All in all a pretty aerodynamic artic... The deflector blade on the tractor blends in perfectly with the Don-Bur Teardrop trailer wouldn't you say? Meanwhile, BLB learns that "the Royal Mail has received a 'first class delivery' [yes brace yourselves lads for unrestricted PR puns] of its own in the shape of 29 new Mercedes Axor tractor units." And that's one of them above. "Supplied directly by Mercedes-Benz UK, the trucks are kitted out to the Royal Mail's own, exacting specification, which includes features such as catwalks and steps designed to maximise safety." Sort of 'stamp of approval' you might say, although to be 'frank' these are hardly your average fleet tractor as they have air-con and 400hp straight-six engines driving through a PowerShift automated gearboxes. Now click through here where you'll find it all 'parcelled up' nicely...
The Royal Mail's senior procurement manager Simon Arnott tells Biglorryblog: "We're trialling the Axor against our existing fleet, as a way of benchmarking performance. Iit's too soon to have a full picture of how cost-efficient they'll be in the long term, but the early signs are good." The Axors join a national fleet of 1,200 units delivering to 70 mail and distribution centres throughout the UK.
What's up with lorries in the USA not being Mercedes unlike with other countries? It tripped me out seeing them on my travels (I'm American).
fair comment, you dont see many down under neither
First off, Daimler's US trucks are Freightliner brand trucks (although they have used modified Benz cabs in recent years). Second, the Benz brand earned a horrible reputation when they first attempted to enter the US market in the 70's. They really didn't do their homework. Spare parts availability was terrible. You might be waiting 4-8 weeks. And their parts prices were incredibly high. American's repect for Benz cars has never waivered, but they quickly decided that Benz trucks had more flaws than strengths.
First off, Daimler's US trucks are Freightliner brand trucks (although they have used modified Benz cabs in recent years). Second, the Benz brand earned a horrible reputation when they first attempted to enter the US market in the 70's. They really didn't do their homework. Spare parts availability was terrible. You might be waiting 4-8 weeks. And their parts prices were incredibly high. American's repect for Benz cars has never waivered, but they quickly decided that Benz trucks had more flaws than strengths.
Hi Brian,
Don't forget about the new man's they also give good service too and without the extra cost of ad-blue! at the moment anyway.Give me the man any day .Paul
Kevin,
Actually Daimler Benz also got it wrong with their cars first time round in the US. -- Like with Manual gearboxes!
Their distributors advised the Americans preferred automatics, but DB's initial attitude was let them learn to drive properly!
Result? DB developed some pretty good automatic transmissions!!!