UD Trucks Southern Africa has launched two new additions to its Croner range to meet the increased demand in the urban and regional logistics sector.
Since its launch in 2017, UD Trucks’ Croner range originally operated only in the Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) segment. Through UD Trucks’ expansion programme, the new Croner truck-tractor will be classified as an Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicle, operating in the up to 350hp lightweight truck-tractor segment. The new LKE 15-tonne freight carrier will operate in the 8-tonne payload segment in the HCV segment.
Commenting on the rationale behind the launch of these models, Rory Schulz, UD Trucks Southern Africa’s marketing and sales director, says: “In the competitive 8-to-9-tonne payload segment, we saw the need arise for a fuel efficient, high payload unit with good drivability at good value for money.
“With the new model introductions, we are improving payload, fuel efficiency and adding more driver comfort, as well as extending service intervals. With UD Trucks Telematics Services as standard and a region-wide dealer network, fleet owners are supported no matter where they operate.”
The Croner LKE 210 freight carrier boasts a GH5, 5-litre engine and an Allison 2500 series automatic transmission. With 850 Nm of torque along with a good transmission ratio, this ensures the truck can quickly get to the 60km/h mark in city operations or to the 80km/h where the law allows. The LKE 210 has a low tare mass and optimised wheelbase of 5 500mm for both volume and mass payloads. All of this combines to provide a truck which UD Trucks claims has class-leading payload productivity.
“The Allison automatic transmissions also ease the job for drivers who spend their days operating in an urban environment, facing long hours of traffic with multiple stops and cargo drops,” says Schulz. “The new generation torque converter with early lock-up also ensures a smooth and easy drive so driver fatigue is reduced, which means the driver can concentrate on situational driving. Additionally, the enhanced power shifts lead to more efficient fuel consumption, comfort, manoeuvrability and performance.”
The Croner 4×2 PKE 280 truck-tractor has a GH8, 8-litre engine and an Allison 3000 automatic transmission series, with similar emphasis on urban and city-to-city distribution, as well as focus on inter-regional haul.
In 2020, UD Trucks also introduced a Croner 6×2 PDE280 freight carrier, which brings the total of variants in this range to 16 models.
“The work a vehicle does and the resources required to do it, are essential to the success of any fleet. Productivity to us means how much payload you can carry, at the highest possible legal speed, with as little fuel as possible. And the Croner certainly delivers on all these factors in a smart and modern way, day in and day out,” says Schultz.
UD Trucks’ Croner range is assembled at its plant in Rosslyn, Gauteng, according to the company’s global quality standards.
Commenting on the wider environment in which the industry has found itself over the past year, Filip Van den Heede, managing director of UD Trucks Southern Africa, says the world has changed significantly “and so has the way we live our lives and run our businesses”.
“While adhering to government regulations (Covid), we also understand that there is a need to continue with economic activities and that is why we are more committed than ever to support the logistics industry in the country.”
He also commended the strong resilience of the local transport industry that supported the good recovery of the market in 2020 after the hard lockdown saying that “we believe this challenging spirit will continue into 2021 as we remain positive about the future and committed to support logistics in our region.”
