Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Made for US market Volvos are popular here too.

 

The W900, T600, and T800 are the exact same base truck cab. Only the hood is different on each model. T680 is of course much different. You are probably right it would be much easier to build a cookie cutter cab configuration that worked good enough for every possible application. I guess again maybe this is a cultural thing. Personally I don't think having more choices is a bad thing. And drivers here in NA really don't want cabovers so really what is the benefit of producing something customers aren't asking for? NA is a huge market so what is the issue with it being a different market from the rest of the world?

 

That's what all business owners really care about.
Those long-line or extended cab overs are not cheap and I maintain that cost is the biggest factor in the lack of use in NA.
Ride quality has been addressed , looks are debatable and fickle , also its really a myth that conventional trucks are more aerodynamic.
Why would you use something that costs more to purchase and operate if not needed.
Truck producers are not easily going to replace trucks that sell well with something that costs more to produce then fight for market share.
I personalty don't think EU trucks are ugly.
I like the look of the older style American trucks but just as many Americans associate cab overs with poor ride quality my memory of operating/driving older NA conventional trucks is tainted with memories of wrestling a steering wheel while having your ear drums blasted in a sauna.
When I see them I can even smell the hot diesel engine smell.
I understand they are no longer like this but it a natural response I get.

 

True, but are new NA trucks actually cheaper to maintain as EU trucks? They have the same electronics. When people speak about simple NA trucks, they are speaking about old trucks, someone on this forum is using 17 and 10 year old trucks!!

 

Just the simple manufacturing process of a tilting cab and all the connections make a conventional cheaper to make.
Then the cost of simple front end damage on a cab over vs a a conventional.
A conventional is cheaper to manufacture , maintain and in the event of front bump potentially much cheaper.

 

So people should throw away equipment every three years ? But you say trade value, no ,if everyone does it who will buy a used truck? As long as it is cost effective , why replace? Guess it would really disgust you to know one of my companies I had ran trucks 12 years . Retired the fleet at 4.3 million miles on them . They paid for them selves in just fuel savings . Guess it's insane to reduce overhead by using equipment till it no longer cost effective? Running 9 years with out 50 trucks with out a 1600 a month payment each. Only 80k a month , just foolishness? Pre emissions, heck pre computer. But fleet avg was above 10mpg. Who bought that fleet (all of them) ran them another 5 years.

 

Dear sdaniels, that is not the point. We were discussing possible development of new trucks, and new NA and EU trucks are equally complicated. So when people speak about how simple NA trucks are, they mean old NA trucks.

 

Caesar, there are things that are more simple in US trucks.

For example - disk brakes are option. EBS is option, ESP may be installed on truck with ABS

ECAS is option. Modern US trucktors have simple levelling valve with dump valve.

 

Who is to say I can't retro fit my 35 year old truck with disc brakes and other modern features?

 

Thank you Pablo.

Drum brakes have a big problem, the hotter they get, the worse their performance. The reason is very simple. When a drum is cold, a brake shoe will fit exactly against the inside of the drum. The whole shoe will be in touch with the drum. However when a drum gets hot, it will expand, just like almost any object expands when it gets hot. The brake shoe will not expand that much, so when the drum gets very hot only a small part of the friction surface of the shoe will touch the drum, the brakes will fade.

With a disk brake that can not happen, the surfaces are flat, and the disk may be glowing red, but the brake still works. There's a good reason that brakes are being replaced with disk brakes. Drum brakes should not be standard on a new truck. The electronic features you mentioned should also be standard, US truck manufacturers should agree to install them as standard if the legislator doesn't make it a rule they must be installed. You don't mess around with safety.