09 15 power torque- ud's first 80 years

year sees UD Truckscelebrating its 80thyear of manufacturing

trucks. From humble beginnings, the UD brand hasdeveloped a reputation for reliability and strength, and anenviable following of loyal customers the world over.

While the brand may not be at the top of the sales chartshere in Australia for the moment, the current model line-updefinitely has a lot to offer the Aussie market. To celebratethe company milestone, UD Trucks Australia threw a littleparty of its own, and invited dealers and customers fromaround the country to come along and experience justwhat the current range has to offer.

For our local market, UD Trucks represents the light tomedium-duty offering from Volvo Group Australia. In theyears since the Volvo group took control of UD, the brandhas come along in leaps and bounds, and benefited in nosmall way from the sharing of technology and componentsamong the group's brands. A far cry from the basicJapanese trucks of the 70s and 80s, the modern UD fleetnow offers a range of refined and intelligent trucks, withspecifications available to suit most local and intrastatetasks, from a ten-pallet rigid to B-double.

To showcase the range, UD Trucks invited guests tothe Mount Cotton Driver Training Centre, just out ofBrisbane, and encouraged them to get behind the wheeland see for themselves just how far the brand has come-'

llli S OLDEST MANUFACTUR

of 4

01 Sep 2015Power Torque, National

Section: General News • Article type : News Item • Audience : 8,000 • Page: 48Printed Size: 3309.00cm² • Market: National • Country: Australia • ASR: AUD 18,617Words: 1221 • Item ID: 445892572

Copyright Agency licensed copy (www.copyright.com.au)

With nine different trucks available to drive, each a littledifferent in specification, the whole model range wascovered. This meant plenty of opportunity for customers toexperience models that may not currently feature in theirfleet, or simply compare the newer models to those theyalready operate. With representatives from dealershipsaround the country and senior UD staff including engineersand technical specialists, all available to answer questions,the drive day also gave operators the chance to have anyquestions answered by those in the know.

There were three different drive routes set up on theday, each relative to a different size of truck, with threemedium-duty trucks on one route, four heavy-duty trucks !on another and two light-duty MK11 tippers on the third.

auon

This allowed a direct comparison between vehicles ofsimilar weight range, including the comparison betweenautomatic and manual models. With various bodystyles also on display, all loaded to around 75% of theirrespective GVM, there really was a truck to suit everycustomer on the day.

As Jon McLean, Vice President UD Trucks Australia,explained, "This has been a massive week for us. With thisevent, initially we thought about celebrating the UD 80-yearmilestone, but, because we couldn't show all our productsat the Brisbane Truck Show, we thought we'd do it all here.So we brought our sales force in, showed them the productand had our VGA driver trainers show them how to get themost out of the product. It was a great opportunity also toinvite our customers, because we haven't done this kind ofthing for a couple of years now."

And why wouldn't UD want to show off theimprovements made over the last couple of years?The current UD product range contains quite a few littlegems; including the MK11 250, which is the only truck inits class with a factory-fitted Allison automatic. Not onlythat, but due to the effectiveness of the MK's coolingpackage, UD is able to offer the longest warranty of anymanufacturer on the transmission, and service intervalsare greatly increased. With the factory-fitted tipper body,the MK offers a payload capacity of over five tonnes,enough to carry a small excavator or skid-steer loader toand from the job site. Among the other surprises is the PD,with a 280 hp engine and Allison auto transmission.Where UD had previously installed the rear lazy-axlehere as an aftermarket fit, demand has led to the newmodel having it fitted in the factory in Japan. With atare weight advantage of 300 kg over its competitors,this model certainly has a lot to offer for those workingin local distribution.

-f.

.80 years

of 4




• RIV

At the heavier end of the line-up, UD was spruikinga new model, still in its trial stage. The CD 380, a 6x2 rigidsuitable for a 14-pallet body, was displayed towinga 10-pallet dog trailer. Jon McLean was keen to pointout that this product came about through localengineering input.

"That's a segment we've never competed in before,but it's an opportunity we've been able to take throughlocal adaptation, and we'll be able to have that built inJapan after trialling it here for the next six months orso," he said.

Also on display were other Quon models, including a380 hp 4x2 prime mover and a 420 hp 6x4 prime mover,both towing single semitrailers. All of the Quon modelswere powered by the 11-litre UD engine and driven throughthe 12-speed ESCOT 5 AMT transmission, which is derivedfrom the Volvo I-Shift transmission.

Alongside the trucks, UD was actively promoting theirupdated telematics software program. Each of the trucksbeing driven on the day was fitted with UD's Fleetmax Plustelematics, and each attendee given their own individualID tag to log on. This allowed for drivers to get real-worldexperience with the telematics program, in many differenttrucks, and measure their own performance capabilities.

With staff on hand to show operators all the functionsavailable through telematics, it made for a greatdemonstration and plenty of conversation betweencustomers throughout the day. It may also have created alittle bit of competition between some drivers. This systemis unique to UD in Australia, and has been developedlocally and designed for simple operation without limitingthe information available. This system is standard acrossthe entire UD range.

The availability of telematics is just one of a raft offeatures that is complimentary on each truck until theend of the year. As part of the 80th birthday celebrations,UD are also offering complimentary insurance for the firstyear, complimentary reversing camera on rigid trucks and asubstantial upgrade to the audio system.

While UD may not lay claim to being the leader intheir market, it does concede some ground in thenumber of model variants when compared to someother manufacturers. Jon Mclean is happy to admit that,but says, "The product we do offer is a very, very goodproduct. That's why we've done some of the localdevelopment we are doing, to get us through to the Euro 6launch in a couple of years, which will widen our range."

'.#

, ' • .

VCHLVO

II

of 4




•ii i

Being a part of the Volvo group has done wondersfor UD Trucks. The benefits come in many areas -driveline improvements, driver comfort, and, importantly,the increase in the dealer and support network. With alittle local engineering to improve the range, and the rightpeople driving that local development, the UD productis now much more refined and driver friendly. It's like theVolvo group has taken the old Bonds Y fronts - functional,affordable and reliable - and turned them into new micro-fibre wear that still maintains the same values but usesthe latest technology to offer a better experience for theend user. U}r

CSED

PowerTorque ISSUE BB 5 1

of 4




09 15 power torque- ud's first 80 years

Documents