Freightliner Cascadia Heads Down Under

A right-hand drive version of that quintessentially American longhauler, the Freightliner Cascadia, is available for order in the Oceania nations of Australia and New Zealand, Daimler Trucks North America announced on Nov. 22

DTNA said it put a “substantial investment” into the Class 8 tractor to develop the RHD version and to “ensure it was ready for tough Australian and New Zealand environments and use cases.” In addition, the OEM said that an international on-road testing program was conducted in both the U.S. and Australia. On-road testing followed extensive development work performed at DTNA’s Portland, Oregon product validation and engineering center as well as dedicated track-testing at the company’s Madras, Oregon proving grounds.

Dubbed the “Australia Pacific Cascadia,” the model for the lands Down Under will be available with two Detroit engines: The 16L DD16 with up to 600 horsepower and 2050 lb-ft of torque, and the 13Lr DD13 with up to 505 horsepower and 1850 lb-ft. of torque. Available transmissions will include the Detroit DT12 Automated Manual Transmission and an 18-speed Eaton manual transmission.

“Our reputation for best real cost of ownership is a direct result of listening to our customers,” said Roger Nielsen, DTNA president and CEO. “For demanding Australian and New Zealand conditions, we doubled-down on our customer focus and listened to the voice of customers in the region to bring industry-leading technologies and the single best truck money can buy to markets that are very important to the company.”

At launch, Freightliner will offer the Australia Pacific Cascadia with either a 116- or a 126-inch BBC dimension and in configurations ranging from a day cab to 36-, 48-, 60-, and 60-inch raised roof cabs.

The Cascadia rollout will also mark the introduction in Oceania of the Detroit Connect, system, which enables remote vehicle updates, fault code diagnosis and repair recommendations, and OEM analysis of fuel economy and safety performance in addition to such “traditional” telematics services as GPS route-tracking and incident alerts.

DTNA noted that the RHD Cascadia is now available to order through Freightliner’s Australian and New Zealand dealership network.