The launch of the freightliner cascadia in this part of the world took place in sydney just prior to christmas, bringing with it the highest-powered gathering of daimler truck and bus top brass seen down under in almost two decades.

If you ever wanted confirmation of just how seriously Daimler is taking Cascadia‘s arrival in the antipodes, then sitting at a press conference in a sectioned off area of the Sydney Opera House promenade with Daimler‘s Martin Daum and Rodger Nielsen looking back at you should do it. For those who aren‘t on the page, Daum‘s the chairman of the board of management at Daimler Trucks AG, that‘s the top of all things truck and bus in the Daimler world, and Nielsen is president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America (‘DTNA‘ if you‘re groovy). You might say they‘re tectonic plates when it comes to global trucking foundations. When they make a move, everything else is affected and responds.

Accompanying the two most senior men was an entourage of North American executives, and in terms of flying the local flag, there was Daniel Whitehead, president and CEO Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific; Stephen Downes, director Freightliner Australia Pacific; and Greg Lovrich, director aftersales and network operations, Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific. Where were our flag bearers? If you read the news section recently, you‘ll know the answer to that; if you haven‘t, New Zealand will be run from Australia as of 1 April, so no real need beyond who was there. The wait is over and ‘our‘ Cascadia is here. The only thing left is to drive it, and that‘s happening soon we understand, but as far as speccing and ordering goes, the flag has fallen, fill your boots…unless it‘s an 8-wheeler you want, but more on that below.

Photo: It was a swanky affair. Stephen Downes, director Freightliner Australia Pacific, has a big couple of years ahead.

Back brief
To revise: Argosy was axed because we‘re now part of Daimler Trucks North America, and that‘s great because we‘re no longer a special project tucked away at the bottom of the world, scrapping for the crumbs of R&D. We‘re now part of the colossal development programme for one of the most successful trucks ever made. There‘s no disputing that; just drive around the States and about 37% of all Class 8 trucks you‘ll see will be a Cascadia. This is a truck that still has a mandated five percent improvement in total cost of ownership built into each two- to three-year development cycle (that timeframe appears mildly flexible), and we‘re now part of that party. You could say though that we are not the US and we break trucks that have never been broken before. If our trans-Tasman brothers don‘t cook or shake them to death, we‘ll twist and rack them to death. Point taken, but if you read either of our recent articles following our trip to the States to observe the Cascadia‘s preparation (New Zealand Trucking magazine September and October 19), you‘ll know the Americans now understand all that and a Cascadia built to survive in crocodile or katipo country will be equivalent to a heavy-spec vocational model back home. In addition, there‘ll be strategic trucks working in customer sites here beaming back information to Swan Island (DTNA headquarters in Oregon) all the time.

It‘s going to be a fascinating decade because there‘s no way DTNA wants its golden carriage embarrassed on a couple of overgrown South Pacific atolls. That‘s particularly true in the case of Nielsen. He‘s no corporate chessboard hopper: he‘s Mr Freightliner, having been with the company for 33 years and seen almost three million of the three and half million Freightys ever made roll off the production lines. He loves his truck and when some of the shortcomings in the brand‘s recent history down this way were tabled at the press conference, it grated. “Today I promise you the best of Freightliner comes to Australia and New Zealand,” he said at the evening launch. Interestingly, Daum acknowledged that if they could have changed one thing in the past it would have been to develop the original Cascadia in right-hand drive from the get-go (that would certainly have helped expedite platforming the global offering also).

Why spend $100m Aussie smackers on us?
It‘s the largest investment Daimler Trucks North America has made outside the US. In terms of bringing Cascadia to Australasia, Daum acknowledged that right now, the market‘s importance in terms of straight sales numbers was disproportionate to the investment and energy committed, but he said it‘s also likely to see significant growth, and bringing this region under the wing of DTNA will have obvious developmental and cost benefits over time. “We lead with the long game, not quarter to quarter. A country has to be wealthy enough with growth potential to sustain long-term high technology trucks. This is a given in Australia. We want to do it right this time.” Then there was that weird Australasian thing that‘s so great for us ‘ockers‘ and ‘bros‘ in terms of the truck variance we see. He said it‘s a market that every major brand is in, a market that pits the best man can build against one another in one of the globe‘s most varied and harshest places. “Daimler has earned its right to be here,” Daum said resolutely.

So what do we get?
The model range will comprise the 116 and 126 models (the number designates BBC measurement) with the 13-litre DD13 rated from 336kW (450hp)/2237Nm (1650lb/ft), up to 377kW (505hp)/2508Nm (1850lb/ft); and the DD16 available in the 126 only rated from 373kW (500hp)/2508Nm (1850lb/ft), up to 448kW (600hp)/2050Nm (2050lb/ft). Both engines do better than Euro 6 emissions, meeting the US GHG 17 protocol instead. Daum volunteered and put to bed the age-old conjecture over OM versus DD engine also. “Is the Detroit engine in a Cascadia a Mercedes-Benz engine branded Detroit, or is the Mercedes-Benz engine in the Actros a Detroit engine branded Mercedes-Benz? The truth is it‘s a global engine, where the best engineers from Detroit and Germany pooled expertise from those countries.” Transmission-wise there‘s the DT12 AMT (essentially the Mercedes-Benz PowerTorque-3), or an 18-speed Eaton manual. Obviously the DT12 is where they want the sales to come from because it‘s a key component to so much of the total cost of ownership and safety proposition. It comes with creep-mode, coast function, Intelligent Powertrain Management (IPM) – which uses topography and map information to optimise performance, and descending functions.

Its uptake in the US is now at 70% for reasons of efficiency, safety, and ease of driver placement. Daum recalled a lovely anecdote we‘d normally never get to hear from a conversation he‘d had years earlier with a senior Eaton executive at the time Daimler announced the DT12 programme. “He said to me ‘why are you going after it, it‘s only 9% of the market?‘ I said, ‘I‘m not going after your UltraShift, I‘m going after your manuals‘.” Meritor and Detroit comprise the front axle options, and Meritor RT40 and RT46 and Hendrickson HLM2 lift axles the rear. Heftier options than the Meritor RT46 will be on the way soon. Rear suspension is currently the Airliner 40K and 46K, with Neway to follow. The slippery Cascadia cab meets ECE29 crash test standards with 36”, 48”, 60”, and 60” raised roof sleeper variants.

But the real story is… Safety, connectivity and, Freightliner would say, fuel efficiency. “Cascadia will be the undisputed fuel economy leader,” said Stephen Downes confidently at the launch. The technology and aerodynamics would all indicate that might be the case, as may official trials, but in a workaday sense as we all know it all still hinges on the ‘tiger‘ at the tiller. Where the Cascadia will set itself aside is the first two, safety and connection. The Cascadia is a true Level 2 autonomous truck sporting the US version of the Daimler safety platform under the moniker Detroit Assurance 5.0. That‘s Active Brake Assist – 5 (pedestrian and stationary object aware and reactive), Adaptive Cruise to 0kmph and restart (including moving pedestrians), Lane Departure Warning, Lane Change and Turn Assist, Side Guard Assist on the left side with the right coming soon (optional), Trailer Sweep Assist, plus anti-skid brakes, ESP, auto headlights and wipers, and all that stuff. There‘s also a side impact airbag that is optional in the cab spec. The test trucks we drove back in Madras also had Active Steering, which Daimler here hasn‘t taken at this stage while our governments opt for highway surfaces modelled on Uganda rather than Utah. In terms of connectivity this truck talks to whoever wants to listen, both in terms of where it is and how it‘s feeling. The architecture is also open for third party hosting.

In terms of connectivity this truck talks to whoever wants to listen, both in terms of where it is and how it‘s feeling.

Operations, fleet maintenance, customers, and DTNA can all have a yarn with it. In DTNA‘s case that also means you might knock off on Monday night and not be in the latest model, but when you turn the key on Tuesday morning you are! Cascadia is the most advanced bonneted US truck we‘ve ever seen; that‘s just another fact. It‘s at least on a par with, and in many cases a nose hair ahead of, Europe‘s latest and greatest. “The regulatory and chain of responsibility requirements are only going to escalate,” said Downes. Safety and connectivity may not spin the tyres of the dyed in the wool chrome stack lifestylers, but it should do precisely that at the desks of accountants, fleet purchasers, risk managers, and insurance companies. “Liability and safety risks are a substantial part of the costs and New Cascadia has already set a new highwater mark in terms of safety for our customers,” said Nielsen of the US experience.

Pitch perfect
The launch was festooned with romantic images of Cascadias in an Australian red dust heartland, and like a picture of a new truck taken on the banks of Lake Tekapo, it looks fantastic but its relevance to the bulk of everyday freight trudging is almost nought. If Freightliner down in this part of the world can remember where the marque‘s roots lay, being a man who simply wanted to move more freight more efficiently than anyone else, then the 1500 unit sales a year target they aspire to resides in the big fleet freight lanes between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, and probably line haul freight and bulk tipping in New Zealand. That‘s really Cascadia‘s home. Just ask 37% of the US market.

Cooling off on Cascadia 8×4
There was a definite cooling of the enthusiasm when it came to predicting the arrival of the 8×4 Cascadia in one of the world‘s more annoying little markets…the one that has the population of a half-decent city but likes on-highway 8×4 trucks in both cabover and bonneted guise. Here‘s what Daniel Whitehead, president and CEO of Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific said: “I think the interesting thing with Cascadia is you imagine its operation based on what we know from the operation of a conventional truck today, and it is a conventional truck, but it‘s not a conventional truck like we have today. With all the different configurations, it gets into operations that traditionally we haven‘t viewed that way, especially when you look at it in terms of PBS. What we thought was needed in order to operate in an environment is now actually not required. For example a tipper and dog at 48 tonne, you have to give up 250kg to leave the axle where it is. It‘s a no-brainer when you get everything that comes with it. “We have to get bums-on-seats. It‘s such a different product from what they‘re getting out of.

Whether it‘s our product or another manufacturer‘s product there‘s such a step forward that there‘s a bit of suck it and see what‘s possible with the factory configurations, and I think we‘ll continue to stretch that portfolio across a lot of operations.” Paraphrase that. If you hold your breath waiting for it, you‘ll die. Especially in light of what Daum said next. Answering a question on the state of the nation at Freightliner‘s stablemate Western Star, he said that platforming the Western Star and giving it a ‘birthday‘ was “All part of the project. “The 8×4 is part of the Western Star. Before Daniel [Whitehead i.e. Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific] gets an 8×4 Cascadia, what you might see in your country is an 8×4 Western Star.” So, a platform Western Star, that‘s where the weird and wonderful are likely to lie. And who can blame them? Why make two mutants when one‘s plenty. We‘re actually realising ourselves that nine axles aren‘t the utopic solution to all things; just look at the proliferation of 6x4s and 5-axle trailers in the past couple of years.