Mercedes-Benz Trucks Launches Fuel-Efficient Long-Haul Truck in South Africa

Mercedes-Benz Trucks recently launched the new Actros, which has achieved fuel savings of up to seven percent–making it, according to the company, “the most efficient long-haul truck in South Africa.”

With more than 25,000 vehicles sold in South Africa since it was introduced to the market in 1998, the Actros family has long been a success story in the heavy-duty truck sector.

The new Actros was launched in Europe in 2011, available then only as a Euro VI. To meet the high requirements set out by Mercedes-Benz Trucks in terms of reliability and market suitability, extensive technical and product modifications were made to the European Actros to ensure the new truck lives up to Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ brand reputation of “Trucks you can trust”.

A key factor that allows the new Actros to achieve this is a drivetrain from a single source. The engines, transmissions and axles are all designed and manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in-house, and components in the drivetrain can be matched to each other.

Here’s what the company says a purchaser  can expect from the new Actros:

• The new Actros sets a new standard as the most efficient truck, delivering on its promise of road efficiency by looking at the sum of the details.

• The new StreamSpace Cab has been tested extensively in the wind tunnel, resulting in the most aerodynamic shape yet.

• Advanced new Euro III (OM460) and Euro V (OM471) engines are combined with an optimised drivetrain, the PowerShift 3 transmission, which results in 50% faster shift times and fuel savings of up to seven percent globally.

• The vehicle was tested locally with full loads under extreme conditions and returned a fuel saving of six percent.

• Flexible service intervals ensure that maximum value is derived from all service components, leading to increased service intervals, less wastage and lower maintenance costs. This resulted in up to six percent lower maintenance rates and service intervals up to 50,000km for the Euro-3 engines, and up to 80,000km for the Euro V vehicles.

• With five new safety assistant systems, the Actros offers greater levels of safety. The Active Brake Assist 4, the world’s first emergency brake assistance system in the transport sector, which can detect moving pedestrians, is part of the comprehensive list of standard safety equipment on all fuel specification (hazardous goods) vehicles.

• Offering high levels of reliability, the Actros covered more than 16-million test kilometres in SA during developments at the East London plant’s engine durability test department. In addition, it covered more than 60-million kilometres globally.

• In terms of driving uptime, Fleetboard vehicle analysis provides intelligent vehicle data for maximised vehicle availability and use.

• Fleetboard and Fleetboard Eco Support provide effective driver support in real time by displaying driving tips that reduce fuel consumption in the instrument cluster during the journey. Both Fleetboard and Fleetboard Eco Support are standard on all new Actros models.