Plant Speed, a heavy haulage and abnormal load specialist based in Bristol, recently purchased a new Arocs 3246 rigid truck, making it the ninth Mercedes-Benz model in the company’s 16-vehicle fleet. The 32-tonne 8x2 truck features a BigSpace cab with flat floor, 10.7-litre OM 470 engine that produces 460 horsepower (343 kilowatts), and a rear axle that lifts “when the vehicle is running light” to “save on tyre wire,” Mercedes-Benz explains. It also has an Andover Trailers beavertail plant body, Fassi crane, and drawbar trailer-compatible coupling.
Recent, But Frequent Customer
Although Plant Speed has only been a Mercedes-Benz customer since 2013 when it purchased a 250-tonne Actros Titan 8x4 tractor unit, the company has continued to come back to the brand time and time again. Plant Speed added a 250-tonne Arocs model in 2015, two Arocs BigSpace models and two Actros GigaSpace models in 2018, and two more Actros models in early 2019. Bristol-based City West Commercials supplied all of the vehicles and handles technical assistance and parts as well, according to Mercedes-Benz.
“We’re favouring Mercedes-Benz strongly at the moment. Its products are fairly priced and exceptionally reliable, and our drivers like their big, comfortable cabs,” says Paul Lomas, managing director at Plant Speed. “The new 32-tonne rigid, meanwhile, has replaced an eight-wheeler from 2005. The Arocs has a much more spacious cab and a bigger crane. It’s a Swiss Army Knife-type of truck, capable of undertaking all sorts of tasks, and has barely stopped working since it landed.”
More On The Mercedes-Benz Arocs
The Mercedes-Benz Arocs is available as two models: the standard Arocs, which supports GCWs (gross combination weights) of between 18 and 41 tonnes and the Arocs SLT, which supports a GCW of up to 250 tonnes. Both models share the same cab variants, including the ClassicSpace S-cab, ClassicSpace and CompactSpace M-cabs, and ClassicSpace, StreamSpace, and BigSpace L-cabs. Various engine options range from 235 to 617 horsepower (175 to 460 kilowatts) and from 1,000 to 3,000 newton metres (737.6 to 2,212.7 pounds-foot) of torque. The Arocs is available as a tractor unit, rigid, dump truck, or concrete mixer with axle configurations ranging from 4x2 to 8x8.
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