Select truck dealers from around the country received a sneak peek of the new UD Trucks North America medium-duty model during the recent American Truck Dealers Convention in Orlando. While specific details of the truck have yet to be released, the model will be based on the Condor model built by the firm’s Japanese parent, UD Trucks Corp.
News of the truck was first announced on the Japanese company’s website, which stated the new Condor PK 8-ton capacity truck will be a “global truck [that] will go on sale in mid-2010 in Japan and in late 2010 in the U.S. Domestic” market.
The Japanese model will share a cab design with the company’s Quon heavy-duty truck that uses selective catalytic reduction to meet emissions requirements. The truck will be built on a common medium-duty platform to leverage synergies of UD Trucks and its parent, Sweden’s Volvo Group. The platform is based on Volvo’s common architecture shared technology concept, a development process that aims “to archive harmonization with other Volvo Group companies,” the press release said.
UD Trucks North America said the vehicle will use the company’s new SCR-based EATS (exhaust after-treatment system) to meet EPA requirements.
According to UD Trucks North America, the truck will include a new cab “environment” and a 7-liter, GH7 diesel engine jointly developed by UD Trucks Corps. and Volvo Powertrain Development. There will be a number of options available such as multiple transmission choices, including the Allison 3000 series automatic.
“The cab and interior are completely redesigned,” said Greg Herdzina, sales manager for the UD Trucks brand at Chicago Mack, in Summit, IL. “ The new cab interior has more legroom and a real upgrade in driver comfort, and the addition of the Allison 3000 transmission when combined with the high torque engine will open the doors to more vocational sales.
“Municipal applications, refuse and recycling, and the heating oil business have now become a natural for us,” added Spencer Scheeler, Jr. of Scheeler UD Trucks.
