Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/320559
EquipmentWorld.com | June 2014 33 W hile many truck manufacturers do long-range market studies to determine if they should add a new truck model to their lineups, Volvo's approach to launching its new VNX severe duty tractor was a bit more casual than the company's usual procedures. The VNX story began a little over a year ago as Göran Nyberg was settling into his position as new president of the company's North American operations. Nyberg had extensive experience with Volvo's expansive European product portfolio and noticed an opportunity in the North American lineup: A heavy-haul on-highway tractor that could handle occasional off-highway work as well. Volvo has a large presence in Europe's high- horsepower/heavy-duty markets. And, in Nyberg's opinion, Volvo was missing a tremendous opportunity to showcase those attributes to North American buyers. It wasn't quite a sketch drawn on a napkin. But it was close. And it closely jibed with market research Volvo North America already had in hand. The go-ahead from Nyberg was the fi nal piece of the puzzle: Armed with their assignment, Volvo's North American engineering team crafted the VNX in record time. The result, says Jason Spence, Volvo's marketing product manager for long-haul business segments, is a truck that takes the best from the company's aerodynamic VN tractors and tough VHD vocational truck models and blends them together into a highly capable truck that handles well on the highway but is tough enough to work on the most rugged of jobsites. Spence selected a fairly arduous route through the Smoky Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, for our test drive. The gleaming, jet black VNX was pulling a fl atbed loaded with concrete blocks, rated at 77,500 pounds; a tough assign- ment on the steep 6- and 7-percent grades as I-26 winds its way into Tennessee. "But it's a great chance to show the pulling power this 550-horsepower D16 engine offers," Spence explained. "And it's also a great way to show how well our I- Shift automated manual transmission works in tough terrain with heavy loads." With a take rate of 71 percent to trucks | by Jack Roberts | JRoberts@randallreilly.com Test Drive: Volvo's new VNX heavy-haul tractor Volvo designed the VNX with both on-highway and occasional off- highway work in mind.