CC Global: Three-Pointed Stars Sailing Down The River On A Freightliner

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– Posted on May 9, 2019

After Deeres and Little Party Animals, I spotted a shipload of Big Benzes coming from Germany. Mercedes-Benz is the main brand of the globally operating Daimler Trucks juggernaut, the world’s largest heavy truck manufacturer (commercial vehicles with a GVM over 6 metric tons). In 2018, the company sold 517,300 units.

Let’s zoom in and focus on the Mercedes-Benz part of the ship’s freight.

In the foreground, three Atego chassis-cabs. The Atego is the truck maker’s lightest heavy truck model, it’s right above the Sprinter in the Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle hierarchy.

It ranges from 6.5 to 16 metric tons GVM, so a typical light and medium-duty delivery truck. In Europe, anything above the Sprinter/Transit segment is a COE with a tilt cab and a set back front axle.

In the second row, behind the Ategos, the Actros heavy delivery truck and tractor model (18+ metric tons GVM). Confusingly, formerly known as the Antos.

Next in the first row’s line-up, an Arocs chassis-cab with a tridem axle configuration. It features a steering, liftable, single wheeled rearmost (tag) axle.

The Arocs is a heavy-duty on-/off-road truck, construction sites and forests are its favorite playgrounds.

Big toy for adults, an Arocs 8×8 dump truck. Mercedes-Benz has an outstanding reputation to uphold in the field of AWD trucking. No mishmash of outsourced powertrain components here; the engines, transmissions, transfer cases and drive axles are all in-house products.

Mercedes-Benz offers five different truck diesels: a 5.1 liter inline-four (only in the Atego) and four inline-six power units with a displacement of 7.7, 10.7, 12.8 and 15.6 liter. The maximum power output ranges from 156 to 625 DIN-hp.

Last but not least, a group of big Actros tractors. The Actros model designation is not only used for the heavy delivery trucks and tractors, it’s also the name for the brand’s head honcho. The Mercedes-Benz with the largest and most powerful engines and the largest and most comfortable cab the company can offer.

The updated, current Actros model was introduced in September 2018. By the way, they didn’t forget to install the side view mirrors…

…as there are monitors inside the cab (see A-pillars).

The heaviest-dutiest Actros -and Mercedes-Benz vehicle- on the market is this SLT (Schwer-Last-Transporter), designed and built for all kinds of special haulage up to a GVM of a thundering 250 metric tons.

Atego, Arocs and Actros. Triple-A trucking, Daimler style.