When Volvo unveiled its redesigned VNL in 2017, it was supposed to be the tractor of the future. And it was... until the future arrived in 2024.
Tightening emissions regulations have put fleets and OEMs under a lot of pressure to slash trucking's carbon footprint, rendering once futuristic and cutting-edge designs and engineering archaic based on how slippers a tractor is through the air, and how much "stuff" is in the exhaust.
For the 2024 redesign of its VNL – a six year developmental process packaged into a dynamic final design – Volvo leaned into a pretty cool truck in its own right: SuperTruck 2, which Volvo Trucks North America President Peter Voorhoeve calls "the most aerodynamic and efficient truck" Volvo has ever built.
Noting that this new VNL design is "90% new," Volvo Trucks North America Vice President of Strategy, Marketing and Brand Management Magnus Koeck said the refreshed platform was developed in North America for North America motor carriers. When the VN Series arrived stateside in the mid-1990s, it was a European platform tailored for North American needs, and it remained so until now.
“It’s the end of an era, but it’s also the beginning of a new era, and everything is changing," Koeck said, "so Volvo decided to change everything.”
I was one of the first people in the world to hop in the driver's seat of the new VNL this week, wheeling a pre-production model around for a quick 3-mile spin around Volvo's newly expanded three-mile test track at its Customer Center in Dublin, Virginia.
Front and center of the redesigned VNL is a large reconfigured grille and functional hood scoop.You'll never eliminate friction (or air resistance) or emissions from a conventional diesel tractor, but you can walk them to the brink, and Volvo's done just that. The new VNL features a 10% fuel efficiency boost from improved aerodynamics and powertrain refinement.
