Guests to Truck World had been greeted by the all-new Volvo VNL, the business’s newest Class 8 truck to be launched.
“This truck is not only a facelift,” Johan Agebrand, director of product advertising for Volvo Vans North America, stated throughout a press convention. “This can be a redesigned truck; 90% of all these components are redesigned. We instructed our engineers, ‘Don’t use something that we beforehand have achieved except it’s value utilizing.’ They really redesigned all the pieces.”
The truck was constructed round 5 pillars: gas financial system; security; driver productiveness; linked companies; and uptime. The top end result, stated Agebrand, is a truck that may ship a few 10% enchancment in gas financial system. Add in the advantages of these different pillars and he stated prospects can anticipate to see about $20,000 a yr in added worth.
About 7% of the gas financial system beneficial properties are attributed to aerodynamics, and the opposite 3% to powertrain enhancements. A faster-shifting I-Shift automated handbook transmission is almost not possible for a human to beat, Agebrand stated, noting it may possibly make shift selections in lower than 100 milliseconds. An F1 driver averages 200 milliseconds, he added.
“You can’t beat the I-Shift,” he insisted.
The road consists of the: VNL 300 flatroof day cab; VNL 440 midroof with 42-inch sleeper; the VNL 640 and 660 mid- and high-roof designs with 62-inch sleeper; and VNL 840 and 860 mid- and high-roof configurations with 74-inch sleeper. Sure, that’s smaller than the 77-inch sleeper supplied on the legacy VNL, however Agebrand stated it feels bigger due to enhancements in inside design and area optimization.
“You’ll not miss these inches,” he promised.
Trim packages
A number of spec’ packages, and inside and exterior trim packages are supplied to simplify the spec’ing course of whereas guaranteeing optimized efficiency.
Steven de Sousa, director of service for Volvo Vans Canada, stated the brand new VNL is “Probably the most linked Volvo we’ve ever constructed.” Distant programming and diagnostics have confirmed to scale back unplanned store visits by 24%, he stated.
A Volvo Join portal permits fleet managers to make knowledgeable selections, and a Blue Service Contract offers higher predictability of upkeep and restore prices by providing all required companies at predetermined month-to-month funds.
Market replace
Matthew Blackman, managing director, Volvo Vans Canada, gave a quick market replace. Whereas demand for brand spanking new iron was muted to begin the yr, it’s growing, he stated.
Volvo is forecasting an total Class 8 truck market in Canada of 29,000 models. Volvo has commanded 14.1% of Class 8 gross sales in Canada up to now this yr, up from the 12.2% market share it achieved final yr and higher than the ten% it’s monitoring at within the U.S.
Blackman stated Volvo not too long ago introduced it is going to be including a brand new manufacturing unit in Mexico to enhance its U.S. manufacturing and to fulfill demand for the brand new VNL.
“That’s actually massive information for us,” he stated. “We’ve all the time been a North American-made truck and now we’re going to construct further vans in Mexico. We’re not shifting manufacturing. New River Valley [Virginia] is the place we construct our vans, however as a result of we have now the truck everyone needs, we want extra of them. That is actually thrilling information.”
