21 Years & Already Grown Up
Truckin' Life - by David Meredith
Truckin' Life
February 2011
In October 2010, barring a market catastrophe before Christmas,
Isuzu was anticipating 21 years of market leadership in Australia.
Traditionally, the magic 21 for a young bloke used to be marked by
receiving 'the key to the house'. Not that it matters when the only
reason he's still at home is so he can afford the mortgage on his
rental property!
But in truckland, even for a brand that dominates the roads so
comprehensively, 21 years of unbroken market leadership is a
remarkable achievement. Isuzu has made a habit of attacking each
shift in regulations or economic trends head on, and making sure
that instead of just reaching the mark, it exceeds it. Nothing's
changed with the new regulations.
ADR 80/03 arrived on January 1 and dictates a range of standards
in carbon monoxide, methane (included because of some alternative
fuels), unburnt hydrocarbons, particulates and oxides of nitrogen,
all the nasty baggage of diesel engine exhaust.
The effects of the ramped up standards will not be felt
immediately, but it's fair to say that the accumulated changes over
the past five to 10 years have all but removed trucks that belch
black smoke from the highways and streets of cities, replacing them
with engines that come close to cleaning the air they use. From the
very start, Isuzu has been at the forefront of that effort. Its
latest range of trucks with the new compliant engines started
arriving in October and are due to be released by the end of
December.
When emissions standards started to be introduced in the US,
manufacturers of cars and trucks complained loud and long to
regulators that the standards were too high and would cost too much
to introduce. In many cases their complaints were only part
bulldust, because the technology of efficient combustion demanded a
level of electronic control that simply wasn't available.
In 2007, Truckin' Life met with Isuzu engineers in Japan to
preview their biggest model change in decades, which included a
complete new range of engines that depended on a Diesel Particulate
Diffuser (DPD) to treat the exhaust emissions.
After overcoming some operational difficulties, the DPD has been
upgraded for 2011 to help deliver the cleanest diesel engines of
all Japanese manufacturers.
It's fair to say that the Global Financial Crisis has not been
kind to auto manufacturers, and truck builders in particular. But
Isuzu Australia's managing director and CEO, Yuki Murata is very
proud of the fact that his parent company is one of the few auto
companies in Japan to turn a profit during the GFC. With Australian
Isuzu sales currently ahead of both the US and Europe, IAL is a
jewel in the crown of Isuzu Motors globally.
Director of marketing Phil Taylor candidly admits that a
government decision helped Isuzu considerably when the last round
of emission regulations arrived. "Many government departments
specified Euro4 as the minimum emission standard for successful
tenderers," he said. "Our biggest competitor (Hino) only met the US
EPA04 standard, so they were excluded." Nice work if you can get
it.
Technically, the Isuzu solution pumps more exhaust gas back into
the combustion cycle. That generates more heat, so the gas is
cooled in an expanded cooler mounted on the intake side of the
engine. But it's not enough, so there's a fuel cooler on some
models that helps keep the injection rack temperature down as
well.
As an indicator of the fine balance between combustion treatment
and exhaust treatment, some of the Isuzu engines need more cooling
than others, and one, the 6UZ engine in the FX models, treats the
soot problem in the combustion chamber itself, so it doesn't need
the DPF.
Instead, it uses a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) to handle the
nitrous oxides. Additionally, instead of the periodic selfcleaning
that has caused some hiccups with the DPD, the DOC cleans itself
constantly so there's no need for catalyst regeneration programs.
It produces a little more soot, but still complies with ADR
80/03.
Tied to the engineering changes, Isuzu has introduced some
general spec upgrades. NH models now have passenger airbags, and
tapered leaf front springs are added, boosting front-end load
capacity by 30 per cent.
The cabs are also now ECE 29 cab strength compliant, a positive
step forward, although a little behind brands such as Kenworth,
which certified its range in 2005.
There are some new models, too. Crew cab and tipper variants of
the popular NLS200 are available, and the NCR 275 tipper loses the
4.5-tonne version and now features a 5.5-tonne GVM with an 8-tonne
GCM. In the FH models, there is now a 6500mm wheelbase FSR and a
6050mm FTR M that should minimise dealer chassis lengthening. The
FVR1000 Auto is now available for some of those tough tasks on
minesites, and the GVM on the FTS 850 has been raised from 13,500kg
to 13,900kg. The heavy-duty FX and Giga models remain unchanged, as
they were already meeting the ADR 80/03 levels previously, but
similar to the smaller trucks they've had some upgrade work take
place on the trucks to bring the equipment standard up to the rest
of the range. In short, Isuzu Australia is broadening the range
applications as well as meeting the highest standards of emissions
regulations.
At the release recently, we drove a wide range of models and can
report that as usual, an Isuzu will provide quiet, smooth and now
even cleaner operating across the weight range. We didn't have long
in each truck, but my favourite was the new FVR 1000 with the
Allison automatic transmission. The truck was loaded to 82 per cent
of GVM, but on hills surrounding the Brisbane metro area, it
bounded past the other models as the Allison 3000 box kept the
torque to the road without interruption.
Summary
The 4x4 was a pleasant surprise also, with an outstanding ride
for a dual range AWD truck. Prices on the range are between 1 and
1.5 per cent higher across the board, but most of that can be
accounted for in additional equipment.
No doubt in the next five to 10-year cycle we will see even
greater improvement in the quality of air surrounding truck
operations, and Isuzu will have had a lot to do with that.
