Volvo Trucks Showcasing 11-Liter Among Range of Offerings at MATS

This story appears in the March 31 print edition of Transport Topics.

A Volvo Trucks executive said one area of emphasis for the company at the Mid-America Trucking Show is the usefulness of its 11-liter engine.

The original equipment manufacturer said it was bringing its full range of offerings to the March 27-29 event in Louisville, Ky., and sister firm Mack Trucks is adding nine models.

Both companies are part of Volvo Group.

In recent years, all OEMs have talked about the improved power density of 12- and 13-liter engines, meaning carriers could consider stepping down from 15-liter engines to save money and weight. This year, Volvo will be touting its D11 with 405 horsepower and 1,550 pound-feet of torque, Vice President Magnus Koeck said.

“It’s almost like with cars, where people are going with smaller and more fuel-efficient engines. Eleven liters might sound small, but it’s doing a heck of a job, and we’re pushing it hard,” said Koeck, a marketing executive with the Greensboro, N.C., company.

He said Volvo will be selling to customers on the basis of broad product range, fuel efficiency and durability of the equipment.

“MATS is the premier trucking show in the U.S. every year,” said Koeck, who has been attending the show since the 1990s. March 27 is VIP day, he said, when the OEM brings in its best customers to show what the company is offering this year.

“We’ve booked full days for our customers to meet with our executives,” Koeck said.

The 11-liter plays a major role in the company’s Optimized Series of regional haul tractors, which includes VNM and VNL tractors. The three Optimized models use the company’s I-Shift automated manual transmission, now made in Hagerstown, Md.

Applications that might be able to use an 11-liter engine include regional distribution and day cabs, especially those operating on fairly flat terrain, Koeck said.

At the 2013 MATS, Volvo un­veiled a new model, the heavy-haul VNX tractor with a 16-liter engine, the company’s greatest North American power plant for trucks. While smaller engines make for a broad theme, the company still has a niche market for the largest.

Logging, mining and other heavyhaul applications that have to cross the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the United States are the target market for the VNX. Volvo’s D16 has 600 horsepower and 2,050 pound-feet of torque.

Koeck said Volvo sells more than 500 trucks a year with D16 engines.

Volvo will show 12 heavy-duty models spread across five general types of trucking: regional, longhaul, heavy-haul, vocational and alternative fuels.

“We want to show that we’re more than a longhaul player,” Koeck said.

The alternative fuels trio of VNL tractors includes one with a Cummins Westport ISX12 G for compressed natural gas, another with a 13-liter Volvo engine using high-pressure, direct-injection for liquefied natural gas and a different 13-liter engine that consumes dimethyl ether, or DME.

Interest in the alternative models is starting at a low level relative to conventional diesel engines, but Koeck said it grew throughout last year, and he expects rising CNG and LNG sales to continue this year.

In terms of equipment reliability, Volvo is stressing investments made by its dealership network worth more than $350 million since 2010. The result is more facilities and service bays plus a 54% increase in technicians.

The company also uses remote diagnostics to begin service discussions while vehicles are still on the road.

As for driver appeal, Volvo said that beyond the basics of in-cab comfort and vehicle safety, the I-Shift AMT is important. As companies need to branch out in search of new drivers, the use of AMTs is critical in getting new drivers on the road quickly as AMT operation is easier than classic manual transmissions.

Volvo’s sister company, Mack, also based in Greensboro, will be bringing nine different models to Mid-America, including seven variations of its Pinnacle highway tractors. Mack showed off more of its vocational models at the recent ConExpo-ConAgg Show in Las Vegas.