Australian-made the main selling point for iconic brand, says Mack boss Dean Bestwick
June 4, 2013
Mack Australia Vice President Dean Bestwick says sales of the truck-maker’s big Super-Liner are “going great guns”.
Sales are ranging “across the board”, from heavy construction side tippers, to road trains and east coast 32-pallet linehaul B-doubles with the drivers enjoying a 52-inch cab.
The Super-Liner features the Mack MP10 engine at 600 or 685 horsepower (441kW or 504kw), with the bigger version only being available with the 12-speed m-Drive automated manual transmission.
Mack says this gearbox is the only one strong enough to handle the 2,300 lb-ft torque (3118 Nm)
output.
On Mack sales overall, Bestwick says: “We’ve had a little bit of a slow start to the year, with our production rates just starting to ramp up now, and we’ve got some very strong deliveries coming through for the second, third and fourth quarter this year, so it’s really good.”
Fullyloaded interviewed Bestwick to mark the 50th anniversary of Mack production in Australia.
Macks are built alongside Volvos at the company’s Wacol plant in Brisbane.
Most of the major components such as engines, gearboxes, diffs and chassis rails are imported from the U.S, with about 45 percent by dollar value being made in Australia (including bulky items such as the fuel tanks and bonnets).
About 12,000 tailor-made Macks have been built in Brisbane since 1972 alone.
“To be honest, being built in Australia is the major selling point,” Bestwick says.
“Taking anyone through the factory at Wacol is one of the best sales tools you’ll ever get.”
Production began at Archerfield in wartime aircraft hangars in 1963, but Macks have been around in Australia since 1919.
