Specialist commercial vehicle journalists from 24 European countries voted for the Mercedes-Benz Actros to be crowned Truck of the Year of the fifth time. Professor Dr. Uwe Baake, Head of Development at Mercedes-Benz Trucks, received the award during the press days of the Solutrans international commercial vehicle show for road and urban transport in Lyon.
The truck’s success story started back in 1997 when the first Actros was released and the subsequent vehicle generation also brought home the award. With a total of nine victories, Mercedes-Benz is now the most successful brand in the fight for the Truck of the Year accolade. The International Truck of the Year jury (ITotY) votes based on innovative technological developments.
In line with the jury rules, the title is awarded every year to the truck which makes the biggest contribution towards road transport innovations that are advantageous to the economy, emissions, safety, driveability and comfort of vehicles. The Mercedes-Benz Trucks flagship scores points above all in its intrinsic value: the majority of the innovations were developed with the precise aim of delivering palpable advancement to drivers, customers and society as a whole.
The new Mercedes-Benz Actros provides appropriate answers to topics like safety, efficiency and comfort with a multitude of new features, including: the Multimedia Cockpit, MirrorCam instead of exterior mirrors, partially automated driving with Active Drive Assist or further advanced safety systems such as the fifth-generation Active Brake Assist, and the further-improved Sideguard Assist.
Apart from that, the International Truck of the Year journalists had plenty of praise for the extended functionality of the forward-looking Predictive Powertrain Control (PPC) cruise control system which can now be used on winding arterial routes. Equally commended was the completely digital Multimedia Cockpit which has replaced the conventional instrument cluster in the new Actros.
The President of the international jury, Gianenrico Griffini, summarised the jury’s votes: “With the introduction of the new Actros, Mercedes-Benz has brought a highly modern truck onto our roads which smooths out the path to achieving automated driving in the future.”
