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Kenworth K220 Set to Break Cover

Exclusive spy pics show the forthcoming Kenworth K220 under the cover of darkness ahead of its June launch

On a Friday night in early June, in a suitably festooned hangar at the Archerfield airbase in Brisbane, Kenworth will take the wraps off a new model and in the process confirm our long held suspicion that it has been working on a significantly restyled, refined and heavily revamped version of the seemingly ageless K-series cab-over.

As we first reported late last year, the newcomer is called the K220 and according to Kenworth, the official launch of the much anticipated new model represents ‘the next level’ in the ongoing evolution of its redoubtable cab-over.

Kenworth’s K220 out and about at night months ahead of the official launch

Despite its best efforts to keep the truck’s development a closely guarded secret, we’ve actually been aware for some time that Kenworth engineers and designers have been busily stripping back the existing K200 in a concerted effort to devise ways to improve and enhance the cab-over’s features and appeal.

Specific details are currently harder to find than political propriety but reworks of external styling cues and internal features will almost certainly be among a swathe of new and improved updates, enhancements and driver convenience elements.

On the outside, we wouldn’t be surprised if there are hints of a family resemblance to the T610 and T410 conventionals, just as we won’t be surprised if the K220 is first to offer Eaton’s new Endurant XD automated transmission.

Whatever, there’s little doubt the new model will deliver compelling evidence of the extraordinary design and engineering capabilities that exist within Paccar Australia.


RELATED ARTICLE: First indications of the new K220 came in late 2021


As we reported earlier, ‘It would not be unreasonable to suggest that after so much effort and expense over recent years in development of dramatic new Kenworth conventional models – T610, T410 and the retro Legend SAR – Paccar Australia’s brains trust would now be heavily focussed on its cab-over class led, of course, by the evergreen K-series.

Despite the poor quality of this night shot you get an idea of the K220’s proportions

‘It is, after all, well over a decade since the launch of the all-conquering K200 which, as Kenworth defined it, was ‘more a complete transfusion than just a shot in the arm’ for the iconic K-series.’

However, it remains to be seen if the evolutionary step to the K220 will be nearly as great as the leap which marked the massive jump from the antiquated and awkward K108 to the far more user-friendly and refined K200.Will the K220, for instance, offer an advanced safety package as standard equipment?

Current K200 as seen at the 2021 Brisbane Truck Show

It was a question that found more shrugs than answers among several sales people we asked, with one wit cynically suggesting, “It’s a Kenworth mate, everything’s an extra.”

Time will tell, soon enough.

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