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Power selling
- MBCV’s hospitality suite atop a V8 Actros replete with bar,
plasma screen and leather arm chairs helps promote the new models
on the road show.
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Maintaining a market leadership position is all about staying a step ahead of the competition, about implementing innovative concepts that satisfy pressing customer needs and about not resting on your laurels. In the truck transport arena, Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles (MBCV) has set many precedents in this regard, establishing benchmarks for technical and service delivery over its 50-year history in South Africa. While complacency may have crept in from time to time, the world's leading truck manufacturer has just put its money where its mouth is with a new approach to satisfying market needs - a marketing drive called 'The Right Partner", backed by a 'customer-driven' philosophy it calls 'Living the Promise', writes
Paul Collings.
New products and new value propositions need a bit of fanfare to get them firmly lodged in the public imagination and in this instance, MBCV has adopted a really hands-on approach to ensuring its latest 'package' is 'experienced' by as many prospects as possible. In what may be a first in local trucking terms, the Mercedes-Benz Actros and Atego Road Show executed a gruelling two-week tour of all the country's major cities, stopping at select dealerships to present the latest automotive innovations, design adjustments and service offerings to both sellers and buyers of the 'three-pointed star'.
Lights, cameras, action
"The roadshow is about introducing new Actros and Atego models to customers through our dealer network," says Kobus van Zyl, divisional manager, MBCV. "These new additions to the MBCV range are a direct result of MBCV's revised strategy to go directly to our customer base to determine what vehicle specifications and attributes are really needed right now. The new models have widened the choices for operators looking for specific vehicles to complete specific tasks."
Leaving MBCV headquarters outside Pretoria just after sunrise on a Saturday morning in mid-August, the 'armada' of new Actros and Atego derivatives was headed up by MBCV chief driver trainer Brian Kerr, assisted by three in-house driver trainers and four sub-contracted drivers. The first leg of the roadshow covered the N3 from Gauteng to the Riverhorse Valley dealership near Durban.
"The objective of the roadshow is to not only present the new vehicles and their respective benefits to dealers and customers, but to benchmark their performance and also to skill up drivers to pilot them effectively," says Kerr. "What's more, we're giving trucking journalists the opportunity to ride long-haul with the convoy to experience first hand what these new technologies and modifications can achieve under fully laden, real-life driving conditions."
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"EcoRoll
mode in the
new Actros automatically
puts the vehicle in
neutral to save fuel and
minimise wear and
tear." |
Top-end tech
Sitting alongside Kerr in the new V8, 500 hp Actros 2650, one gets a solid understanding of how the latest truck technology is supposed to be handled. "The new PowerShift gearbox is a fully automated manual transmission for all Actros models over 400 hp (300 kW)," explains Kerr. "These six and eight cylinder engines are also Euro 3 compliant and more eco-friendly than their predecessors. They're also lighter on fuel."
The new non-synchromesh, fully automated basic transmission PowerShift box has been designed to enhance performance and productivity, "Reduced from 16 to 12 speed with highly sophisticated control electronics, the Powershift transmission is stronger and allows for faster, smoother gear changes, improving travel times overall," adds Kerr. "It also enables higher engine torques to be generated compared with similar synchromesh transmission units while reducing strain and stress on the gearbox, giving the transmission a longer lifespan."
The PowerShift transmission comes with a host of useful features to make work more profitable and less stressful, says Kerr. "Manoeuvring mode enables an exact, smooth start-off. Power mode is activated at the touch of a button and acts like a turbo boost when extra power is needed to get out of sticky situations. To improve fuel efficiency and reduce wear and tear, there's EcoRoll mode which automatically puts the vehicle in neutral, the engine idling when the truck goes into overdrive mode at a speed exceeding 55 km/h."
The new Rocking mode helps if a vehicle gets stuck in a recess on a soft, slippery surface, replicating a 'ride-the-clutch' action. Drive and braking cruise-control systems have also been improved, adds Kerr, "improving ride and comfort while exploiting the EcoRoll function to the max."
PowerShift enables direct switching from first gear into reverse. Engaging neutral in the process is no longer necessary, adds Kerr. "The Rapid Reverse function has four gears making reversing easier than ever before. Two of the four reverse gears offer a rapid transmission at higher travelling speeds. This helps to reduce fuel consumption and is highly beneficial when covering extended distances in reverse."
New biggies
The armada included new Actros derivatives, built as a direct response to specific needs in the market, says MBCV product manager, Peter Wraight. "The finely tuned 440 hp Actros is the ideal balance between power/torque and fuel consumption. Similarly, the 500 hp has been brought to satisfy the need in that particular power range. The Actros 4x2 truck tractor range includes the Actros 1844 LS/36 with air suspension on the rear and the new 12-speed Powershift gearbox. A Voith retarder comes standard and this 435 hp/320 kW engine is ideal for long distance highway."
The new Actros 2035 S/35 with a 16-speed gearbox with PTO, drum brakes front and rear and a heavy duty steel suspension is ideal for on and off highway and for construction and heavy duty applications, continues Wraight. "The roadshow will also feature the Actros 2644 LS/33, a long distances haulage truck tractor with a V6 engine developing 320kW (435 hp) as well as the top of range 2650LS with 16 litre V8 developing 370kW (503hp). On both these models a Voith retarder comes standard as does a full premium sleeper-cab, double bunks and high roof. They are also fitted with a rear air suspension. Added to this we also have the heavy duty on/off road models 3344 and 3350 in both truck tractor and long wheelbase, freight carrier versions."
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Hardie Swanepoel from
Pela Plant talks to Peter Wraight (centre) and MBCV Centurion
dealer principal, Jacques Strydom (right)
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Bottom-end adaptability
While the new Actros range looms large down the highway, its little sibling, the Atego, has also undergone a makeover and wants to leap to the front of the convoy. Says Kerr: "The new lightweight Atego 817 models can carry a four-ton payload and come in at under nine tons GVM, which means you only need a code 10 licence to operate them and you can drive at 120km/h. They'll be popular with small tipping operations and in the express courier industry."
This new derivative is targeted at a niche market for standard light-weight distribution such as the movement of fragile office equipment, frozen food, fruit and vegetables, postal delivery, laundry trucks and emergency supply deliveries, says Wraight. "This model is offered with the optional air-suspension made to order from Germany as an option for the transportation of sensitive goods and equipment."
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Product specialists at
MBCV, Christo Kleynhans and Livingstone Mulaudzi were on hand to
assist Brian Kerr (centre) answer probing questions from the
media. |
Rock 'n roll, trucker-style
Any rock band worth its salt hits the road when it releases a new album, taking its product to the market. Riding in the metallic blue Merc armada felt a bit like being in a band...what with the fuel stops, the fast food, the public toilets, the long conversations, the changing scenery...
While journalists on the Gauteng-Durban leg of the roadshow flew back to Joburg on the Sunday after a 14-hour joy ride (lengthened due to a puncture, a weighbridge and a couple of other unforeseen contingencies which only served to underscore the fact that trucking is an unpredictable game), Kerr and his team put together the Riverhorse Valley dealership show, then hit the road down the south coast, through the Transkei, to East London. "From there we headed for George and then to Cape Town and another show at the Century City dealership and another at Somerset West," he says.
From there it was off to Beaufort West, through Bloemfontein back home to Centurion. "We clocked up close to 6000 km in two weeks. It was a great experience and the first of its kind I believe," says Kerr. "What was really pleasing was seeing our drivers enjoying themselves, learning more as we progressed. While we did impose strict convoy rules ensuring they all slept a minimum of seven hours every night and abstained from alcohol, some of them had never been to Cape Town before or seen the sea. We made sure they got time to do the beach."
So now, you tell me - who ever said trucking is unglamorous?
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