The kind of feedback coming from the market about the Western Star X Series is about the smoothness of the driveline and the integration of the AMT.
This is quite a break, going from a standard 18-speed to a majority of the trucks being sold with an automated transmission. It would seem that although the 18 speed crash box will always have its place, more and more operations are biting the bullet and specifying an AMT and also finding the results to be satisfactory.
“We’re seeing a net result gain in fuel economy and trip times overall,” says Kurt Dein, Head of Western Star Trucks for Penske Australia.
“We’re putting a more compliant emission engine with the horsepower out there and seeing a favourable fuel economy improvement to help with the total cost of ownership. It’s definitely been a very pleasing 12 months of supplying product to market, which we launched 18 months ago.
“We were very conscious when we brought X Series in that we still played with manual transmission, drum brakes and optional safety systems. The customer acceptance to go into AMT with a full safety suite and disc brakes has really not surprised us, but it’s good to see the customers are really backing that drive around the cost of ownership and an efficiency model.
“The fleets are definitely driving AEB, but also the owner operators are definitely embracing that safety functionality within their trucks. But it’s probably a bit of a surprise in the size of, and how strong a foothold it’s gained, to be honest.”
The introduction of the mandate to fit autonomous emergency braking (AEB) in 2025 will mean the safety suite will become standard.
“Certainly, from my point of view, I think the it’s absolutely logical that the B-double fleet trucks, the ones where we’re in competition with a wider market, they’ve absolutely got to be using an automated driveline and full safety system because that’s what the market expects,” says Bob Gowans, Detroit Business Manager at Penske Australia.
“What surprised me the most with the DT12 is how it’s been accepted into what would traditionally have been a manual application at the heavier end, the road train market, and how just how well received its been, by some of the customers that have taken it.
“With a lot of the bigs runs for the B-double East Coast operators, you can argue it’s because of driver availability. With a lot of the road train customers you start to hear from people that it’s not necessarily because they can’t get a driver who can handle a manual. People are starting to realise that yes, I’m perfectly capable of driving the manual, but I don’t need to anymore.
“We’ve got to the point where the transmission is now capable of driving almost as well as the best drivers currently do, rather than in the previous period where, when you get to particularly extreme weights, you had a choice. You could either drive it properly or you could have an automated box to make your life easy, but we’ve now got to a point where the DT12 means that the truck can drive itself properly in those sorts of applications.”
Western Star customers were, in the past, particularly conservative. The acceptance shown towards the X Series is an indication that the shift which has been in play for over twenty years, as trucks move across from manual and analog, to automated and electronic is now spread all of the way through the Australian new truck market.
“If you look at costs of business today and profitability and where you can really get bottom line resolved, they’re really embracing the new systems, there are driver shortages across the board,” says Kurt.
“They’re definitely coming across and absolutely buying the new X Series. We’re seeing customers that have owned manual trucks, but their auto demo works so well, they are turning around and saying, ‘I probably should have a look at this’. Multiple customers are buying them.”
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