Is the rush by truck makers to gain a new or even perceived technological edge over competitors becoming like the battle that once raged for bragging rights in the race for the greatest grunt? Sometimes, it seems so.
Nonetheless, there’s no escaping the fact that the modern powertrains that today make yesterday’s belching big bangers appear almost feeble in comparison are simply the latest evolution in an ongoing, and occasionally mind-boggling, explosion in technological triumphs.
Indeed, it’s not stretching the bounds of believability to suggest the last decade has seen more sweeping technology hit the trucking industry than any time in history. Emissions, fuel efficiency, performance and, critically, safety, have all been vastly and, in most cases, positively enhanced by the application of increasingly advanced technology by the world’s leading brands.
And, right now, the global automotive industry is moving ever closer to the most radical advance of all: the rapidly escalating, climate-driven departure from fossil-fuelled motive power. There is, of course, much of that story still to be revealed and just as much still to be written but, rest assured, with many billions already invested by corporate super-powers, the race to the future is moving at a frenetic pace.
Meantime, on the Australian stage where almost every technological advance stems from the heavily funded research facilities of overseas suppliers, there’s no doubt some truck and powertrain providers are more active than others
