Japanese manufacturer, UD Trucks has officially launched the Croner, a newly created medium-duty truck platform for emerging markets, over the course of two days of activation activities in Dubai.
The Croner comes in three gross vehicle weight models from 10.4t to 18t: the MKE, LKE and PKE; with a range of wheelbase variants from 3,450mm up to as much 6,500mm, for a total range of up to 21 different configurations for suiting the demands across a range of industries.
Named after the mythological Greek god of time, Cronos, the motto for the Croner is to ‘make every moment count’, which underlines the manufacturer’s emphasis on the truck’s reliability and versatility and as a result capacity to deliver greater productivity and superior uptime.
For the launch, the Croner was unveiled to UD customers at a gala dinner on May 9 attended by UD executives, the Japanese ambassador to the UAE, and UD dealers and distributors from across the Middle East. On May 10, attendees returned to test drive the truck at Dubai Autodrome.
UD Trucks has realised its medium-duty platform over the course of a three-year development period involving 30,000 hrs of component and product testing and one million kilometres of trials on public roads in countries including the UAE.
The Croner’s Euro III GH5E and GH8E engines equipped by the range in the Middle East come in two variants each, delivering engine power ratings of 180HP, 210HP, 250HP and 280 HP, and respective torque ratings of 750Nm, 825Nm, 950Nm and 1,050Nm.
The full range can come equipped with UD’s in-house manual transmissions, and in the MKE and LKE models, can also come equipped with Allison 2500 Series six-speed automatic transmissions.
The trucks come with anti-lock brake systems (ABS) as standard and air suspension is available as an option on all variants to safeguard the customer’s cargo when travelling on rough road conditions.
In a statement, Mourad Hedna, president of UD Trucks Middle East, noted: “UD Trucks understands that more time spent on the road and less time in the workshop drives success for our customers’ businesses. It is our aim for Croner to make every moment count, through maximising productivity and minimising downtime on every run our customers make.”
The history of UD Trucks as a brand dates back to 1955, when its founder Kenzo Adachi developed his first 200HP two-stroke uniflow diesel (UD) engine in Japan.
Kenzo Adachi subsequently built his first fully fledged truck in 1958, tagged with the slogan “the truck that the world needs today”, and the company continued to take this ethos to heart today, with its name UD coming to stand for its ongoing mission: delivering ultimate dependability.
Beyond the truck itself, UD Trucks works hardto deliver comprehensive aftersales services, dubbed the ‘UD Extra Mile Support’, and including its UD Genuine Service and Parts, UD Driver Training, and UD Trust Service Agreements. These have been developed to ensure its trucks, such as Croner, stay in optimum condition, and go the extra mile – saving minutes, hours, and days over the years.
