Euro 6 MAN bus chassis hits Oz

Penske Commerical Vehicles has premiered its first Euro 6 MAN bus chassis to arrive in Australia at the 2014 Australasia Bus & Coach Conference & Expo

Penske Commercial Vehicles, the Australian importer and distributor for MAN Truck & Bus, has showcased its first Euro 6 MAN bus chassis to reach Australia.

The city bus RC2 Lion's Chassis was on display at the joint Bus Industry Confederation and Queensland Bus Industry Council's 2014 Australasia Bus & Coach Conference & Expo, held on Queensland's Gold Coast over September 28 to October 1.

The Euro 6 RC2 chassis was shown alongside MAN's Euro 5 RR8 Lion's Chassis and a bodied example of the Euro 5 RR2 Lion's Chassis – PCV introduced the Lion's Chassis mid-year to replace MAN's older bus chassis.

The RR8 is suited to school bus and long-distance charter applications while the RR2 covers these fields in addition to coach applications.

Cris Gillespie, General Manager, Marketing at Penske Commercial Vehicles, said the Euro 6 RC2 Lion's Chassis on show would soon be fitted out by body building heavyweight Custom Coaches before delivery to a major MAN customer for trial at the end of this year.

While PCV does import some complete bodied MAN buses – a value-focused option from Egypt MAN calls 'Complete Solution' – the bulk of its sales comprise chassis only.

The Euro 6 RC2 Lion's Chassis on display was fitted with MAN's 10.5-litre D2066 six-cylinder turbo-diesel. A choice of ZF's Ecolife or Voith's Diwa gearboxes is available and it rides on full air suspension and hypoid axles fitted with four-wheel disc brakes. An electronic braking system is standard while ESP is an option.

"In the 10.5-litre engine you’ve got a choice of 320hp, 360hp or 400hp and there's also a 7-litre, 290hp option for smaller buses," says Gillespie.

"The major difference of the Lion's Chassis over its predecessor is in the way that MAN lays the chassis out in terms of the modules – you have the ability to move the font axle, the rear axle and the driver's workplace module, and that can bring down a lot of the costs for body builders and subsequently reduce our cost of sale."

The RC2 displayed on the Gold Coast blends the benefits of the Lion's Chassis with Euro 6 emissions compliance, arrived at through the adoption of new exhaust gas technology (the latest Selective Catalytic Reduction and Continuously Regenerating Trap systems), a low-temperature cooling system, a two-stage turbocharger with charge air intercooling and a third-generation common-rail system, among others.

Gillespie said there's been strong interest in MAN's Euro 6 offering from the Australian bus industry.

"The bus guys always jump the gun on this sort of stuff because they generally have a fairly long buying cycle and a lot of the councils like to buy the newest and best thing they can get," he said.

"They [the councils] are all about the environment, so if they can get Euro 6 they'll take it. And then of course there are also numerous council customers and national fleets who want to buy Euro 6 to future-proof their fleets."

Euro 6 MAN bus chassis hits Oz

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