Archive, Product News

Ford Otosan wins Hanover truck of the year award

IAA event sees F-MAX gain global recognition as F-Vision is unveiled

 

Ford has seen its name rise to rare heavy-vehicle heights after winning truck of the year at the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018 in Hanover, Germany. 

The superior vehicle is Ford Otosan’s F-MAX prime mover.

Based in Turkey, Ford Otosan is a Ford Motor Company-Koç Holding joint venture.

According to IAA, the judges marked the F-MAX up for cost of due primarily to the vehicle’s “powerful and efficient” 12.7-litre E6D Ecotorq engine.

The new F-MAX was designed and tested by 500 Ford Otosan engineers over a five-year period.

Tests were carried out in 11 countries on four continents using 233 prototype units.

This involved 15,500 hours of lab testing and 5 million kilometres of road testing.

F-MAX1Capture.JPG

“Ford Trucks has a very challenging promises. Saying ‘sharing the load’ as a brand promise, we commit our self to understand customers’ needs and share all kind of load that they might have.” Ford Otosan CEO Haydar Yenigün says.

“We developed our new tractor with Ford’s principles of comfort, power, efficiency and technology at its heart.

“To ensure that the design guarantees the most, in terms of efficiency and practicality, we examined every part and every detail over and over again.”

Driver focus

The joint venture has kept a close eye on driver comfort, which may well have swayed their decision

The 2.5m-wide cab flat floor comes with 2,160mm of floor-to-ceiling height.

The company claims is cab offers best-in-class noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and interior quietness “thanks to its best-in-class torsional cab stiffness, lower engine noise and sound absorptive trim design.

ford trucks 3.jpg

Powered interior lightning controls from the bed area and driver compartment, automatic climate control systems and steering wheel adjustment features all offer comfort in the cabin.

A mini fridge and coffee maker included in some models offer drivers additional comfort.

To keep bones from weariness, drivers get a seat with breathable fabric and ergonomic design, 260mm of seat adjustment along with a 90 degree foldable upper bed, an inclined head frame on the lower bed, comfortable and large mattresses, a remote control unit in the bed area which provides an ideal area for drivers to relax when taking a break.

ford trucks 5.jpg

Economic grunt

The Ecotorq engine, which the truckmaker says is the “first and only truck engine developed from scratch and made in Turkey”,  boasts  with 2500Nm and 400kW.

Technical features include E-APU technology, eco-roll function, predictive cruise control (Max Cruise).

Up to 7 per cent is claimed in reduced maintenance costs and long service intervals reduce the total cost of ownership.

Ecotorq is mated with a 12-speed ZF automated transmission and different drive modes such as Eco-Mode and Power-Mode.

fords for sale.png

Technology

The IT is also to the fore in the F-MAX design.

Central to is ConnecTruck, which offers wide-ranging benefits. These include remote monitoring of the vehicle using remote diagnostic and over-the-air software.

“The special topographic map means that F-MAX is able to analyse road conditions, allowing the vehicle to drive at optimum speeds, thereby reducing fuel consumption by up to 4per cent.

“Fleet management systems integration allows the ConnecTruck Module and Ford Trucks cloud to act as a data gateway for third-party fleet management systems to access selected vehicle data,” the company says.

The F-MAX offers driver assistance in the forms of adaptive cruise control, predictive cruise control (max cruise) with speed tolerance choices, advanced emergency brake system, hill launch assist, lane departure warning, adjustable speed limiter device and electronic stability control.

The 8-inch thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display colour-wide cluster screen “allows everything from tire pressure, temperature status to driver evaluation functions to be displayed on the same screen.

ford trucks8 .jpg

“Control switches on the leather steering wheel allows the driver to navigate between cluster screens. Truck-specific embedded navigation, web link and Apple CarPlay implementation, Bluetooth connection functions are presented within the 7.2-inch LCD multimedia soft touch screen.”

F-Vision

Also at the show, Ford unveiled the F-Vision Future Truck, fully electrically-powered concept truck a first for Ford Trucks International and a level 4 autonomous truck prototype.

The concept model points to the manufacturer’s direction on electrification, autonomous and connected drive, lightweight manufacture and zero carbon emission products.

F-Vision.jpg

“It cares about humans’ priorities both inside the cab and on the road, as well as the load being carried, and aims constantly to connect with the environment and users and communicates,” it says.

Other than that, details of the driveline and propulsion are scarce.

 

Previous ArticleNext Article
Send this to a friend