PORTLAND, Ore. – Nov. 22, 2019 – Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA) announced today the availability of the right-hand drive (RHD) Freightliner Cascadia for Australian and New Zealand markets.
The Cascadia is expected to deliver class-leading fuel efficiency, comfort, connectivity and the most advanced safety technology of all trucks available in Australia and New Zealand. The Cascadia, the best-selling Class 8 truck in the United States, received substantial investment to develop the RHD version, and ensure it was ready for tough Australian and New Zealand environments and use cases.
“Our reputation for best real cost of ownership is a direct result of listening to our customers,” said Roger Nielsen, president and CEO, Daimler Trucks North America. “For demanding Australian and New Zealand conditions, we doubled-down on our customer focus and listened to the voice of customers in the region to bring industry-leading technologies and the single best truck money can buy to markets that are very important to the company.”
As part of DTNA’s commitment to delivering trucks with the best available safety, efficiency and uptime enablers in all countries of sale, an international on-road testing program was conducted in both the United States and Australia. All on-road testing followed extensive development work performed at DTNA’s Portland, Oregon product validation and engineering center and dedicated track testing at the company’s Madras, Oregon proving grounds.
The Australia Pacific Cascadia will be available with two efficient and powerful Detroit engines. The 16-liter DD16 with up to 600 horsepower and 2050 lb-ft and the 13-liter DD13 with up to 505 horsepower and 1850 lb-ft. Available transmissions include the efficient Detroit DT12 Automated Manual Transmission or an 18-speed Eaton manual transmission.
The Cascadia introduction heralds the local arrival of Detroit Connect, which enables remote vehicle updates, fault code diagnosis and repair recommendations, OEM analysis of fuel economy and safety performance in addition to traditional telematics services such as GPS route tracking and incident alerts. With Detroit Connect, fleet owners can even remotely alter the truck’s top speed and idle shutdown temperature.
At launch, Freightliner will offer the Cascadia as either 116 or 126-inch BBC units (Bumper to Back of Cab measurement), with everything from day cabs to 36-inch, 48-inch, 60-inch and 60-inch raised roof cab options.
The Cascadia is now available to order through Freightliner’s vast Australian and New Zealand dealership network.
