The annual September truck show in the east of the Netherlands has become a must-visit. Well-organized, held at a perfect location, and featuring a wide variety of modern, heavy vehicles. I’ve already highlighted several of them over the past months, here’s the grand tour.
2021 Scania R450 6×2/4 tractor.
2018 Scania S650 V8 6×2 hooklift truck.
2024 Mercedes-Benz Actros 6×2/4 tractor.
2018 Renault T 470 4×2 tractor. Gross vehicle weight rating 19 tonnes (41,900 lbs), maximum gross combination weight 50 tonnes (110,200 lbs); the usual numbers in the heavy-duty class of 4×2 tractor units.
2018 Mercedes-Benz Actros 4×2 truck with a swap body and Dautel slider lift gate.
2021 Volvo FH 6×4 logging truck. A self loader, the norm in this line of business.
And routinely towing a full trailer during the workweek (courtesy of Hagedoorn rondhout transport).
2017 MAN TGX 4×2 tractor.
2024 DAF XG+ 530 FAS 6×2 hooklift truck. Its engine, the 12.9 liter, 530 DIN-hp MX-13 is PACCAR’s biggest and most powerful in-house machine. Down Under, DAF’s top model is available with Cummins’ latest 15 liter turbodiesel, good for 660 hp.
2024 Volvo FM 10×4*6 hooklift truck with an HMF grab crane (hiding between the cab and dump body container). The exact same 47 tonnes set-up as these two.
One MAN doesn’t go with the flow.
2018 Volvo FH 6×2/4 tractor.
2015 Scania R580 V8 6×2 truck with a temperature controlled body, towing a 2005 Draco center-axle trailer, carrying a 2019 Scania R500 4×2 tractor.
1983 Scania 142H V8 Torpedo 6×2 tractor with an aftermarket raised roof. Scania’s 2-series and subsequent 3-series were never offered with such a tall cab.
2017 Scania R450 6×2/4 tractor.
Three Volvo FMX 10×4/6 roll-off tankers. Not used for hauling foodstuffs, I’ll give you that.
2023 MAN TGX 4×2 tractor.
DAF, Volvo, Renault, and Scania tractors in this line-up. We’re missing Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Iveco, and Ford.
Zooming in on the Renault, a 2018 T-High 4×2 tractor. The bull bar is an appropriate accessory, given the owner’s last name.
Meet the Van de Krol family. One Dutchman, the others are Swedes.
Li’l Bull is a 2024 DAF XF 530 FTG 6×2/4 tractor.
2019 Scania G500 XT 10×4*6 flatbed truck with a Palfinger Epsilon crane.
2024 Scania R500 4×2 tractor.
2016 Volvo FH 8×2/4 truck with a cable roll-off system.
2015 Volvo FH 6×2/4 tractor.
2008 Scania R480 6×2 hooklift truck, owned by an old-iron farmer (a synonym for a scrap metal dealer).
2022 Volvo FM 6×2 truck with a Klaas cherry picker. The blue van is a Ford Transit Custom, operating between the compact Transit Connect and full-size Transit.
2012 Scania R620 V8 6×2 tractor.
2021 Schmitz Cargobull semi-trailer with a temperature controlled body and Dhollandia slider lift gate, coupled to a 2022 MAN TGX 4×2 tractor.
Müller’s rig definitely hauls foodstuffs. Its daily freight must be voluminous rather than heavy, given the modest gross combination weight rating of 37.5 tonnes (82,700 lbs). The axle configuration says it all.
2008 Scania R500 V8 6×2*4 hooklift truck.
Hammertime!
We must not forget to include Iveco, so here’s a 2024 S-Way 440 4×2 tractor to mark the end of the tour.
An amazing, unique, and far different world from the American trucking industry. Thanks for the show!
So does Scania have that big of a market share over in Europe?? Or are they just over-represented at truck shows??? From my understanding they are a good bit more $$$ than a Volvo/MAN/etc.
Ive been watching Bruce Wilson’s youtube channel, he owns a small trucking company based in Tennessee not too far from where I live. He has a couple older Scanias he imported. Big news is his brand new one sent over by Scania themselves as a PR/market research idea. Specced as close to a typical American truck as possible.
Hes made a bunch of vids about it, the technology is IMPRESSIVE. He also has a 2023ish Peterbilt 389, fully decked out. Comparing the two its evident the Peterbilt is at least 10-15 years behind the Scania on the tech front. He also states that the Scania is so much nicer to drive and way more comfortable.
DAF is the undisputed market leader in the Netherlands, around 1/3th market share (since many years). I zoom in on some of them soon enough.
That being said, Scanias -specifically the ones with a V8- are often owned by owner-operators and smaller hauling companies, exactly the owners who show up at such events. FYI, only Scania offers a V8 these days. On a related note, Traton’s latest 13 liter 6-cylinder is used across the board now (so by Scania, MAN, and International in the US).
A Scania V8 will cost you, but they also happen to have the lowest depreciation of them all. Older ones even end up in Canada, exported from northwestern Europe.
Given the repetitive styling on these cabovers, would be interesting if some manufacturers offered more choices, reflecting a classic design. Or retro design elements.
Classic? Retro? You can go all the way (to the past) by having your cabover converted into a conventional.
That is very cool! Thank you.
Magnificent photos of these beautiful European trucks. Special mention for the yellow and red Volvo.
Congrats Johannes!.
Thanks Nick! At first I was a bit confused by ‘the yellow and red Volvo’, but it’s there alright, in the tractors’ line-up.
It’s from Denmark, here’s a picture I took in September 2023 at the Trucks@Twenthe event, the same Volvo.
Nice trucks, everything except the Renault is common here but most tractor units are 8×4, Yeah DAFs can have the Cummins option and a proper Road ranger 18 speed on either engine choice, the PACCAR six is the one I’d choose just for reliability and ease of service/ diagnosis/repair, Cummins are a PITA to have to deal with, they guard their software jealously so trucks with engine faults sits at the dealer until Cummins send a tech to diagnose the issue which can take days,
Scanias are nice to drive but over here are speed limited on the 3 top gears so hill climb transmission mode is deleted on those gears, I dont like the herky jerky AMT trans they have either, Volvo does that much better,
Yeah Ive seen Bruce Wilson and his 770 it really is decades ahead of US brands in driver comfort and driveability but Scanias can be got it poverty pak including a manual trans behind the V8 we had a couple of 500hp manuals on garbage to landfill runs, they were ok while on Scan plan but once that expires you may as well scrap them if you cant find a competent independant repair shop, I was the maintenance/repair drive at that place so I got the see the problems with keeping that fleet in running order we had various brands Freightliner, Volvo, Scania, CAT, Sterling, Western Star, Mercedes landfill work smashes them all to pieces.
Bryce, I was referring to the DAF XG+ 660 with the new Cummins X15D engine. As far as I know, it’s not available in NZ (yet?).
PACCAR & DAF finally have a ‘prime mover’ that can face the 600+ hp Scanias and Volvos in Australia. The XG+ cab is substantially bigger and roomier, by the way.
I’ll echo others on how these are so different from what I see in the US. Most rigs Gere are pulled with conventional tractors with sleeper cabs on really long wheelbase.