Acela Truck Company introduces the Acela Straya, the first four-wheel drive, Class 5, high mobility, cab-over truck chassis in North America.
The Straya, with its cab-over design and military-grade performance, offers best-in-class maneuverability and visibility and off-highway capabilities for use in the most demanding work environments, Acela says.
Based on the extraordinarily successful and reliable Isuzu NRR base chassis, and inspired by Isuzu Australia's 4x4 work truck fleets, Acela Truck Company says it has leveraged its vast defense vehicle experience to incorporate military vehicle components and capabilities with Isuzu's best-in-class chassis to create the Acela Straya for extreme commercial and governmental applications.
The new Acela Straya is equipped with the Meritor 3000 Series axles and 41-in. military tires. It is the only commercial vehicle in North America with available onboard Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS), a driver-controlled push-button capability that adjusts tire pressures on demand from 95 to 17 PSI — a feature that is almost exclusively found in military tactical vehicles, allowing the Straya to be driven on-highway, at highway speeds, and off-highway through sandy, swampy, snowy, steep, washboard and other challenging terrain.
Additionally, in off-highway conditions, the company says the lower tire pressure settings enable the Straya to mimic tracked vehicle performance, replacing the need to transport slow and expensive tracked vehicles to the worksite.
"The Straya is by far the most capable Class 5 truck chassis available in North America, building out our portfolio and complementing the high performance offering of our existing extreme-duty 4x4 and 6x6, Class 6 through 8 Acela Monterra models. Designed in concert with our wildland fire, utility, pipeline and mining clients, they are very excited to take first deliveries," says David Ronsen, president, Acela Truck Company. "We saw a huge gap in truck capabilities being offered for commercial use, and Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc. shared our vision for new opportunities with a heavy-duty, on-/off-highway, four-wheel drive vehicle in the Class 5 market.
He adds, "Isuzu trucks' reliability is legendary in the U.S. market making it the ideal platform to modify. Isuzu has been extremely supportive, we're very proud to be working closely with their talented team."
Acela says the vehicle was primarily designed for high-mobility performance for wildland/urban interface fire trucks, transmission line, utility, pipeline, and open-surface mining and border patrol operations. The Straya will be available in single- and crew-cab configurations in multiple wheelbases and provides 19.6 in., of ground clearance and up to 36 in., of water fording capability. The company says the cab-over design offers the best chassis "real estate-to-wheelbase" ratio, maximum driver visibility and an extremely small turning radius of 49 ft. (on 150-in., wheelbase with a 12-ft. body), providing maximum maneuverability and significantly differentiating it from other commercial truck models.
The Straya seats up to seven people with multiple seating options available to suit almost any application. It will be on display next week at the NTEA Work Truck Show in Indianapolis.
