Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

@98989 , Any idea how much extra for the 6x4 versions??

 

Check PM

 

If you want cheap prime movers with righthanddrive.....the UK.
With the fall off the £.
(Don't know what the Aussi $ is doing.)

 

Again, you have no idea what you are talking about. By law every truck in north America is inspected annually.

 

There's another problem as well. Let's compare the US branch of Paccar with the EU branch. When you look at the US branch, you see a bewildering array of model lines:

• Kenworth:
• T680
• T880
• K370
• K270
• T370
• T270
• T170
• W900
• T800
• T470
• T440
• Peterbilt:
• 579
• 567
• 389
• 348
• 337
• 330
• 325
• 220
• 367
• 365
• 520
• 579
• 567
• 365
• 520

This is the European line-up:

• DAF
• XF
• CF
• LF

Now, I'm sure that many of those US trucks are closely related, but so many different cabs etc. is extremely inefficient. Combine that with a choice of third party engines, axles, and suspensions, and it even gets worse. Yes, you have a lot of choice as a customer, but you pay a hefty price for that privilege.

Take for instance the Kenworth K370 and T370. Same kind of truck, but the T version has a conventional cab, that is made by Kenworth in rather small numbers. The K370 utilizes a cab made by Renault for Renault, Volvo and DAF (and maybe others) in large quantities. The only difference between the brands are some bold on plastic parts etc. That cab is much cheaper, so why don't they drop the T370 (and T270, T170) and just use the mass produced K cab for that range of trucks. Tell the customers it will save them thousands of dollars, and they are happy.

The same can be done with Peterbilt as well.

Another example, the MX-13 engine. This is the US line up of MX-13 engines:

https://www.paccarpowertrain.com/media/2662/2017-mx-13-spec-sheet-092216.pdf

and this is the European line up:

https://www.daf.com/~/media/files/daf trucks/trucks/euro 6/engines/mx-13/paccar-mx-13-euro-6-engine-64739-en.pdf

The US has 7 versions, Europe only 3. Why???

I wonder what would happen if Paccar would rationalize its product lines, and at the same time drop its prices dramatically. I think many customers would happily trade (too) much choice for lower prices.

 

Thank you, we already covered that. Read the thread please.

 

I don't blame you for not understanding the bridge laws , they are convoluted . You need 51ft between the steer axel and the rear axel on a 5 axel semi to get to 80000 lb gross.
A short wheel base cabover won't get there with many of our trailers .
You could stretch the frame ,on a cabover,stretching the frame on a cabover defeats the purpose of a cabover, or just have a hood on the tractor we chose the hood , for ease of access to engine , ride comfort and driver access.

 

Cabs are pretty much the same model to model. The difference is in the hood design, steer axle location, exhaust routing etc.

As for engine options, all we have now are proprietary engines or ISX. The days of having 8 or so engine options have been gone since the mid 2000's.

 

If they could limit choice they would , but if they don't provide a product people want someone else will.
They make all these models to keep market share

 

To much labor that may be true , we have powerful unions to deal with and I'm sure they have something to say about automation replacing jobs .
As far as quality , I've put over 1million miles on each of my last two new trucks , with out having to repair or replace any major component , seems pretty dependable to me .