News for Mercedes-Benz: The latest Mercedes-Benz Actros to join the fleet of high-profile West Country haulier Massey Wilcox Transport is a real diamond.
The warehousing and distribution specialist commissioned the specially-liveried Actros 2545 to mark its 60th Diamond anniversary. It was supplied by Rygor who runs the five-bay workshop on Massey Wilcox’s headquarters site at Chilcompton, between Bristol and Bath.
Massey Wilcox was founded in 1954 by Douglas Massey and Harry Wilcox. Harry’s son Robert joined the business straight from school in 1973 and has been Managing Director since 1992. Robert’s sister Jill Ball is Financial Director while his son Richard works as a technician for Rygor.
All but one of the company’s trucks are by Mercedes-Benz. Instead of its familiar red colour scheme, the latest arrival was given 32 coats of stunning silver metal flake paintwork by Haydon Autospray, of nearby Haydon, which also sprayed the company’s name and anniversary logo, and finishing laquer.
The new Actros is Massey Wilcox’s seventh Euro-6 unit, the state-of-the-art straight-six engine transmitting its 450 hp output to the road via a Mercedes PowerShift 3 automated gearbox. It also has a personalised registration plate– and is fitted, like the rest of the fleet, with Daimler’s FleetBoard telematics system.
Robert Wilcox said, “Our Mercedes-Benz trucks are very reliable and always command high resale values. They’re also impressively fuel-efficient – what’s really pleased me is that the Euro-6 units are currently averaging 9.13 mpg, which puts them slightly ahead of the Euro-5s. No wonder the Actros continues to build on the fantastic reputation for low fuel consumption it has built throughout the industry.”
Like its other Mercedes-Benz trucks, the anniversary Actros is the subject of a seven-year Mercedes-Benz Repair and Maintenance Contract. “Rygor took on the Mercedes-Benz franchise for this area in 2009 and as a dealer partner is both obliging and proactive in all sorts of ways,” Wilcox continued. “The workshop team here at Chilcompton provide a terrific service – the fact that they can inspect and maintain our trucks and trailers during the evenings and on Saturday mornings helps us to keep downtime to a minimum.”
Massey Wilcox bought its first Mercedes-Benz truck in 1975. It contracted out responsibility for the staffing and operation of its main workshop at Chilcompton in 1998, since when every truck it has bought, with a single exception, has worn a three-pointed star.
As well as excelling in terms of fuel efficiency, operating costs and driver comfort, Mercedes-Benz Trucks lead the field in terms of safety. Their standard-fit armoury of active and passive equipment includes an electropneumatic brake system incorporating anti-lock braking and anti-slip regulation, which brakes each wheel individually to make the most of available grip and minimise stopping distances.
EPB includes secondary braking to further improve safety and reduce wear, while in the event of emergency braking the system automatically activates the hazard warning lights to warn following traffic, winning vital extra seconds that could help to prevent an accident. Other standard safety features include Stability Control Assist, a rain and light sensor and a seat-belt monitor.
