Peterbilt Motors Company announced last week it is retiring its Model 389. The Model 389 replaced 379 in 2006 with redesigned headlamps fenders and trim, and the 379 itself replaced the venerable 359 in the late 1980s.
Beginning next year, Peterbilt's new Model 589 will pick up the mantle for a series of truck that has carved out a niche as a premium throwback popular with owner-operators; eye-catching work trucks; with regional small fleets; and as reward trucks for big fleets. Peterbilt has produced 110,000 Model 389s since its 2007 model year debut.
[RELATED: Take a test drive and walk around Peterbilt's new Model 589]
In announcing the change last week, Peterbilt officially introduced the Model 589 at a customer, dealer and media event that at the Texas Motor Speedway.
The company says the new Model 589 gets Peterbilt's newer 2.1 meter cab, a roughly 8-in., bump in leg and elbow room from the 1.9 meter cab of the outgoing Model 389, but it maintains practically every other element important to the old school series: the large 15-in., external air cleaner cans; pod headlights; the aluminum crown and stainless rectangular mesh grille; lightweight huck-bolted aluminum hood; bicycle-style fenders; and dual, chrome, functional 7-in., exhaust stacks.
“Every step of the way, [design] concepts were scrutinized to make sure they looked like a traditional Peterbilt," Peterbilt General Manager Jason Skoog says.
The West Coast-style mirrors are heated and motorized with a flat glass that is 2 in., taller for better visibility; all the bumper options from the 389 are carried over to 589 but now include LED running lights; and on the roof there is V-style visor rather than a rounded one, and bullet-style marker lights across the top that are twice as bright as the legacy ones.
The 589 also becomes the first truck in its lineage to offer the Bendix Wingman Fusion suite of safety system technologies.
The standard powertrain is Paccar's MX-13 engine and TX-12 automated manual transmission, the same as what's available on the Model 389, and it is matched to a Paccar DX40 rear tandem. A Paccar TX-18 automated manual is also available, as are Eaton's Endurant HD and XD models and Allison options for vocational customers. A 15-liter Cummins and manual transmission are also available – a combination that is spec'd on the majority of 389s that roll out of Peterbilt's Denton, Texas, assembly plant.
