Behold the new Mighty Mahindra-Navistar...or as they say in India, the truck that 'Moves mountains, through mountains...with ease." Quite a snappy slogan don't you think? Anyroadup I though you might like to know that the latest fruits of the joint Mahindra-Navistar co-orperative venture broke cover recently at the in Delhi, where Mahindra-Navistar Automotives (MNAL) unveiled its the latest additions to its family of commercial trucks and tractors from 25-49-tons gross weight....Following the apperarance of the 25-31-tonners it was the turn of the heavier 40-49-ton chassis and click through here to read (and see) more!
As you can see the range includes tractors with very attractive 'Western' styling---this has got a touch of the Scania R cab don't you think, especially in the door 'imprints'? Meanwhile, according to the official PR blurb: "The trucks have been designed, developed and tested for Indian roads and conditions and are capable of negotiating the toughest terrain."
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And it's a sleeper too. "With the addition of the MN 40 and MN 49 trucks and tractors to its product portfolio, Mahindra-Navistar is now well poised to cater to a wide spectrum of requirements in the Indian Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) industry," says Mahindra Group boss Anand Mahindra, who goes on to tell BLB: "This product line-up makes us a formidable player." Likewise Dee Kapur, president of the Navistar Truck Group adds: ""I'm excited to witness the launch of this all-new line-up of trucks at the India Auto Expo. India is an important market for us and the Mahindra-Navistar joint venture will redefine the trucking industry in India."
In 2005, Mahindra and Navistar entered into the MNAL joint venture to manufacture light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for India as well as export markets. The joint venture plans to expand its product line further over the next two years to emerge as a full-range commercial vehicle player from 3.5-ton GVW to 49-ton GVW with variants of passenger transport, cargo and specialised load applications too.
Power for the 40- and 49-ton truck models comes courtesy of Navistar's MaxxForce 7.2 litre 4-valve per-cylinder CRDI diesel engine. I'm told it was: "Chosen from Navistar's global portfolio to serve the needs of markets with emerging emissions requirements. It has been designed for better performance, higher power, better fuel efficiency and stricter adherence to Indian and Euro emission standards."
That cab makes for a neat looking eitght-legger don't you think? The new line up will be manufactured at Mahindra & Mahindra's new plant at Chakan, near Pune which covers more than 700 acres and has been set up with investments by Mahindra & Mahindra equating to the value of some $857m and will build other Mahindra products too..
AND CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS STORY ON TATA'S NEW HEAVIES POSTED LAST MAY ON BIGLORRYBLOG
http://blogs.rbi.co.uk/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=57950&blog_id=22 .
That could be the next generation of African trucks then!
It's surprising in this day and age for them to spec a 7.2-liter medium truck engine in a 49-ton heavy truck. Sure you can gear the rear axles low, but at the end of the day, engine life will suffer because that little powertrain is overworked.
And whatever happened to Tata's "World Truck"? Since the computer-generated pictures at the announcement in May 2009, I've yet to see any actual real pictures and Tata's website still doesn't mention anything about it. One can't help but wonder if it really exists for sale?
Never mind Africa Adam. With all Euopean heavy truck manufacturers clinging on to ever reducing market shares and still a big shake up looming on who will eventually own who how long will it take for these trucks to appear in Eastern Europe due to competative pricing and slowly spread west.
By the way Brian that 8 wheeler does'nt look bad but is that a non-reactive rear suspension similar to the one's ERF and Albion used.It's to be hoped it does'nt clap out every year like they did but I expect if what we hear about India's attitude to maintenance is right it probably won't matter until they start to appear in more demanding markets
Regards
Mike