Thursday, February 8, 2018

Make Mine a Mack - some assembly required


Three Renault Kerax 8x8 chassis arrived in Halifax by a ship a week or so ago.

The long awaited Canadian Army MSVS SMP (the original order goes back a long way, but was confirmed in 2015) which was to be delivered in 2017-2018 has started to trickle in - but from offshore.
If you recall the order was with Mack Defense for 1500 8x8s (with shift to 8x4 for the road), 300 trailers and 150 armoured cabs. The trucks were to be re-badged Renault Kerax (including a re-badged 11 liter Renault turbo-charged diesel), and were to be assembled in Ste-Claire, QC at the Prévost factory.
Prévost is the Canadian bus subsidiary of Volvo, as Renault is wholly owned by Volvo, and so is Mack.
Volvo must be taking a leaf out of its compatriot company Ikea, because the only assembly I see happening is definitely DIY - glue the letters M-A-C-K on the grille of a totally assembled Renault. Then bolt on the appropriate body. Is this what the gov was expecting - who knows. 
I propose to rename the truck the IKEARAX.

Headed out for Ste-Claire, QC this afternoon this Kerax looks road ready. Perhaps a 16 speed ZF manual transmission would not be as pleasant to drive as the Navistar hauling it.

No Mack badge evident but the Renault trademark is there, front and centre. The truck is chained down, but no wheel chocks or other rigging is apparent.

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