Ford F-MAX is Truck of the Year

The new Ford F-MAX truck not only formally launched at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover, Germany but it won the prestigious Truck of the Year title.

Ford F-MAX takes Truck of the Year on debut

F-MAX, the all-new tractor developed by Ford Trucks, launched at the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018 in Hanover, Germany and, to much acclaim, immediately won the coveted International Truck of the Year (ItoY) award.

With 104 votes, the new Turkish-built truck beat Scania’s L and P-series urban distribution trucks (74 points) and Volvo’s gas-powered FH (56 points) into second and third places.

The jury, which consists of 23 commercial vehicle journalists from across Europe, was impressed with the newcomer, which features a flat floor, 500 hp Ford Ecotorq engine and ZF TraXon gearbox. They praised the efficiency and advanced characteristics of its driveline, including eco-roll, adaptive cruise control and GPS-based predictive cruise control. 

IToY chairman Gianenrico Griffini says: “With the introduction of F-Max, Ford Trucks has delivered a fine engineered tractor that can be a meaningful new player in the highly competitive segment of long-haul transport.” 

The new F-MAX was designed and tested by 500 Ford Otosan engineers over a 5-year period. Tests were carried out in 11 countries on four continents using 233 prototype units. This involved 15 500 hours of lab testing and 5-million kilometres of road testing.

“Ford Trucks has a very challenging promise. Saying ‘sharing the load’ as a brand promise, we commit ourselves to understand customers’ needs and share all kind of load that they might have,” says Haydar Yenigün, CEO of Ford Otosan.

“We developed our new tractor with Ford’s principles of comfort, power, efficiency and technology at its heart. To ensure that the design guarantees the most, in terms of efficiency and practicality, we examined every part and every detail over and over again.”

The F-MAX offers comfort and luxury with its 2,5 m wide cab along with its modern design and driver-focused approach. The design of the cockpit-style dashboard ensures all functions are within easy reach.

The sense of spaciousness in the cab is provided with its flat floor offering 2 160 mm of floor-to-ceiling height and 260 mm of seat adjustment. Furthermore, the F-MAX offers drivers generous airplane-style patented storage and an innovative and groundbreaking 90 degree foldable upper bed.

Ford claims best-in-class NVH and interior quietness thanks to its torsional cab stiffness, lower engine noise and sound absorptive trim design.

Powered interior lightning controls from the bed area and driver compartment, automatic climate control systems and steering wheel adjustment features all offer comfort in the cabin. A mini fridge and coffee maker included in some models offer drivers additional comfort.

The F-MAX also offers a 90-degree foldable upper bed, an inclined head frame on lower bed, comfortable and large bed mattresses, a remote control unit in the bed area which provides an ideal area for drivers to relax when taking a break. The F-MAX’s driver’s seat provides maximum comfort. This top-of-the-range seat with a 260 mm adjustment range, high quality, breathable fabric and ergonomic design provides optimal lumbar support on the road.

The new F-MAX offers a high performance engine with 500 PS, 2 500 Nm and 400 kW braking power.

Superior aerodynamics, powertrain calibration and technical features also fuel consumption with a 6% margin of improvement over previous models. Technical features include E-APU technology, eco-roll function, predictive cruise control (Max Cruise).

Ford Trucks offers ‘ConnecTruck’’ with the new F-MAX and features here include remote monitoring of the vehicle using remote diagnostic and over-the-air software. The special topographic map means F-MAX is able to analyse road conditions, allowing the vehicle to drive at optimum speeds, thereby reducing fuel consumption by up to 4%.

FMS Integration allows the ConnecTruck Module & Ford Trucks cloud to act as a data gateway for third-party fleet management systems to access selected vehicle data.

The F-MAX assists drivers on the road thanks to features such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Predictive Cruise Control (Max Cruise) with speed tolerance choices, Advanced Emergency Brake System, Hill Launch Assist, Lane Departure Warning, Adjustable Speed Limiter Device and Electronic Stability Control.

As enticement, Ford also showed its F-Vision Future Truck that is fully electrically powered and is the first concept truck from Ford Trucks.

The concept model reveals Ford Trucks’ future vision on electrification, autonomous and connected drive, lightweight and zero carbon emission products. It cares about humans’ priorities both inside the cab and on the road, as well as the load being carried, and aims constantly to connect with the environment and users and communicates.