Daimler’s long hard road to win over the Australian truck industry with its new Freightliner Cascadia may have been slowed by the COVID Pandemic but it has announced a major conquest for the new truck with one of Australia largest transport companies taking delivery of one of the first Cascadia’s to be delivered in Australia.
Linfox, which is also Australia’s largest private family owned transport company, recently took delivery at its Australian headquarters in Essendon Fields of a Freightliner Cascadia 116 for its B-double fuel tanker operations.
Linfox executive chairman, Peter Fox, Linfox founder, Lindsay Fox and Linfox fleet and procurement president Ray Gamble were on hand to receive the keys to one of the first Cascadias in Australia from Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific president and CEO, Daniel Whitehead and Freightliner Australia Pacific director, Stephen Downes.
Cascadia, raises the bar for conventional truck safety in Australia and exceeds Euro 6 emission standard requirements, aligning with the company’s focus on improving safety and cutting emissions.
Daniel Whitehead said it is fantastic to see the Cascadia in the Linfox fleet.
“Linfox demands nothing less than the best safety and emission standards in the class when it comes to the trucks it selects and the Cascadia certainly fits that bill,” he says.
Daimler’s relationship with Linfox goes back to the very beginning when truck driver Lindsay Fox started building the iconic transport company with a 1418 Mercedes-Benz and it has continued to grow and flourish since Peter took the helm in 1993.
At one point Linfox was a largely Daimler fleet with Mercedes Benz trucks dominating its heavy fleet and Fuso playing a major part in its rigid fleet. However it is rumoured that the prestige of being the dominant brands on the Linfox fleet cost a lot of profit with the hard deals that the Lindsay Fox drove. Today in a more pragmatic environment and with a more varied Linfox fleet, the profit margins are still much thinner on Linfox deals but makers are less inclined to do their profit margin just to secure the deal.
“Mercedes-Benz and Fuso trucks are already serving the Linfox fleet well, and it is wonderful that Freightliner now has a conventional product that delivers the exceptional safety and efficiency that Linfox demands,” Daniel Whitehead said.
“There is no better endorsement for our trucks than having them go to work in those iconic colours,” he added.
Cascadia introduces fully integrated safety features including a radar and camera-based Autonomous Emergency Braking system that can automatically detect, and fully brake for, pedestrians. It also has a radar-based adaptive cruise control system, lane departure warning and fatigue alert in addition to Electronic Stability Control and the option of Sideguard Assist, which uses radar and camera technology to ‘look’ down the left side of the truck and trailer to detect pedestrians and objects in preparation for left turns.
Stephen Downes says the Cascadia is well suited to fuel deliveries.
“Safety is important with all trucks, but it is absolutely paramount with fuel tankers,” he said.
“These vehicles are often operating in built-up areas making deliveries to local service stations, so standard integrated safety technology such as pedestrian-sensing Autonomous Emergency Braking and the improved visibility of the Cascadia is priceless,” he concluded.
The Linfox Cascadia 116 uses the 505hp 13-litre six-cylinder DD13 engine, which generates 1850lb-ft of torque, while a 16-litre Detroit engine with up to 600hp and 1850lb-ft is also available.
