Frederick R Miller has bought four new Scania tractor units to support its work with Palletways.

The Surrey haulier, which covers Kingston upon Thames, Guilford and Redhill for the network, spent £400,000 on the new R Series 44-tonners.

The firm moves around 200,000 pallets a year for the network, and said it wanted to support its fellow members by using the best equipment it could.

MD Adrian Westwood said: “We owe it to other Palletways members and our customer base to continually invest in the best equipment, to maintain and improve our service.”

“We believe this recent investment sends out a strong signal to the marketplace about our capabilities which we believe are unparalleled amongst our competitors.” 

It’s a well known fact that vehicles with an aerodynamic shape use less fuel. That’s because air flows more easily over them and less energy is required. The smallest of changes in design and shape can therefore make a big difference to fuel consumption. 

The Scania Streamline was introduced in 2013 and has been the reference vehicle against which the aerodynamics in Scania’s latest generation of trucks have been tested in Europe’s biggest wind tunnel.

The facility, north of Amsterdam, is the only one of its kind in Europe where it is possible to test the aerodynamic performance of full-sized trucks with trailers, but time is strictly limited. Conducting as many tests as possible in the time available has therefore been crucial in order to maximise fuel savings and environmental gains.

“Numerous aerodynamic improvements work together to provide significant fuel savings,” according to Per Elofsson, Scania’s senior technical manager for aerodynamics.

“A key factor is the new optimised corners of the cab. We have also modified the roof and increased the number of performance steps for things like air deflectors, the shape of the bumper, and wheel arches. We’ve also done a lot of work on the underside of the vehicle. We have more panels and inner seals, and side air deflectors with a lengthened lower edge to reduce the gap between the side skirts and the air deflector. It all combines to produce what we believe is the most aerodynamic truck on the market.”

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Scene Scania magazine - free and exclusive in Commercial Motor 17.11.16.

Vehicle graphics company RGVA has wrapped 25 Scania R410 tractor units and 10 trailers for distribution specialists Corporate Solutions Logistics (CSL).

RGVA’s technicians applied the vinyl graphics to the tractor units over a three-month period, using latex printed material at RGVA’s fitting bay in Maidstone, Kent and at several Scania dealerships across the UK.

To livery the 13m trailers, RGVA used vinyl colour-matched to the corporate green and white of the cabs.

The work was carried out in collaboration with Marshall Thermo King at its depot in Sittingbourne.

RGVA has applied the branding to more than 70 trucks and trailers in the last 18 months.

This article was published in the 10 November issue of Commercial Motor. Why not subscribe to get 12 issues for just £12?

Meet Thor. A safety superhero. He costs as much as five new trucks, but his contribution is priceless. 

Scania is the world’s first commercial vehicle manufacturer to use Thor in its safety work. 

“One of the biggest advantages with Thor is that he’s built more like a human being than ordinary crash-test dummies,” says Dan Loftén of Scania’s crash test team. 

“Thor has more sensors in his body than other dummies, a body that can be turned sideways, and a more human torso featuring the same number of ribs as a real person. He also moves more like a human being during the crash, which is extremely important in our development work. The more human-like movement pattern and the advanced measurement-capabilities give us a better basis for our analysis and evaluations, which contributes to an even higher level of safety in the truck.” 

Another factor setting Thor aside is that no other crash test dummies can measure injuries to the upper body as well as Thor can. That’s because his torso is constructed in a more human fashion and his array of sensors allow the force on each individual rib to be measured.

Thor also has a more human-like spine and pelvis, making it possible for him to adopt the most common seating positions during testing. 

“He may not be the best-looking guy in town, but he is extremely valuable,” says Loftén. 

“Not only for us developing Scania’s new generation of trucks, but also for all truck drivers and other road users.”

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The board of Haldex has recommended a deal to buy the brake and suspension manufacturer, after the only other suitor, ZF Friedrichshafen, withdrew its offer for the company last month.

In a statement Haldex said that while its concerns in regards to CV brake manufacturer Knorr-Bremse gaining regulatory approval for a takeover remained, it “never questioned the financial merits of the cash consideration under any of the offers made for Haldex ever since ZF made its initial offer at SEK 100 (£8.72) per Haldex share”.

Haldex subsequently raised its offer to SEK 125 per Haldex share.

“On this basis, the board has decided to recommend the Haldex shareholders to accept the offer by Knorr-Bremse,” the statement said. 

Haldex added that the deal remained subject to ZF receiving the required regulatory approval.

Road safety is set to be boosted by new fifth wheel technology that prevents mis-hitching of trailers to tractor units, according to Massey Wilcox MD Robert Wilcox.

Wilcox said he is encouraged by early results from the use of Fontaine’s 3 Sensor Fifth Wheel, which the Radstock-based haulier has fitted to a Mercedes-Benz Actros.

The warning system is designed for both in-cab and at fifth wheel alerts. Inside the cab there is a safety clip warning light on the windscreen pillar and a fifth wheel release lever warning light box on the dashboard.

An amber flashing light on the pillar and a buzzing sound alerts the driver that the safety clip is not in place, while a red light flashes on the dash-mounted light box. 

At the fifth wheel a box will show no lights when uncoupled from the trailer and a flashing amber light when coupled correctly, but the safety clip is not in place.

“With previous systems grease would affect the sensors and give false readings. Drivers stop taking notice if that happens too often,” said Wilcox. 

“The new system is triggered by the mechanics of the fifth wheel and is a great improvement. I’ll ensure they are fitted on all our new models.”

By David Craik

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of one of the world’s foremost truck manufacturers, commercialmotor.com has teamed up with Scania for a birthday giveaway.

A lucky 125 commercialmotor.com readers can get their hands on a free copy of the collector’s special, An Unrivalled Heritage: 125 Years of History from the Scania Archives.

The book is stuffed with photographs from the company’s birth in 1881 up to the recent release of its next generation R- and S-series trucks.

Follow Scania’s trucks from the snowy roads of Sweden to Brazil and the pyramids of Egypt, and learn about the difficulties faced by the company over the years.

To win, answer the question below, and winners will be the first 125 correct answers picked at random. Email your answer to competitions@roadtransport.com with Scania competition in the subject line. Please include your postal address.

The closing date for entries is 24 November.

In which Swedish town was Scania founded?
A) Stockholm
B) Uppsala
C) Södertälje

Pick up a copy of next week’s Commercial Motor (17 November) for a free copy of Scene Scania, the exclusive UK magazine usually only available to Scania dealers and customers.

Terms and Conditions

• Each winner will win a single copy of An Unrivalled Heritage: 125 Years of History from the Scania Archives.
• There will be no runners-up prizes.
• All entries must contain a valid email address in order that winners can be easily contacted.
• There is a limit of one entry per person.
• The prize draw closes at midnight on 24 November 2016.
• Any entries received after this date will not be entered into the draw.
• This prize draw is open to UK residents over the age of 18, excluding any employees of Road Transport Media or their immediate family.
• No purchase is necessary.
• Road Transport Media shall not be held responsible for technical errors – in telecommunication networks, internet access or otherwise – preventing entry to the prize draw.
• The winners will be drawn at random from the correct entries by the editor of Commercial Motor on 11 December 2015.
• Road Transport Media will not accept responsibility for entries lost, delayed, misdirected, damaged, illegible or undelivered.
• The winners will be contacted on 14 December 2015. If the winners cannot be contacted by this date, the prize will be redrawn.
• Unsuccessful entrants will not be notified but will be entitled to request details of the winners by writing to Road Transport Media.
• The prize is non-refundable, non-exchangeable and non-transferable. No cash alternative is available.
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• By entering the prize draw, entrants agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
• Any entrant and/or participant who has provided false or misleading information and/or has breached these terms and conditions will be immediately disqualified from this draw. The promoter reserves the right to withhold any prize under this clause.
• If any of the clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unforeseeable then it shall be severed and deleted from these terms and conditions and the remaining clauses shall survive and remain in full force and effect.
• The promoter reserves the right to withdraw or amend this draw at any time without notice.
• Acceptance of the prize constitutes consent for Road Transport Media to use the winner’s name for editorial or publicity purposes in perpetuity.
• The prize draw shall be governed and construed and have effect in all respects in accordance with English law, and the courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any proceedings arising out of or in connection with it.

Promoter: Road Transport Media Ltd, Sixth Floor, Chancery House, St. Nicholas Way, Sutton. Surrey. SM1 1JB. Registered in England, No 07464854.

The price of new trucks will inevitably rise in the UK in 2017 because of pressure from the weak pound and rising inflation, according to David Hill, commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s Information Service.

Hill said the rising cost of importing vehicles and the components needed to assemble them from around the world will soon begin to be passed on to haulage customers.  

“It is inevitable that new truck prices will go up,” he said. “We don’t solely manufacture trucks in the UK anymore so increased importing costs will have a knock-on effect elsewhere in the chain. New trucks will become more expensive.”

He said hauliers have yet to see any difference in prices since the Brexit vote because of PCP payment models. 

“You can buy a new truck for between £250 and £299 per week. Trucks are being sold on a rental basis and any increase will not be as marked as if you were paying for a vehicle outright,” said Hill. 

Richard Parkin, of Grant Thornton’s Transaction Advisory Services and former head of valuations for Glass’s Information Service, said: “We’ve not seen any movement on price yet as manufacturers have hedged their costs through this year.

"It will be translated into higher list prices next year. It can’t be absorbed.”

Parkin said the first sign of pressure could come from a dwindling in discounts or level of support from OEMs to customers. “The affordability of offering discounts and marketing will reduce,” he said.

Speaking to CM at last week’s Freight in the City Expo, Phil Moon, marketing manager at Daf Trucks, agreed that manufacturers could only hold prices for so long.

“Most of the Daf trucks destined for the UK are assembled in Leyland [certainly, nearly all the right-hand drive models], which helps. But in these there are a lot of components that we buy in euros and the current exchange rate position puts pricing pressure on everybody.

"We’d prefer not to pass it on to customers, but inevitably we’re having to do so.”

By David Craik

• This story first appeared in Commercial Motor magazine (10 November). Why not subscribe today?

Commercial vehicle brake parts specialist Roadlink International has appointed Phil Baker as area sales manager, covering the South and South East. Baker will sell Roadlink’s range of new and remanufactured commercial vehicle brake parts, including calipers, brake shoes, pads, discs and drums.

Baker, who thinks the market 
is seeing increased demand for high-quality calipers, said: “Roadlink customers will have access to our extensive ranges, including our range of braking solutions and the Al-Ko brand of shock absorbers.”

This article was published in the 10 November issue of Commercial Motor. Why not subscribe to get 12 issues for just £12?

When looking to redesign the dashboard of the new generation of Scania trucks, the designers took inspiration from the aviation sector in a bid to improve functionality and the user-friendliness of the truck.

The dashboard in Scania’s new generation of trucks provides drivers with a whole new level of functionality and user-friendliness, and developments in the aviation industry were studied as part of the process.

“The guiding principle of our work with the new trucks has been that Scania drivers should always be able to say they perform best because they have vehicles which support them in the best and most efficient way,” says Anna Selmarker, who leads Scania’s team working within the area of Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) – the digital interaction between the driver and the truck.

The aviation industry is home to significant HMI expertise, something that Anna Selmarker and her colleagues at Scania closely monitor to find the right design expression to help truck drivers in their daily work. The design of the new dashboard is characterised by accessibility and functionality which, in combination with the sweeping lines, guides the eye and the hand to the right place. 

Read More in Scene Scania
Scene Scania magazine - free and exclusive in Commercial Motor 17.11.16.

The UK's first four 8x6 Arocs gritters to enter service are on the road and facing their first winter in the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Lincolnshire County Council has leased the new trucks from Essential Fleet Services under a ten-year deal, and each 32-tonner comes with ClassicSpace M-Cabs and 428hp of power on board. 

The trucks were supplied via Mercedes-Benz dealership Intercounty Truck and Van, which is also providing the council’s gritter drivers with training on the new trucks.

Tonbridge-based Scarab also also fitted the trucks’ Epoke gritting bodies, along with demountable Riko V snowploughs with Küper blades ready for winter's extremes.

Lincolnshire county council’s fleet manager David Davies said: “Three drive axles are essential for operation in the Lincolnshire Wolds, which are very susceptible to bad weather coming off the North Sea. 

“The fact that our new Arocs were available direct from the factory as a complete, winterised package makes a big difference.”

Thompsons eParts has seen rapid growth with sales doubling in the year to March 2016 to more than £1m, according to the company.

The business was launched by tipper bodybuilder Thompsons (UK) in February 2014 (a picture of a tipper-bodied truck it recently supplied to Gatwick-based Cook & Son is pictured), and had sales of £500,000 in 2015. 

The online firm, which offers more than 5,000 tipper parts online, serves customers in the construction, waste, environment, highways, utilities and rental sectors. 

Since launch it has also managed to attract new customers from some unexpected sectors, including the Household Cavalry and a number of nail bars, hairdressing salons and beauty and tattoo parlours [selling them mobile sinks].

Thompsons (UK)’s after sales services manager Dave Lees, who runs Thompsons eParts, told Commercialmotor.com: “There is a big market out there for tipper related products and because we are internet based we have expanded our customer base into all sorts of industries.”

“The business has seen phenomenal growth since launch because no one else in our industry is doing what we do. We have invested heavily in our website which took six months to build and we also do a lot of web promotion and trade shows.”

Thompson eParts has taken on three internal sales staff since launch to help boost sales and is currently in the process of creating an external sales force.

Lees said the salesforce will initially target customers in a 60-70 mile radius of the online firm’s headquarters in Blackburn.

Rhys Davies Logistics has taken delivery of the last of a batch of 20 new Dafs.

The vehicles have been added to the firm’s national fleet in response to growing demand for its palletised and urban distribution services.

The operator has taken a mix of DAF CF 4x2 tractors, CF six-wheel 26-tonne rigids and CF 18-tonners after trials across a number of marques.

Fleet operations manager Andy Williams said the trial of urban tractors was run out of the firm’s Haydock and Whitburn bases in Scotland.

“It was what I’d describe as ‘real Rhys Davies work in real time’, so it was an authentic test of what we might expect in operations,” he added.

The operator looked at fuel, driver behaviour and vehicle performance across each of the trial trucks, using telematics to deliver detailed, comparable reports on all vehicles throughout the trials. 

“We picked what we thought were the best trucks available to us for this sort of work and the Daf proved to be the best of the best. No question,” Williams added.

Rhys Davis Logistics MD Mark Richmond said: “The business has been growing consistently over recent years, and our palletised curtain-side operations have been squarely behind our move to this urban fleet.

“The rigids are all part of the same development programme and feature trial box-body doors at each end and rear-steer axles to aid manoeuvrability in the tight urban environments where we now operate.”

The new tractors will be double-shifted, carrying out normal distribution operations by day, and then running as trunkers between the firm’s nine depots at night. 

Demand for artics tailed off in the third quarter of 2016, but the rigid market continued to be robust in a new truck market that is at its highest comparative point for eight years.

In June, July and August some 11,242 units above 6-tonne GVW were registered in the UK, down slightly on the same three-month period in 2015 when 11,660 units were registered.

In the nine-months to date 32,676 new trucks have been registered in the UK, up 6.6% on the same period in 2015 when 30,647 units had been registered.

The nine-months of 2016 so far are the strongest nine-month period for new truck registrations in eight years.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said of the third quarter performance: “Disruption to fleet renewal patterns, triggered by regulatory changes, resulted in a significant rise in registration volumes last year. Therefore it’s no surprise to see a comparative decline in the truck market at this point in 2016.

“Despite the decline, the HGV market remains strong, with year-to-date registrations ahead of the same period last year, and now at the highest level in eight years. Maintaining economic certainty for operators will be key to the sector’s ongoing success,” he added.

The breakdown

The number of artics registered in Q3 2016 was down 14.6% from 5,307 in Q3 2015 to 4,532, but the number of rigids was up 5.6% to 6,708 compared to 6,353 in the same period in 2015.Rigids above 16-tonne GVW are up 5.3% year-on-year to 4,335 units, while rigids between 6-tonne and 16-tonne GVW are up 6.1% year-on-year to 2,373 units.

In the first nine-months of 2016 artic sales have been depressed when compared to 2015 performance: 12,743 new artics have been registered in 2016, compared to 14,365 in 2015. Rigids however have shown significant year-on-year growth with 19,930 units registered, up 22.5% year-on-year from 16,274 units. Rigids above 16-tonne GVW are up 22.2% year-on-year to 12,939, while rigids between 6-tonne and 16-tonne GVW are up 23% to 6,991.

Market leader

Daf continued to lead the market in Q3 2016, with a 29.5% market share equating to 3,311 units. Scania was second with a 16% share (1,802 units), despite not having anything in its range below 16-tonne GVW, with Mercedes-Benz third (14.6%: 1,644) and Volvo forth (13.1%: 1,475).

MAN and Iveco remain close with 961 and 934 units registered in Q3 2016, while Renault registered 512 units.

The only part of the United Kingdom that saw year-on-year falls in new truck registration in the third quarter was England, down 5.6% on Q3 2015. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all grew in Q3 2016 compared to Q3 2015.

A third company has proposed to bring legal action on behalf of truck buyers against the five manufacturers that operated in a cartel.

Litigation finance group Bentham Europe is hoping to prepare a case against MAN, Iveco, Daf, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Volvo and Renault parent Volvo Group, which were fined €2.9bn (£2.5bn) for colluding on the factory list pricing of trucks between 1997 and 2011.

Chief investment officer Jeremy Marshall told CM it is hoping to fund legal action on behalf of some of the estimated 600,000 eligible companies across Europe, but will not necessarily focus on the UK market.

Marshall estimated that around 10 million trucks were sold in the EU during the period the cartel was operating, with buyers being overcharged by around €10,500 per truck.

“Bentham is determined to bring the opportunity to recover the overcharges to the attention of as many truck purchasers as it can and enable these victims of the cartel collectively to seek redress,” he said.

Both the RHA and London-based competition law firm Hausfeld have also stated their intention to bring a claim against the manufacturers. 

Scania’s remodelled cab factory has been the company’s largest industrial investment in 20 years, but in doing so they’ve created a futuristic factory manned by 283 state of the art robots that wouldn’t look out of place in a science fiction film.

The light grey robots are highly articulated and dexterous, but also smart, and can learn to execute just about any operation asked of them

“It’s completely clear to me that a premium product needs to be built in a premium plant,” says Marcus Holm, Site Manager within Cab Body Production. So, we have built the most modern cab factory in the world.”

Robots have long been used to carry out what are known as 3D-tasks, work that is dirty, dull and potentially dangerous. But in line with technological development, they are becoming increasingly advanced and interactive with help from sensors, and can now be used for more advanced tasks as well. In the assembly workshop, Tom Petersson works together with two robots gluing and fastening windscreens to the cabs. One of Tom’s two assistants picks up and moves around the heavy glass windscreens.

The other fetches a camera, takes photographs and readings, and then says exactly where the windscreen should be glued, down to the millimetre. “I sometimes think of them as smart, agile cats, because they are so flexible and nimble,” says Tom. “At the same time, they feel almost human and always do whatever they’re asked to do. Then, I think of them as two brothers.” 

Read More in Scene Scania
Scene Scania magazine - free and exclusive in Commercial Motor 17.11.16.

ATS Euromaster has cut tyre-related breakdowns by more than 30% for The Green Group since taking on its fleet inspections contract two years ago. Technicians from ATS Euromaster fit, monitor and service tyres across the Rotherham-based haulier’s fleet of more than 300 rigids, tractor units and trailers through its MasterCare programme.

This includes checking tread depths, valve caps and tyre pressures, along with general visual damage inspections. ATS Euromaster then provides The Green Group with an electronic report that details tyre condition across the fleet, any work carried out, and recommendations for remedial work.

Servicing is carried out at the operator’s depots, two in South Yorkshire and one in Ellesmere Port, using ATS Euromaster’s fleet of 820 mobile service vans. Peter Osborne, chief executive at The Green Group, said the firm had grown significantly over the past three years, helped by efficient tyre monitoring.

He added: “We now have a Michelin group policy which has delivered improved performance in terms of tyre life and wear. This is primarily due to ATS Euromaster’s proactive tyre management, which means our tyres are being checked regularly and any tyre-related issue is dealt with promptly before it can become significant.”

This article was published in the 17 November issue of Commercial Motor. Why not subscribe to get 12 issues for just £12?

A competition law firm hoping to win compensation from the truck manufacturers that were fined €2.9bn (£2.5bn) for their involvement in a cartel has said its case is gaining momentum.

Hausfeld’s case has so far received interest from companies all over Europe who it said collectively purchased around 150,000 trucks during the period the cartel was running between 1997 and 2011.

However, according to managing partner Laurent Geelhand, it could be five or six years before an outcome is reached if litigation is the only option. He explained it wanted to repair the relationship between manufacturers and their customers, with litigation being a last resort.

He told Commercialmotor.com: “It’s not in the manufacturers’ best interests to litigate. It would be very costly for them.

“Truck manufacturers will say there has been no overcharge, but they have passed it on to their customers.”

Hausfeld is currently building its case and hopes to begin to assess the damage the cartel caused to the industry during the first quarter of 2017.

“The more you get into the case you realise the industry is more complex than you would think,” he said, particularly as operators can purchase trucks through various finance schemes.

Most of the negotiations will take place in Germany, Geelhand said, as that is where many of the manufacturers’ subsidiaries that took part in the price fixing activity are based.

He said that the period during which the manufacturers had the opportunity to appeal the European Commission’s decision expired a few weeks ago.

Stoke South MP Rob Flello has called for operators to be compensated without having to take the manufacturers to court.

“These big companies have been sitting on cash belonging to British businesses for years and they should be forced to cough up without waiting for a solicitor’s letter.  It’s hard enough for players in our freight sector, especially the smaller ones, to make a decent living, without being conned by giant global corporations,” said Flello.

Flello, who is also the chairman for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Freight Transport, said hauliers should “get onto their dealers and demand they’re repaid”.

The RHA and Bentham Europe also intend to explore legal action against the truck manufacturers.

Manufacturers should provide hauliers with tractor unit designs that give drivers improved visibility from their cabs, British Gypsum has said.

“We want to find someone to take the next step and give us improved visibility in a tractor unit, which is something we haven’t seen yet,” said Brian Fisher, distribution manager at the building materials firm, which is a Clocs champion.

“We are looking for the next piece of tractor unit innovation. We’ve seen a lot on rigids and on tippers, but we are predominantly an artic fleet, so for us the vision piece is around artics.”

Fisher said the pace of change to address better visibility is too slow, with not enough options on the market to enable operators to plan their fleet upgrades.

“We’re buying trucks every five years and will do a fleet change in around 18 months. If there isn’t anything on the market then, it won’t be on the fleet for another five years after that. This is the challenge,” he said.

Fisher’s view was last week echoed by London operator O’Donovan Waste Disposal  which urged manufacturers to work faster in providing sector-specific solutions to meet the capital’s pending Direct Vision Standard.

To ensure its core subcontractor is as safe as possible, British Gypsum already specifies additional low-level passenger door window panels on new vehicles, which are supported by cameras to eliminate blind spots.

In a recent Driver of the Year competition run by parent firm Saint Gobain, Fisher said he spent 20 minutes in one of its trucks fitted with window panels and cameras trying to find a blind spot, but was unable to do so.

However, in some truck models, the position of the passenger seat can be problematic in obscuring direct vision even with an additional window panel, he added.

“The industry has got to change this. You need to be able to go straight to a manufacturer and say I want a Fors gold tractor unit,” added Fisher.

Last month British Gypsum said it would be mandating that all subcontractors entering its customers’ sites hold Fors silver status within the next 12 months.

• This story originally appeared in the 17 November issue. Why not subscribe and get 12 issues for just £12?

Field-test driver Steve Pope spent 20 years driving trucks for the British Army in Bosnia, Iraq and Kuwait. Now he’s spent four to five nights per week in the new Scania cab, conducting long-term testing along his regular transport runs across the United Kingdom. He now calls it his second home.

“I work and sleep here, cook all my food here, and it’s also my office,” says Pope. “Even compared to the Scania R-series that I previously had, everything I’ve experienced represents a big boost. All the new technology makes life so much simpler for me as the truck does it all for me. Sometimes it feels like all I need to do is push a button and point it in the right direction!”

Asked to rank the improvements in Scania’s new truck, Steve thinks for a second before listing the field of vision, the driving experience, the general level of comfort, and the bed. Also, the forward and outward shifted driver position and narrower A-pillar have given Steve a whole new perspective of the area around the truck. 

Steve describes the driving experience as being, ‘very much Scania’. “It’s the same feeling that I had in my previous Scania, but with a much better field of vision. I love the design of the new dashboard. When you sit behind the wheel and drive the truck you have everything you might need around you.”

Steve Pope sees his year as a field test driver for Scania as a high point in his action-packed life. “It’s a fantastic feeling to be involved in developing tomorrow’s truck,” he says. “Sometimes when I’m drifting off to sleep in the cab, I think about how good it will feel a few years from now when I see this new truck out on the roads – I got to be involved in developing it!”

Read More in Scene Scania
Scene Scania magazine - free and exclusive in Commercial Motor 17.11.16.