Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks: Zetros 8×8 and not only
Announced officially on Day 4 at Eurosatory, the Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks contract for Canada was expected, the selection having been announced in late May. This includes the 8×8 version of the Zetros, the latest addition to the family. But the German truck company had more to show
Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks is part of the so-called “The Power Team” consortium that also includes Marshall Canada, Manac, Soframe, and General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-Canada), the team being the winner of the Logistics Vehicle Modernization project, or LVM. The Zetros common vehicles chassis is being produced by Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks in its Wörth am Rhein facility. Marshall Canada will produce a range of interchangeable 10ft and 20ft mission modules, Manac will provide different trailers, while Soframe is in charge of the armoured cabin, GDLS-Canada being the prime integrator.
It’s about 1,600 Zetros that are going there,” Franziska Cusumano, Head of Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks & Custom Tailored Trucks, explained at Eurosatory 2024, “And it is split between light ones and heavy ones,” adding that the 8×8 on exhibition was the prototype that went through rough testing in Nevada for around one year. The team will deliver 1,022 4×4 and 512 8×8 trucks.
The new Zetros 3851A 8×8 has a gross vehicle mass of 38 tonnes, with a payload up to 25 tonnes. It is powered by a Mercedes-Benz OM 460 Euro V 6-cylinders in line engine with a 12.8 litres displacement providing 510 hp, coupled to an Allison 4500 transmission. It is fitted with 14.00 R 20 tires and is 11.15 metres long, 2.6 metres wide and 3.7 metres high, and is equipped with an LHS hooklift system with container-handling unit.
The four-axle version of the Zetros was exhibited for the first time in public at Eurosatory and has some new features such as a fording capability up to 1.5 metres, standard central tire inflation system, as well as new military specifications and new options, these being also adopted on the lighter members of the family, the 6×6 and the 4×4.
While the 8×8 version adopted by Canada has two front and two rear axles, another version exists with one forward and three rear axles, dubbed “the triple version”. This was exhibited, albeit with a civilian finish, on the MSI stand, loaded with the Paladin palletised counter-UAS system. The two different configurations give considerable flexibility in terms of types of payloads, a promising sector for example being that of heavy recovery vehicles.
While the Zetros family represents the company main military product, the UNIMOG remains obviously also a key product. Designed to be fitted with armoured cabins, this chassis remains a best seller due to the increasing need of light-medium wheeled armoured personnel carriers. “We see a big demand for small tactical armoured vehicles, for which we offer our chassis product range that goes from 9.5 to 14.8 tonnes, which is being used by partners such as KNDS, Rheinmetall, SOFRAME, and other international partners” a company source told EDR On-Line, adding that production delocalisation through partnerships is part of the company strategy.
According to Mrs. Cusumano upgrades are constantly made, exploiting the synergies with Daimler, picking up those elements coming from commercial trucks that might improve performances or widen capacities within the military product line. “We are well prepared to whatever may come in the future, on the drivetrain or also on autonomy, or whatever else may come,” she stated, adding that Daimler Truck intends to invest in further growth on the defence side.
At Eurosatory the company announced it is back in the armoured cabin world, the cabin itself being designed and produced by Rheinmetall, Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks integrating the cabins on chassis on its assembly line. Even more important, in the future cabins will be interchangeable; “this means you can have a Zetros in a non-armoured version standard cabin and you can exchange it later on to an armoured cab, or the other way round, this is something we are working on and that is considered of strategic importance for our future product portfolio,” a company representative underlined.
Asked about hybrid propulsion, Franziska Cusumano underlined that the market is not there yet, however the company is looking at those technologies, including hydrogen combustion engines, so should the requirement come, it will be ready to integrate them. Here too synergies with the commercial branch of the group will be key in saving money and time. In fact, in the last two years the company is seeing a trend towards a come-back to Euro 3 engines, capable to operate with bad quality fuel and to be multifuel by design, simplicity and reliability becoming more important than low emission issues when war gets closer.
Beside the high mobility platforms described until now, Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks remains active in the logistic trucks sector, with its Arocs family derived from commercial applications, a 6×6 tank transporter being exhibited in Paris, 4×4 and 8×8 versions being also available. An 8×8 with an armoured cabin produced by SOFRAME, in the recovery configuration for the Belgian Army was also visible, Koluman of Turkey also providing armoured cabins for the Arocs family. In the case of the Arocs integration is the responsibility of the general contractor.
Photos by P. Valpolini
