Truck Model Roundup
Cargo Vans
Full-size panel vans tote special equipment, and builders keep a wary eye on that Euro van.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
2004 is an evolutionary model year for cargo and walk-in vans. In recent months, products have been refined and expanded, and deals continue to be sweetened with various incentives (as always, "see your local dealer").
Aside from anticipated higher sales due to the expanding economy, three trends appear amid the ongoing competition: emergence of the Eurovan, special equipment offers and rapid development of hybrid powertrains.
Full-size American vans continue to be bought in large numbers — well over 300,000 are likely to be sold this year. Buyers include Jacks of all trades and carriers of rum, groceries, flowers, parcels, people and whatever else needs to get to customers. These almost always have large-displacement gasoline and diesel engines — although modern technology has allowed fewer cubic inches to do the same work and get better economy to boot. Truck operators use panel vans and bodyless cutaway chassis, and these account for the bulk of sales in this vehicle type, which also includes passenger "wagons."
Walk-in vans, with their squared-off, high-roof, high-cube bodies and heavier duty chassis, go about their mostly urban duties with small four- and six-cylinder diesels. These are entirely adequate for propulsion, though at least one builder is standard with gasoline V-8s. Diesels have undergone modernization to meet increasingly stringent emissions requirements and to improve fuel economy.
Hail, Hybrids
Hybrid powertrains — either diesel-electric or diesel-hydraulic — are undergoing rapid development and are already appearing in walk-in vans. Their city routines allow capturing of kinetic energy during braking, recycling it to "launch" trucks from dead stops. The trucks are also large enough that extra equipment can be built in without reducing cargo capacity.
Between now and this summer, FedEx Express will take delivery of 20 hybrid vans assembled by Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. To be used in regular service throughout the country, they'll have four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz diesels, six-speed Eaton automated mechanical transmissions, and an Eaton electric propulsion system. Other vehicles are also being prepared for other parcel delivery fleets (see January HDT).
Deals For Tradesmen
Tradesmen are big buyers of panel vans, and several builders seek their business with special deals and features. Ford allows a buyer $1,200 worth of exterior racks or interior shelving and cabinets, or a 50% reduction on dealer-installed equipment, or $500 worth of Milwaukee Electric Tools.
GM has a comparable power tool arrangement with DeWalt, and offers the unique flip-up access panels on short-wheelbase models. Locks on those panels can now be opened with the same key fob that opens side door locks (until '04, a separate key fob was needed).
Workhorse Custom Chassis includes purpose-built shelving and cabinets in some of its QuickSpex models, which are designed and built for specific applications. The program has caught on strongly and accounts for the majority of orders for its complete vans, with bodies supplied by sister company Union City Body. For power, Workhorse continues to emphasize gasoline engines and remains standard with GM's Vortec 4800 V-8, with larger engines optional. Gas makes more sense than costly diesels for low-mileage uses, such as repairmen who need space for tools, parts and work benches and park their vans for hours at job sites.
Safety concerns caused GM to make electronic stability control standard on its '04 window vans. This follows some criticism that such vehicles are top heavy. StabiliTrak, as it's called, works with anti-lock braking systems to lessen the chances that novice drivers will turn too sharply for the speeds they're going. StabiliTrak is not offered on cargo vans because budget-minded buyers probably wouldn't want to pay for it, GM believes. Also, drivers of cargo vans tend to be regulars who are familiar with their trucks and less likely to get into trouble.
The Sprinter Cometh
The European-style DaimlerChrysler Sprinter — a cross between cargo vans and walk-ins — has been well received by the market, says DC Vans, which imports kits and complete vehicles from Germany. Aside from volume buys by FedEx, United Parcel Service and DHL, customers include repairmen, florists, caterers and telecommunications companies. Police departments have bought some for use as paddy wagons and SWAT team transports.
About 250 Dodge and 71 Freightliner dealers together sold approximately 10,000 Sprinters in '03, and considerably more sales are forecast for this year. Some of the Freightliner outlets want to keep it beyond 2006, when the schedule calls for Dodge to have it exclusively; an extension for the Freightliner dealers may or may not happen.
The Dodge division of DaimlerChrysler dropped its B series Ram Vans last fall, and while some units may still be on dealers' lots, the Sprinter will soon be the only van they have to sell. Doesn't that make the Sprinter the Ram Van's replacement? "No," insists DC Vans spokesman Randy Jones, because "the Sprinter is an entirely different vehicle." It's bigger than traditional full-size vans but smaller and more nimble than walk-in vans, and features a sprightly but highly economical automotive style powertrain.
Ford and GM are keeping a wary eye on the upstart import. But they note that DC Vans last year canceled plans to build a U.S. assembly plant, and that their own American cargo vans vastly outsell Sprinters.
"We see them running all over Dearborn, whether it's from Federal Express or somebody else," says Joe Castalli, Ford's director of commercial truck marketing. "They're not selling many of them yet, but it is a threat to us and we'll watch it closely." Says John White, GM's product manager for full-size vans, "We've been selling far more [Chevrolet] Express vans and [GMC] Savanas than they've been selling Sprinters. But we continue to watch it" and, like Ford, could bring a European-style van to North America "if a good business case can be made for it."
Product Round-up
Ford Econoline
Ford's Econoline series grabbed almost half the market for all types of vans last year, and also claimed its 25th straight year of sales leadership in this truck segment. Variety is one reason: It has E-150 through E-450 panel-van and cutaway models covering Classes 1 through 4, and is the only van offering both gasoline and diesel V-8 power. In mid-January, the smaller but more powerful six-liter Power Stroke diesel, coupled to a five-speed TorqShift automatic, replaced the venerable but often-updated 7.3 Power Stroke in the E series. A segment exclusive, Ford says, is double-wall construction on panel vans to keep cargo-caused dents from marring exterior sheet metal.
Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana
GM offers 1500, 2500 and 3500 series vans sold through Chevy and GMC dealers They use Vortec gasoline V-8s and Hydramatic transmissions. Among advantages touted by GM are more leg and foot room than competitor models and flip-up panels on short-wheelbase models, called the Savana Pro by GMC and Express Access by Chevy. Refinements include an additional grab handle on the passenger-side A-pillar. Cab-chassis models of the heavier series are also available, and there's a cargo version of the Astro mid-size van with the 4.3-liter V6 in RWD or AWD.
DaimlerChrysler Vans
The German-sourced Sprinter van comes in two roof heights and several wheelbases, in cargo and passenger versions, as a new motor home version upfitted by Airstream, and, starting in March, as a cab-chassis for the fitting of specialty bodies. Its powertrain includes a 154-hp Mercedes-Benz five-cylinder diesel and five-speed automatic transmission, and its cab is more car-like than other vans. A possible future addition is a gasoline engine, also from M-B.
Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp.
FCCC builds the lion's share of diesel-powered walk-in van chassis. Its MT35 and 45 are now standard on Mercedes-Benz four-cylinder diesels, which for '04 have exhaust-gas recirculation and come in two displacements with 170 and 190 hp. These and the Cummins ISB-6 are optional on the heavier MT55, which is standard with Cummins' ISB-4 . About 95% are sold with Allison automatics, and FCCC might offer the M-B Automatic Gear Shift, a six-speed automated mechanical transmission newly available in other Freightliner-family vehicles.
International Truck & Engine
International's Class 5 through 7 model 1652 SC (stripped chassis) offers six wheelbases and seven axles with GVWs of 21,500 to 28,000 pounds. It uses International's own six-liter VT-365 V8 diesel (aka Ford Power Stroke) and five-speed Spicer manual or Allison automatic transmissions. It can be custom built or buyers can choose a Diamond Spec version with twice the standard warranty coverage and roadside breakdown service for the vehicle's life.
Workhorse Custom Chassis
Workhorse builds the P series, with five wheelbases and GVW ratings from 8,600 to 16,000 pounds, and the W series, with three wheelbases and a GVW of 19,500 pounds. It offers three GM Vortec gasoline V8s, plus a GM-designed 6.5-liter V8 diesel and the Cummins ISB-4. Transmissions are Hydra-matic and Allison automatics and a New Venture manual. Workhorse's QuickSpex program offers complete chassis-body combos set up for eight different applications.
