After a seven week strike UAW workers will be returning to their posts at International Truck and Engine Corporation plants. UAW members originally began their strike on October 23rd citing unfair labor practices as their basis. However, International has remained relatively unaffected by the strike and has continued to meet its delivery schedules through carefully restructured organization. That has to have been a factor in its negotiations with the UAW as it displays a lack of necessity of the union’s service. Rather than have no company to return to, the majority of UAW members have voted to ratify the contract on the table. It has also dropped the unfair labor practice charges. The agreement allows for operational flexibility and cost improvement, one specific being the ability to close a facility to in order meet business needs. The contract will be valid through Oct. 1, 2010.
[Source: Navistar]
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If a G-Class Mercedes stirs dispassionate responses, there may still be a Mercedes for you. While the Gelandewagen is no joke in its own right, Daimler’s own ultimate terra bully would roll right over it. Unimogs have been around for about fifty years, and were originally designed as go-anywhere, do-anything work trucks. The U500 Black Edition Unimog is still akin to a vehicular Chuck Norris, but luxed-up to the point that you’d hate to mar the blingy pedals with muddy boots.
England’s BigLorryBlog had a chance to bruise the earth with one of these, and found it an object of workmen’s desire. The U500 they sampled was not outfitted with any hard labor devices, so the ride was a bit bouncy, but nobody was complaining from the leather clad driver’s perch with its own suspension. At €250,000, it’s not cheap, but the good stuff never is. Here’s what you say when someone questions your buying decision: “Buy the best, cry once. Now get outta my way before I make your Paseo scrap.”
Thanks for the tip, Dan!
[Source: BigLorryBlog]
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Fiat’s new car-derived utility truck, the Fiorino Mk IV, has been revealed in all its Chiclet-colored glory. These small car-based working vehicles are just right for businesses that don’t need the heft of the ubiquitous pickup-based cargo van here in the states, or larger Continental vehicles like the Sprinter. Horsepower will be around 75 whether buyers choose the 1.4 liter gasoline or 1.3 liter turbodiesel, plenty to haul all those tiny die-cast Eiffel towers down from port to the Champs Élysées. Continuing on the French tip, it’s worth noting that the Fiorino was co-developed with PSA, which means there’s also Peugeot and Citroen variants of the little van. If you don’t want people to laugh at you when you tell them what you drive, you’d be best to stick with the new Fiat, though. The Citroen is named Nemo, ever so cute. Peugeot picked a moniker that sounds possibly lewd: Bipper. Call it whatever, the Fiorino blends utility, more style than you’d expect in a commercial vehicle, and a comfortable interior with carlike dynamics. Coming soon on the heels of the Fiorino will be the announcement of the “Adventure” package, which will outfit the small wagon for duty on less-improved roads in rural areas. The closest thing we’ve got to this in the States is the HHR Panel, cool in its own right, but alas, no feisty Italian.
[Source: Jalopnik]
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In Europe, no niche remains unaddressed, it seems. Business owners looking for a hottish-looking ride in their delivery vehicles were offered the Transit SportVan earlier this year by Ford. It combined the utility of the Transit with the optics of a Focus ST, what with its Performance Blue paint, snowflake-pattern rims, and Le Mans stripes. We’re sure the 500 owners who scored one of the limited-edition trucks are pleased with their selections. Ford isn’t alone in addressing this segment, however.
In the Netherlands, Opel has gotten into the game with the Vivaro VPC. The Vivaro is, like the Transit, a panel van. Apparently, GM sees an opportunity to sell 100 tricked-out versions (at € 34,900 each) to Dutch commercial customers who wish to make their delivery rounds in something more sporty-looking than the average panel. It comes in the same blue paint used on the Opel OPC cars, rolls on OPC wheels, and wears a full appearance package including color-matched everything, an aggressive front fascia with intrgrated foglights, and dual, trapezoid-shaped exhaust exits in the rear. The VPC moniker is the final, and most obvious, hat tip to the OPC performance wing of the car division. A 2.5L CDTi turbodiesel with 143 horses supplies the power, and it’s mated to a 6-speed manual. As for the driver, the cab’s no penalty box either, as evidenced by two-tone leather and Alcantara Recaro sport seats that look as if they’ve been pilfered from a GT1 car. Delivering goods has never been so good.
[Source: Opel via Autoblog Spanish]
Gallery: Opel Vivaro VPC
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click above image to view more pics of the Toyota Tundra Diesel Dually
With a strong OEM presence at SEMA, automakers are forced to bring The Badass to the masses. Toyota has apparently been overrun with requests from customers for some form of diesel motivation in its Tundra pickup and the automaker has responded… sort of… with the Tundra Dually Diesel. Toyota utilized two Tundra CrewMax pickups that were joined at the hip to lengthen the frame and add an additional foot to the bed. Although the majority of the Tundra Dually Diesel is bespoke show material, the drivetrain has been pulled straight from a Hino medium duty truck, with the only exception being a custom split driveshaft.
The crown jewel of the Dually is a JO8E 8.0-liter inline six turbodiesel, making around 300 HP and 600 lb.-ft. of torque. Shoehorning that kind of mill into the tight confines of the Tundra proved to be a challenge. The body had to be lifted off the frame by three inches and after some hacking and chopping of the firewall, they were finally able to fit the 1,500 pound engine into the bay. Between fitting the oil burner into the snout and mating it to a five-speed Allison tranny, the interior accoutrements have suffered - the HVAC controls are nonfunctional and the massive stick is there to provide additional leverage when shifting gears.
Mike Levine has a great write up covering all the details of the Tundra Dually Diesel, which is worth a read. And even though this mutha’ runs, don’t expect a production version to make it to dealers any time soon.
We’ve added Toyota’s press release after the jump.
Gallery: Toyota Tundra Diesel Dually Project Vehicle
Continue reading SEMA 2007: Toyota Tundra Dually Diesel
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And you thought U.S. automakers were guilty of the world’s worst badge engineerings jobs! It’s bad enough that both Citroen and Peugeot took the Mitsubishi Outlander and made the C-Crosser and 4007 clones, but here we have two new compact commercial vans from these companies that are virtually identical. Just pick which logo you’d like on the misshapen schnoz and you’re good to go. The Citroen Nemo and Peugeot Blipper (seriously?) are actually pretty interesting to look at. These purpose built mini vans will do the work of a Chevy HHR Panel in Europe and get much better gas mileage to boot. Either vehicle can be ordered with a 75 HP 1.4L gas or 70 HP 1.4L HDi diesel engine, so they certainly can’t go as fast or haul as much as what we Yanks are used to, but European commercial customers will likely find them more than adequate. And they can haul thanks to a 1,345 lb. payload rating and useable cargo space that amounts to 66 cubic feet. The front passenger seat can also be stored beneath the floor to increase the cargo room to 107 cubic feet. Just don’t come to us asking which one you should buy.
[Source: Citroen and Peugeot]
Gallery: Citroen Nemo
Gallery: Peugeot Bipper
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Chrysler has just released details on its commercial-grade Dodge Grand Caravan Cargo Van, which has tradesmen, small business owners, and other small fleet customers in its crosshairs (pun fully intended). Since it’s a work vehicle, the second and third row seats have been eliminated. This creates 143.8 cubic feet of storage capacity in back, and to keep it from getting instantly trashed, the cargo floor is covered with an industrial-grade material. The interior trim for the second- and third-row seating areas can also be deleted completely, as the working man’s Grand Caravan is designed to be a blank slate that upfitters can customize for role-specific duties.
The forward compartment is equipped with YES Essentials fabric seats, a decent stereo, the to-be-expected variety of cupholders, power outlets, and storage areas, and a rubberized floor capable of withstanding daily punishment. Powered by Chrysler’s 175-horsepower 3.3L flex-fuel V6, the Grand Caravan Cargo Van sports a 17/24 city/highway EPA rating. 16-inch steelies and a heavy-duty suspension are standard, and both the dual sliders and rear hatch are manually operated. While a panelized version isn’t currently offered, the existing rear glass is tinted dark for maximum privacy, so you’ll have to moosh your face right up against it to see what goodies your local bakery’s hauling back there.
[Source: Chrysler LLC]
Gallery: 2008 Dodge Caravan Cargo Van
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