Navistar makes medium-duty splash

TerraStar, new engine take aim at Class 4, 5 market

At the 2010 National Truck Equipment Association’s Work Truck Show last month in St. Louis, Navistar announced its new MaxxForce 7 V-8 diesel engine and International TerraStar vocational truck, both aimed squarely at the North American Class 4 and 5 markets.

Navistar says the new International TerraStar is a conventional truck design built on a strong, durable commercial-duty platform.

According to Jack Allen, president of Navistar’s North American Truck Group, the new engine and truck are designed specifically to take advantage of major changes in the North American vocational environment, including the departures of both General Motors and Sterling, which together represented almost a quarter of the commercial trucks sold into vocational applications. “At the same time, customers in this market are shifting their truck purchases, with many moving up and acquiring larger-GVWR trucks to fulfill their business requirements,” Allen says. International aims to fill both needs with its new commercial-grade medium-duty truck that features the company’s heavy-duty truck DNA and is built to handle even the toughest jobsites and applications, he says.

International engineers designed the TerraStar with a large front windshield for premium visibility, a 107-inch BBC (bumper to back-of-cab) length and a 44-foot curb-to-curb turning radius, while a roomy cab allows plenty of room for three adults to fit comfortably in the front seat. The TerraStar – which will be offered with optional extended cab or crew cab configurations – initially will be available with a 4×2 drivetrain, with a 4×4 drivetrain planned for 2011.

The TerraStar will feature International’s Diamond Logic electrical system, which maximizes ease of body integration and helps deliver a number of smart, customizable features for added convenience and safety, such as automated pretrip inspections, headlights on with wipers, interlocks, programmable switches and more, depending on the application.

Under the hood, the TerraStar’s MaxxForce 7 V-8 diesel engine, like its bigger MaxxForce brethren, is crafted from compacted graphite iron, which is lighter yet stronger than conventional cast-iron engine blocks. While noting that the new engine carries much of the same DNA as the Power Stroke diesel engine line that Navistar had supplied to Ford for F-Series trucks since the early 1980s, Allen says the MaxxForce 7 was designed from the ground up “for International and nobody else.”