With their impressive cargo capacities and often superbly constructed bodies, trucks may not come across as a thing of beauty for everyone interested in cars. This doesn’t mean that they should be strictly relegated to the commercial fleet owners’ domain of interest. Quite the contrary, because contemporary truck design is inextricably linked with the very current and topical environmental concerns. It’s interesting to note how perceptions on mileage and fuel efficiency have altered during the past decade – and what major manufacturer would be more appropriate to investigate as a case study on the matter than Germany’s Mercedes Benz? Mercedes has been making trucks for many decades now, yet their interest in green trucking has only surfaced in recent times. Here are their three most recent ranges of commercial trucks, with a bit of history and some tech specs attached.
The Actros Range
Actros trucks have been around for a while and with notable success, too. The range still remains the two-time recipient of the U.S. ‘Truck of the Year’ Award for the years 2009 and 2012. Some of the main factors which have helped it qualify are its cabin, whose accoutrements have it pegged as premium class, and its reliability – on a par with none, with the possible exception of Volvo’s FH line of trucks. Mercedes also stands out for the long-term warranty that comes with its Actros Trucks. All types of vehicles in this range feature Euro 6 engines, which make them environmentally friendly. To boot, it seems that the German giant was out to teach a lesson in responsibility and concern with Actros, since they have been constantly updating the range, with the latest developments being added on as late as 2012.
The Axor Range
The Mercedes Benz Axor truck did not start out as a truck at all, but as a tractor filler, which the company released between the Actros and Atego ranges, fearing a decrease in visibility on this market segment, if too much time had been allowed to pass between the release of the two other trucks. This is not to say that the Axor fails as a stand-alone range of trucks. For one thing, Mercedes-Benz seems to have aimed for creating a truck that was easy to operate with the Axor. The line comes with a manual gear-shift that has been stripped down to the essentials, as well as with an electronic power shift, and a fully automated gear system. It features a straight-six engine with a six liter capacity. And although the range first came out as a tractor line, following the 2005 Axor update, it became a truck line, when the previously released Ategos that weighed more than 18 tons were included in the Axor range.
The Atego Range
Ategos are some of the oldest Mercedes-Benz trucks still in use and although they made their market debut in 1997, they are still being updated to this day. They come in several sizes, ranging from 7.5 to sixteen tons, and are equipped either with four-cylinder engines or six-cylinder ones. At first, this was Mercedes’s rigid truck line, but this changed in 2005, when rigids were switched over to the Axor line. At the moment, an Atego hybrid is being developed, for use in Germany’s mail system – the automotive giant is performing fleet tests with 7.5 ton and 12 ton trucks. Also, Switzerland’s LARAG has been producing Atego race trucks, which have been participating in specialized competitions.
For more info on the history of Mercedes Benz you can check out this video