PRODUCT LAUNCHES IN MONTREAL

April 25, 2007 Vol. 3, No. 8

Don’t want to boast, but the Expocam 2007 truck show held in Montreal April 12-14 – a show we now own here at Newcom Business Media, and which we operated for the first time – was a pretty big success. Sure, there were nearly 18,000 folks milling about amongst the trucks and trailers and shiny things, and that figure blew previous records out of the water, but here I’m judging success by the number of new products introduced at the show. Namely, quite a few, which is unique for Canadian shows.

GM of Canada unveiled its all-new 2008 GMC W-Series medium-duty trucks at the show. The Isuzu-built low-cab-forward truck delivers more cab room, enhanced safety features, and more power. And for the first time in Canada, the market-leading series now offers a gas engine in the W3500 and W4500 in addition to diesel models. There’s a four-door crew cab version too, pictured here.

Interestingly, just a week later Isuzu announced that its line of class 3-5 low-cab-forward trucks will be available
across Canada under its own name starting in June. The company has established a Canadian distributor, Isuzu Commercial Truck of Canada Inc. Based in Toronto, ICTC will import and sell Isuzu commercial vehicles and provide parts and service support after establishing a dealer network — in addition to the existing GMC W-Series outlets. The vehicles will be imported from the U.S., with projected 2007 sales for the combined GMC and Isuzu networks of 1000 units. The goal is 2000 sales by 2010.

The little Japanese Jimmy wasn’t the only introduction at Expocam. Seen for the first time anywhere was the Volvo VHD 430, a version of the company’s rugged vocational model with the addition of a 42-inch sleeper. The VHD was previously only available as a daycab. The VHD 430 is highly customizable and comes as a 6×4, 8×4 or 8×6 tractor or truck, in axle-forward and axle-back configurations.

I’ve offered further detail on these two trucks in the individual items below.

Show visitors also saw two other trucks on display for the first time in Canada: the Peterbilt 389, which replaces the venerable and much desired but now discontinued Model 379, plus the class-4/5 Sterling Bullet based on the Dodge Ram 4500/5500 pickup, with the Cummins 6.7L ISB engine that already satisfies EPA 2010 emissions standards.