Swedish truck maker Volvo has launched a range of new trucks in India under their 50:50 joint venture with Eicher Motors Limited on October 27, 2014. This is a new fleet of trucks being introduced into the market by VECV (Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles) and the range will comprise of the FH, FM and the FMX. The FH and FM are tractor trailers (Pullers) while the FMX is a tipper (dump-truck) primarily meant for mining and construction operations. Volvo has been synonymous in India for introducing and manufacturing premium segment trucks and the new range being launched is complimenting this position in India. Volvo is currently the market leader in terms of premium trucks sales in India with a 65 pc share of the market.
The company has made investments to the tune of US$ 3 billion and has dedicated fourteen million engineering hours to this project. The new range of trucks has been tested for a whooping 21 million kilometers and Volvo has confidently launched this new range of premium trucks to storm the Indian market. The FH, FM and FMX are claimed to be technologically superior to their competitors in terms of productivity, fuel efficiency and safety leading to maximum uptime. Volvo has also launched the new I-Shift technology which makes mining and construction operations easy. The automated I-Shift gearbox is easy to operate and provides optimum fuel efficiency. FMX offers dual driving modes -- economy and performance. Volvo has also introduced their Dynafleet telematics system to the new range which enables owners to access real time data of their fleet as well as driver logs. The Dynafleet telematics system allows owners to be able to monitor fuel consumption, overtime, location of vehicles and a vehicles performance data.
The FH, FM and FMX have been equipped with a 12.8 litre in-line 6 cylinder direct injection diesel engine. However the performance configurations on the FH tractor trailer are higher. The FH produces 520hp @ 1500-1800rpm and churns out a 2500Nm of torque @1050-1450rpm while the FMX and the FM produce 440hp @ 1400-1800rpm and 220Nm of torque @ 1050-1400rpm. The FMX tipper comes with the automatic I-Shift gearbox which has 12 forward and 4 reverse gears while the manual version of the gearbox has 14 forward with 2 crawler and 4 reverse gears. The Manual is a synchronized range / splitter gearbox and is also on both the tractor trailers. The FH and FM come in a 6X4 configuration while the FMX comes in an 8X4 configuration and has twin heavy duty front steerable axles. The rear axles on all the trucks are a drive tandem hub-reaction type with four planetary gears. The suspension on these trucks is an S-shaped parabolic leaf in the front and a multi-leaf spring at the rear. The FMX has a driver plus co-driver cab while the FH and FM can accommodate a driver plus a co-driver and have a sleeping bunk at the back. The FMX tipper now comes with a front towing device certified for 25 tonnes. The FH tractor can tow a payload of 200 tonnes while the FM tractor can tow a payload of 125 tonnes when they are coupled with suitable hydraulic axle trailers.
The new range of trucks from Volvo is set to make waves in the premium truck industry and offer a lot more to their consumers like a lower cost of ownership, higher up-time for drivers and the vehicles along with real time monitoring of vehicle and driver performance.
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