Kenworth hit a record 11.7% retail sales market share last year for medium duty vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. That number could grow quickly from events that began five years ago when Kenworth started the process of redesigning its Class 5-7 vehicle lineup.
On Wednesday, April 1, Kenworth rolled out production versions of an all-new lineup in Phoenix for a ride-and-drive before making an official public introduction Monday.
Kenworth's new designs were drawn up from extensive customer and driver feedback. The production-ready versions are purposefully built to more fully address the critical market needs of buyers and drivers of medium-duty trucks.
Unlike the Class 8 market, businesses that use medium-duty vehicles do not press them into service to turn miles on the highway. The trucks are a means to an end for business owners, who would buy a Class 5 truck, for example, with specific vocational applications in mind, such as landscaping. Mostly non-CDL drivers use the trucks to bring supplies and equipment to job sites where the real work begins.
“Many of our customers refer to their delivery drivers as sales associates, which shows the true focus of their responsibilities. Our goal was to make these trucks as approachable, intuitive and as easy to operate as a pickup truck,” said Jonathan Duncan, Kenworth design director.
A new Class 7 T380 truck from Kenworth is outfitted with a hydraulic boom for a utility service application. This vehicle has a PX-9 engine with 300 horsepower mated to an Allison 3500RDS transmission.
[Related: Kenworth T680 gets technology, aero makeover]
