Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 436 i Deals On Wheels Australia

Not that we feel the need to preach to the converted, but it’s still probably worth a run through all the improvements the K200, as exemplified here, brought to the market over the venerable K100 series. In what was arguably the biggest single development from the Kenworth camp in decades, the K200 – launched on the Australian market in late 2010 – represented the most dramatic and most overdue design change in the 40 year history of Kenworth’s stalwart cab-over. Firstly, the K200 was all about the driver, and that started with changes to the K100’s annoying positioning of controls, not least being that pesky seating position that finally aligned with the steering wheel and pedals. Very handy here, as this is the manual 18-speed version whose gearstick doesn’t rub…

Panthers Penrith is where it’s all going to happen again in 2019 at The National Diesel Dirt &Turf Expo (DDT), running over three big days from Friday, May 3 to Sunday, May 5, 2019. This great free entry expo may be a few months away, however the enthusiastic approach by the industry’s biggest suppliers means this major industry event is going to be bigger and better than ever. Australia’s construction boom continues, so it’s more important than ever to make sure your business is equipped with the latest and most efficient gear that will keep you competitive and profitable. The National Diesel Dirt &Turf Expo is a unique platform where you can really check out what machinery, process or system is going to be right for your business in the…

Hino’s Koga manufacturing plant in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan, around two hours north of Tokyo (traffic permitting) is where the new 500 Series Cab is being produced. Koga is Hino’s newest manufacturing, with construction beginning in October 2011. Knocked down hit production began in May 2012, followed by axle and frame production. Complete vehicle assembly started in July, 2016. Now it produces around 45,000 units per year. The Koga site employs 2000 people working two shifts. Koga was constructed to give Hino the capacity to meet huge global growth in demand for its products, introducing an innovative modular approach to its manufacturing process. Core components such as engines, transmissions, front suspensions, rear suspensions, fuel tanks and cabs are produced separately, before being combined in the final assembly process. Hino says…

Penske Commercial Vehicles (PCV) has announced a return to Australasia’s premier transport event, the Brisbane Truck Show, after choosing not to exhibit at the previous Brisbane Truck Show. The decision not to exhibit in 2017 left show goers wondering, but PCV managing director Kevin Dennis explains the move was about directing maximum focus to customers; a strategy that paid off. “We looked at what’s happening around the world and we looked at what we want to do with our customers,” Dennis says. “Our focus over the past two years has been on driving the level of support we have for our customers, the investment we’re putting into our network. “This has included substantial changes in our dealer network such as appointing Penske Power Systems as a dealer across several locations…

Something had to give for Lance Law. Innisfail Carrying Company’s managing director admits success in competitions has long been a stranger. However, not any longer. Perhaps it was the pent up pressure that finally broke his logjam of luck, leading to his winning free use of a new UD Quon for a year. The next step will be a challenge for a new vehicle that has already faced some gruelling examinations in western regions of Queensland and New South Wales. For Law has the road due west to Mt Isa in mind, as well as some shorter Far North Queensland routes, as he seeks clues to his firm’s future fleet puzzle. As he said, in the 25-words-or-less he had to impress the UD judges: “Being a combination of short and…

Now I’m not saying I’m an expert in identifying every make and model of truck. I can pick a Series 3 Scania from a Series 4, I can identify a new-breed Mack Super-Liner from an old-school Super-Liner and I have an above-average success rate when identifying a 4900 Series Western Star from a 4800 Series. However, standing next to Michael ‘Mick’ Lake and his wife Melissa’s ‘Big Bright Burnout’ truck, I may as well have been a vegan at a Bunnings store trying to choose a sausage. I had no idea what I was looking at. For the record it’s a 1975 White 4000. Admittedly it’s a White 4000 with 19 modifications registered on its mod plate, but it is a White 4000. For those of you now claiming “oh…

The terms ‘next generation, ‘ground breaker’, ‘game changer’ and the like have been bandied around whenever a new truck model has been released, especially over the last couple of years. So where does the new Hino 500 Series Standard Cab fit in among that terminology? According to Bill Gillespie, Hino Trucks Australia general manager, the new ‘street smart’ Hino deserves to be identified as a ‘mind changer’, a phrase that surfaced at a recent Hino meeting. So, to see what all the fuss was about, I travelled north to Hino Motors HQ in Tokyo to catch a preview of the new models. First off was the driveline, with the Hino 500 Series Standard Cab range powered by a heavy-duty A05 five-litre four-cylinder diesel. It’s interesting to note that the A05…

Kenworth lover, Neil MacLean, stopped carting freight about 15 years ago. Now the businessman from Wagga Wagga, New South Wales continues his Kenworth passion as a hobby. “I’m probably a bit obsessed with Kenworths,” says Neil who owns nine Kenworth trucks. “Out of those nine, seven are actually goers. There are two that are probably relics.” They are all hobby trucks. He restores them for pure enjoyment. As a child, Neil and his twin brother Donny spent many hours travelling with their trucking father, Don MacLean, who drove for Finemores. They followed in their father’s footsteps. From the 1980s the twins both drove livestock trucks for Finemores. Donny (Junior) was on staff for over 20 years, and Neil was a casual driver for about 10 years. Neil enjoyed the work.…