Stellar TMax mechanics body on a class 8 Mack chassis is on display at Mack’s stand at the Work Truck Show.Photo: Keith Norbury
Mack Trucks has introduced medium duty class 6 and 7 trucks into the work truck market.
The new Mack MDs had what Jonathan Randall, senior vice-president of North American sales and marketing for Mack, described as their “first public viewing” during a press conference at the 2020 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis this March.
“Why did we do this?” Randall said. “Number 1, our customers asked for it. Number 2, our
Jonathan Randall, senior vice-president of North American sales and marketing for Mack Trucks, addresses a press conference at the 2020 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis.Photo: Keith Norbury
dealers asked for it. Number 3, it’s a good strong market and it makes sense for Mack to become a full-line class 6 through 8 supplier to the industry. Our customers are already there. This market is fairly stable to about 90,000 to 100,000 trucks a year. And it just adds to the ability for Mack to service the industry.”
The MD class 6 has a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 25,995 pounds, meaning it doesn’t require a commercial driver’s license for non-hazardous payloads. The MD class 7, which has a GVWR of 33,000 pounds, does require a CDL. But both trucks are exempt from federal excise tax, Roy Horton, director of product strategy with Mack Trucks, told the press conference.
Aimed at four segments
The MD trucks are aimed at four market segments: van/refrigerated; stake/flatbed; dump, and tank. Randall said those segments make up 70 to 75 percent of the class 6/7 market, with class 6 trucks accounting for about two-thirds of that share.
“We’ll get into others as time goes on,” Horton said when asked about the potential for upfitting
Roy Horton, director of product strategy with Mac Trucks, talks about Mack’s new medium duty trucks.Photo: Keith Norbury
crane and mechanics truck bodies on the MD series trucks. “But out of the gate, we’re targeting those four.”
Randall pointed out, however, that the MD trucks offer clean frame rails and clear backs-of-cab, which should fit those applications. “And certainly we’ll be willing to work with any of the bodybuilders who want to jump on this.”
It also bears noting that Mack’s Work Truck Show stand featured a Stellar Industries Inc. TMax mechanics body on a class 8 Granite axle-forward Mack chassis.
And earlier in the press conference, Horton had noted that the MD trucks have an industry standard 34-inch frame rail width, “which is fantastic for our bodybuilders and body applications.” Frames of 120,000 pounds per square inch are also “standard across the board.”
Feature rich
Other features of the MD trucks include a Cummins B6.7 engine that produces 220 to 300 horsepower and 560 to 660 foot-pounds of torque, Allison six-speed automatic transmissions, and Meritor front and rear axles. The MD design is also inspired by Mack’s Anthem line that was introduced two years ago.
“So this is a feature-rich product offering in the medium duty market. This is not a stripped down chassis or stripped down cab,” Horton said.
Mack’s most recent entry into the class 6/7 space was nearly two decades ago with a cabover model called Freedom, according to various reports in the trade press.
The MD trucks, with their conventional cabs, also utilize Geotab Go to communicate to Mack’s uptime center, as well as Mack OneCall and Mack ASIST. What the MD trucks don’t have at present is an advanced driver assistance system, or ADAS, such as Bendix Wingman. “But certainly, it’s something we pay attention to very closely,” Randall said. “And so as we progress, we’ll probably be adding or we’ll be looking to add those things. Coming out of the box right now we don’t.”
New plant ready
Mack had planned to begin full production on the MD trucks by this July at a new $13 million 280,000 square foot plant employing 250 workers in Roanoke Valley, Virginia. But that was before the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the world economy.
At the March 4 press conference, Randall was still bullish on the work truck market and was forecasting 240,000 class 8 units for the North American free trade agreement markets in 2020.
“There are still deals happening,” Randall said. “When you talk about, again, our core segments, construction is strong, housing is strong, road construction remains good.”
The very next day, however, Mack, which is part of the Volvo Group, announced that it was scaling back its participation at ConExpo-Con/Agg the following week in Las Vegas “due to concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak.”
— Keith Norbury