Mercedes-Benz unveiled two new vehicles at the show – in the guise of the Arocs heavy-duty construction truck and the new Atego which has been developed for the medium-duty segment. Six Arocs configured specifically for heavy-duty construction site transport showed what a powerful, robust and efficient construction vehicle looks like in 2013. As such, they are continuing a Mercedes-Benz success story which extends back over more than 110 years in the field of construction vehicles.
The Arocs showcased the merits of this lineage in particularly imposing heavy-duty style. With its high-torque, resilient BlueEfficiency Power engines, spanning an output range from 175 kW (238 hp) to 460 kW (625 hp), and its robust, solid chassis, suspension and frame design, a defining feature of the Arocs is its exceptional load-carrying capacity. And this capacity certainly stands it in good stead in view of the types of use revealed by recent customer surveys ranging from construction sites (45 per cent) at a gross permissible vehicle weight of up to 41 tonnes, through construction materials transportation (30 per cent) to concrete transport (15 per cent).
Specifically in the area of ready-mixed concrete, the Arocs sets the benchmark in its payload-optimised “Loader” variant, with a transport volume of 8 cubic metres.
The Arocs Grounder comes up trumps for customers requiring particularly high levels of stability and robustness in off-road use. Assets on the environmental and efficiency fronts are the most eco-friendly emission control technology to date in compliance with Euro VI and a reduction in fuel consumption of up to five per cent.
The same applies to the equally new Atego for the light- and medium-duty segment: 42 basic model variants ex-factory, four cabs in three lengths, a wealth of different wheelbases and newly developed Euro VI-compliant BlueEfficiency Power engines with four and six cylinders ranging in output from 115 kW (156 hp) to 220 kW (299 hp).
With these key features of the new Atego range, it is a popular choice in the ancillary building trades, such as roofing, scaffolding or carpentry. For the transportation of building material in difficult terrain, the Atego is also available in all-wheel-drive variants with permanent or manually selectable all-wheel drive.
At the smaller end of the range of vehicles for the construction industry, the Mercedes-Benz Citan was on show at bauma for the first time. The Citan brings small construction crews, tradesmen and materials for construction and finishing work directly to where they are needed, including environmentally sensitive inner-city locations, thanks to its highly efficient and low-emission engines.
Like every Mercedes-Benz product, the Citan comes with a comprehensive scope of safety equipment, such as ADAPTIVE ESP, which is able to identify the load situation and adapt intervention by the control system accordingly.