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Isuzus medium-duty game changers hit the road running

Isuzu teased us at Brisbane Truck Show with a nifty off-the-shelf freight body F-Series as well as some other new medium-duty models – well, we've just had the first drive of the range of trucks and they’re a winning combination.

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Isuzu Trucks changed the game when they introduced the Ready to Work range back in 2003, offering Tradepacks as they were coined.

Fast forward to 2019 and just about every manufacturer has an equivalent pre-built range, but Isuzu is still market leader in the light end of the game and with more than 40 options now within its Ready to Work range, there’s something for nearly every application.

One missing piece of the puzzle was a pre-built curtainsider F-Series option, which is where the Freightpack was born – a true factory-backed off-the-shelf delivery solution with bumper-to-bumper three-year warranty.

Isuzu Trucks national sales manager Les Spaltman explains that the Freightpack comes as part of the manufacturer’s expansion of its Ready to Work range outside of just the light-duty space.

“We’ve applied our successful Ready-to-Work strategy to the lighter end of the general freight market and now we’re targeting the medium and heavy-duty rigid markets with these tightly specced and highly practical F Series Freightpack models,” Spaltman says.

“We’ve specified key GVM, engine and transmission configurations, providing flexible freight workhorses for a variety of operations.”

In terms of design, the Freightpacks are specced right up, with quick-release latches on all curtainsiders, LED strip lighting, single pallet width interlocking gates, reversing and internal body cameras, sat-nav as standard, and a three-year truck and body warranty. That’s right, the entire body is covered.

A couple of other exciting new F-Series additions are the FVD 165-260 Auto Crew and Ready-to-Work FSR 140-260 MWB Tipper, both of which both looked the part and performed well loaded up on a brief drive around Melbourne.

The FVD Crew replaces the FTR 150-260 Auto Crew model, offering a GVM of 16,500kg, seven seats and a strong driveline consisting of the 6HK1 TCC six-cylinder hooked up to an Allison MD3000 auto, as well as beefier Meritor front and rear axles.

On the tipper side, the FSR 140-260 offers up a 14,000kg GVM with more than 5.2 cubic metres of internal volume and payload of 7,500kg – a 37% increase in capacity over the FSR 107-210 tipper thanks to an all-new ShinMaywa-built body and other tweaks.

The manufacturer also announced the introduction of Isuzu Electronic Stability Control (IESC) to five key FRR and FRD models in the 10,700 kg–11,000 kg gross vehicle mass (GVM) segment.

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This 2020 IESC update comes four years after the technology first appeared in the 2015 N-Series range, a proven safety system that’s fast becoming an expected feature on trucks.

“F Series models benefitting from the addition of IESC (see table above) are specifically targeted at the urban pick-up and delivery application,” Spaltman says.

“Urban freight trucks typically have higher van and curtain-side body builds, and can be subjected to situations that may lead to an understeer, oversteer or rollover scenario.

“So with these selected models, we’ve incorporated IESC to circumvent such scenarios.

“We’re thrilled to offer our customers this benchmark safety technology in our market-leading medium-duty models,” he says.

A development Isuzu Trucks are pretty proud of, set to innovate the refuse space. The refuse truck range includes the new FVD, FVZ and FVY, and are Australian developed dual control options based off the tried and tested FSR 140-260 4×2 model.

“We’re extremely pleased to be able to bring additional factory dual control solutions to market,” Spaltman says.

“Many would be aware of the discontinuation of of some of the more traditional, go-to truck models in this sector.

“In response, we have a highly competitive low tare weight solution on offer – one which ticks some key boxes for Australian operators,” he says.

The new dual control models are available with GVM of 16,500kg and 24,000kg, all featuring the beefy six-cylinder 6HK1-TCC and TCS engines, Allison automatic transmissions, Meritor axles and Q-Plus dual circuit full air S-cam front and rear brakes.

Spaltman says all the elements of the MY20 F Series update come together to offer a strong customer-focused medium-duty offering from Isuzu Trucks.

“In its totality, this update encompasses what Australian truck customers are asking for,” Spaltman says.

“Every element of this update, and the many before it, reflect our customer-oriented approach.

“With this update, we’ve worked hard to ensure our attention to detail has been second to none. We strive to deliver the best possible, application-specific product on the market, and these refinements are testament to that approach.”

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