AUTOFORUM

UD Trucks launches Croner range to SA

Jun 07, 2017 UDTrucks, HeavyDuty, FuelEfficiency, Trucking, Africa, economy, UDCronerLaunchSA

UD Trucks South Africa yesterday officially launched its new HCV truck rage to the African continent, with an impressive client and media day in Kyalami Johannesburg, the first of four days to introduce the range to the SA sector.

Rory Schulz welcomed the press in the morning media briefing, before handing over to Jacques Michel President Group Trucks Asia & JVs at Volvo Group and Gert Swanepoel, UD Trucks South Africa Managing Director.

The new range - Croner - fills the gap left by the outgoing UD 60-80 series trucks and is described as "pragmatic and practical". It is aimed at ensuring long service interval, and therefore, more time on road. All three senior officials emphasised the vehicle's UD Trucks brand DNA, and customers involve din local field tests have found it easy to maintain, and ideal for African conditions. That doesn't mean it lacks in sophisticated technology - the afternoon was spent in various smaller break away groups discussing the technical, safety, and maintenance aspects, as well as telematics and more.

Named after Kronos, the Greek mythological god of time, the range will be available in 3 variations, with a choice of two engines, 4 engine output options, and 4 transmissions - 2 Alison automatic and 2 manual - as well as 2 chassis configurations. There will be 21 configurations available in total, all of which boast excellent fuel consumption and meet Euro 3 standard emissions.

UD Trucks made it clear that the Croner range has been tested extensively, with local testing the key success indicator for SA customers. The brand is bullish about its commitment to the continent - which is critical in these unsettling economic times - and has clearly invested considerably in the launch alone.

Michel mentioned that UD Trucks SA is in discussions with the SA government regarding the possible inclusion of local components, but at this stage all units are imported SKD and assembled locally.

For more on the launch, look out for our July August print edition.