Logistic Thoughts
What Happened to India’s Iconic Long-Nose Trucks?
In the early days you might have seen a lot of long nose trucks, characterized by the extended hood housing front-mounted engines. In those days, long nose trucks were very common on roads in the India’s trucking industry
The iconic model of this truck was “Premier Automobile’s Fargo”. But over the years those long nose trucks gradually disappeared from the Indian roads. They were replaced by more compact engine models. Initially, these trucks were introduced in Year 1954 as a production partnership between Tata Motors + Daimler-Benz and this partnership ends on Year 1971. Years Later, Tata Motors has launched SE trucks 1210 and 1613.
So what really happened? Why did these iconic trucks just fade away? Let’s explore and find what happened and why it happened.
Long Nose Indian Trucks
The Shift To Compact Engine Designs
While talking about the transition we have to understand the evolution of India’s commercial vehicle sector. The shift and drifting away from the long nose trucks happened due to several factors; few of them are,
- Regulatory changes that happened in 1983. According to that truck length should be between 12 to 19 meters. This became a challenge for those long nose trucks.
- Long nose trucks were operated on low revenue and economy due to less cargo space. But the new cab over engine models allowed for more cargo space, making them a more economically viable option.
- Producing cab over engine trucks became more cost effective for manufacturers comparing long nose trucks. The trend became global, so Indian manufacturers also adapted the trend to remain competitive.
Even though the cab over engines are cost effective and economically good options, they also had significant challenges.
One main challenge was driver comfort. The long nose trucks provide a more comfortable ride because of reduced cabin noise, as the engine is located in the front of the cabin. The other challenges safety. Long nose trucks feature extensive crumble zones that absorb impacts during major accidents and reduce the chances of serious injury to the driver.
In contrast the cab will not do this, leading to a higher fatality rate in accidents.
Read Also: 1 Truck to 7000 Trucks – The Success Story
Current and Future Landscape
Today the long noSE TRUCKS have largely disappeared and Cab over engine trucks are dominating the roads mainly because of above said factors, 18 M Length restriction and most importantly its not as easy to enter in busy Market places and crowded roads. The Production of long Nose Trucks has been completely discontinued in India.
Recently the Indian government has approved an incentive scheme to electric vehicles to reduce pollution.
In conclusion the decline of long nose trucks in India happened due to a combination of regulatory, practical and economic factors. As the sector embraces advancement the iconic vehicle disappears but that legacy and testament will always remind standard.
