Mercedes-Benz’s new Actros has been elected International Truck of the Year 2020 by a jury of 24 commercial vehicle editors, representing 24 major trucking magazines from throughout Europe.
The prestigious award was handed over to Prof. Uwe Baake, Head of Product Engineering Mercedes-Benz Trucks, during the press day of Solutrans, the biennial International Show for Road and Urban Transport Solutions in Lyon, France.
Based on the International Truck of the Year rules, the annual award is presented to the truck introduced into the market in the previous 12 months which has made the greatest contribution to road transport efficiency. Several important criteria are considered, including technological innovation, comfort, safety, driveability, fuel economy, environmental footprint and total cost of ownership.
Mercedes-Benz has built upon the technical strengths of its current range to deliver a new truck that introduces substantial improvements in crucial areas, such as partial automated driving, expanded cruise and transmission control systems, digital human-machine interface and several state-of-the art safety systems.
Summing-up the jury vote, International Truck of the Year Chairman Gianenrico Griffini commented: “With the introduction of the new Actros, Mercedes-Benz has delivered a state-of the-art heavy duty truck that paves the way towards autonomous driving vehicles of the future”.
Alexander Helfritz, the DT Dobie Sales and Marketing Director, commented, “We are delighted that Mercedes-Benz has won the 2020 International Truck of the Year Award for the new Actros prime mover. This supports the popularity of the Actros in Kenya which currently is the sales leader in the prime mover segment.”
“Transporters know a truck only earns money when it is up and running and they like the reliability, long life and good resale value of Mercedes-Benz trucks.”
“These attributes are achieved by a very thorough development programme. This subjected the new Actros to more than 60 million test kilometres. The unrelenting test programmes included summer and winter trials at extreme temperatures, millions of kilometres on rough roads and endurance testing”.
