Autocar and Elgin Sweeper jointly demonstrate their new Class 7 COE fully integrated sweeper truck at this week’s APWA Show in Denver, Colorado
HAGERSTOWN, Ind, Sept. 22, 2011-- Autocar, the first name in alternative fuel and custom severe-service trucks, was pleased to demonstrate the new Autocar Class 7 COE vehicle at this year’s 2011 APWA Show in Denver, Colorado this week. The two companies joint effort on this vehicle platform, backed by the formation of a Strategic Partnership between Autocar Industries, LLC and Federal Signal’s Elgin Sweeper Company, North America’s leading street sweeper manufacturer, was on display in full force at the APWA show enabling Elgin’s customers to crawl around the cab and chassis, see the chassis component specs, and sit in the cab for the first time, which will be available the first of the year 2012.
“We are pleased and honored to partner long term and launch the new Autocar Class 6 and 7 COE vehicle platform in coordination with the knowledge and expertise of the industry’s leading sweeper company, and the largest class 7 COE customer in the US, Elgin Sweeper,” said Eric Schwartz, Vice President of the Specialty Vehicle Group for Autocar Industries.
The two companies formed this ground breaking formal partnership and immediately created a team that worked together throughout the product development process to co-develop the industry’s first ground up Class 7 COE truck specifically for sweepers. This chassis is the industry’s first “fully joint engineered and integrated sweeper body with chassis” design. “The ultimate goal of this project from day one was to design the cab-chassis to exactly match Elgin’s needs, as if it were an Elgin designed sweeper truck, and the cab-chassis and sweeper body were all developed by one company, all with the goal of creating a combined integrated work tool,” said Jim Johnston, President of Autocar. The two companies have been sharing engineering design strategy and CAD data from the beginning of this development project long ago.
“Through the joint development process Autocar was able to ensure that it engineered and located cab-chassis components exactly where Elgin needed them, offered content and options demanded by Elgin’s customers, and created optimized operator ergonomics on both sides of Autocar’s factory designed and assembled dual steer system,” said Eric Schwartz, Autocar’s Vice President Specialty Vehicle Group.
Autocar’s new Class 6 and 7 COE’s, whose nameplate is the Autocar Xpert, will be assembled in Hagerstown, IN. The Class 7 COE dual steer cab-chassis designed in partnership with Elgin will be shipped to Elgin, IL for Sweeper body mount. “We believe Autocar and Elgin’s joint customers will greatly benefit from this joint engineering and operations effort between the two companies through increased reliability, fewer cab-chassis-sweeper body field issues, and the elimination of all third party modifications necessary for dual steer configurations (as well as the elimination of related warranty support confusion and challenges),” said Brian Giles, Product Manager, Elgin Sweeper Company.
The Autocar Xpert made its formal debut to Elgin’s valued customers and dealers at this week’s APWA Show in Denver on September 18-20th, 2011, displayed jointly at the Elgin booth, with the Elgin Whirlwind sweeper. Like all Autocar trucks, the Autocar Xpert will be exclusively offered with an Allison Transmission.
About Autocar:
Autocar, LLC, and Autocar Industries, LLC, are headquartered in Hagerstown, Indiana, manufacturer and marketers of Class 8 LCOE trucks, terminal tractors, and now Class 6 and 7 COE trucks, and are an affiliate of Highland Park, Illinois-based GVW Group, LLC.
About Elgin:
Sold and serviced through a network of more than 100 dealer locations worldwide, Elgin Sweeper products are the sweepers of choice for a variety of general street maintenance, special industrial and airport applications. With more than 90 years of experience, Elgin Sweeper offers municipalities, contractors and industries the most sweeper options in the country, using the latest sweeping technologies—mechanical, pure vacuum, regenerative air, alternative fuel and waterless dust control. Elgin Sweeper is a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation’s Environmental Solutions Group. For more information, visit www.elginsweeper.com.
Contacts:
Autocar
Andrew Simon, 765-439-0162
asimon@autocartruck.com
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