Euro Box Trucks Coming to US?

Driving home from work, I got to spend some time admiring a visually striking box truck in traffic. Words that I never thought to use together until now. Had I known I wouldn't be able to find any good pics of it online, I would have tried harder to snap a pic. It was the DAF XD in full 'Start the Future' promotional regalia, looking almost exactly like this...

It had a sticker on the window indicating it was for the nearby Kenworth headquarters, both falling under the also nearby PACCAR corporate umbrella, but was actually headed away from there at the time.  So what are the chances we'll start seeing these state side in the not too distant future?

I well recall how excited I was (and kinda still am) when we started getting the Sprinter/Transit/Ducato (Promaster) here, because they're so much better packaged than the historic domestic vans ("let's shape it like a tin of beans on its side so the usable volume is nothing approaching the footprint, and never make the opening more than four feet high, but the floor nearly three feet off the ground!")...

What apart from sheer stylistic awesomeness differentiates the Euro box trucks from the scads of Isuzus, Mitsubishis, and smaller and larger medium-duty domestics etc we have here?

We don't, and never have, gotten real Euro Semis here in North America.  I think there are steep tarrifs on trucks so big they require CDL. 

Sure, we get some smaller, CDL not required, models from Isuzu, Hindo, and similar but never the real heavy stuff.  

Euro trucks look like euro trucks because they are made to work with European laws. Usually cab overs due to length restrictions.  

Here is the specs on the DAF XD electric , 

New Generation DAF XD Electric - DAF Countries

I am just assuming that its Electric ,  but wonder if it still has the 25% "Chicken tax" on trucks

I've always heard driver comfort and preference played a major role in why we don't have euro style can overs. I did learn to drive a 15 speed in a cab over as a teenager- way easier to see where your bumper is. 

californiamilleghia said:

Here is the specs on the DAF XD electric , 

New Generation DAF XD Electric - DAF Countries

I am just assuming that its Electric ,  but wonder if it still has the 25% "Chicken tax" on trucks

I'd guess if they decided to sell it here they'd build it here badged as a Peterbilt/Kenworth replacing their current DAF cabbed city truck  

In reply to grover :

Originally comfort was the big reason, but they're also less aerodynamic. Europe recently slightly relaxed their length laws to allow cabovers to be a bit less blunt to try and improve fuel mileage (kilometerage?) 

Likely a prototype doing testing or promotional work. Paccar already offers cabovers and EV trucks, so no real benefit to offering another one here.

Anyone remember Iveco (Fiat)? I borrowed one to move house. Driving that thing was...an experience. I gained much respect for anyone tasked with driving those cabover turds every day.

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

The coventionals here are more comfortable.  We have more space here and can deal with a little extra length.  Cab overs are popular in city trucks here.  They were also more common in the 70's Nd 80's when we had some overall length restrictions.  More space for cargo. 

Probably no comparison to modern trucks but I spent a summer during college driving a 1960s era Chevy C-50 cabover, it was like riding on a giant pogo stick.  Comfort was not something the designers spent a lot of time on.

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

Litres/100km for fuel consumption 

The fuel economy hit for a cab over is fairly significant. Freightliner sold the Argosy, a cab over, that averaged something like 5 mpg. Their Century Class conventional cab, averaged 6.8. Over a couple of million miles, that's a significant fuel savings. 

Edit: Damn, if my math is right, that's like 92k gallons of fuel saved. 

Toyman! said:

The fuel economy hit for a cab over is fairly significant. Freightliner sold the Argosy, a cab over, that averaged something like 5 mpg. Their Century Class conventional cab, averaged 6.8. Over a couple of million miles, that's a significant fuel savings. 

Edit: Damn, if my math is right, that's like 92k gallons of fuel saved. 

To show how far things have come since then. The Volvo dealer I worked for sold to a big local trucking company. That company would pull any truck from service and bring it into the shop for new injectors if the average fuel economy of it consistently dipped below 9mpg. 

Imagine the savings over their fleet of about 400 trucks.

I used to drive a couple of box trucks. One was a CDL only Kenworth that was basically a 32 foot box attached to a semicab. It needed a zipcode to turn around.

The other was a GM (Isuzu) 24 foot box. While the Kenworth could get 6 to 9 mpg depending on load, the GM always got 11 mpg. Fully loaded: 11 mpg, empty: 11 mpg. Dropped off a cliff: 11 mpg.

I actually enjoyed driving cabovers. I could be anywhere from Boston to DC on any particular day.