that if you drive a Volvo truck, you should have a Volvo driveline, because that’s what we’ve been working on and that’s what we are good at, then it works together as a group to run whole,” VTNA President Peter Voorhoeve told reporters.
“Volvo Trucks is not an original North American brand. This is a Swedish brand. We came to this country in 1981; the others have been here a little bit longer. But we’ve been on a journey, and I think we’re now on a level … with everyone else in this industry.”
To back up that, Voorhoeve announced that Volvo Truck’s North American market share has improved year-over-year to 10.5% in September from 8.6% in the same period last year.
