RusAutoNewsCom.- As announced by the company press office, Gorky Automobile Plant GAZ has launched serial production of its new Valdai Next cabover truck. The plant made changes to the assembly line, with a new cabin trim line set up, and new state-of-the-art machining equipment as well as stamping tooling for exterior and interior components were purchased. GAZ Group invested approx. 1.4 billion rubles in design, engineering and pre-production, including 400 million rubles of a discounted loan from the Industrial Development Foundation with a 1% interest rate.
Valdai Next is designed mainly for city deliveries. It can come with wheelbases (3310 mm and 4000 mm) and three cargo platforms: 4700 mm, 5100 mm, 6100 mm. The cargo compartment capacity is 20-29 cubic meters with enough space for 8 to 11 standard EUR-pallets. Three types of superstructures will be available to order in Russia: with a box truck body, an insulated truck body or a platform truck body.
At Stage 1 the GVW will be 6.7 t. with the (chassis) payload capacity of up to 3.8 t., falling between the heavier Gazelle Next (4.6 t GVW , 2.2 t payload capacity) and Gazon Next (8.7 t GVW, up to 5 t payload capacity).
The new medium-duty truck comes with a Foton cab. The cabover design made it possible to increase the cargo room length by 800 mm thus delivering a good city-truck combination of the big volume and the awesome maneuverability.
With a 2.8 l (130 hp & 353 Nm) Cummins diesel engine combined with a 6-speed gearbox fuel consumption is low and driving performance is great. The 6-speed gearbox is a new GAZ product delivering up to 450 Nm torque.
The vehicles is outfitted with a pneumatic braking system with disc brakes on all wheels, an integral steering system and ADAS features, including EBD, ESP, HSA and ASR.
The comfortable and ergonomic cabin is packed with an effective heating system, electrically powered and heated mirrors and LED lights. The cruise control feature comes standard. AC, a pre-heater and a cab-roof fairing are optional.
The new framework is 30% stronger than the one of the previous-generation Valdai thanks to the new steel grade and additional cross bars. Valdai Next got many of tis transmission elements from the bigger and heavier Gazon Next 8.7: the drive axle, the front and the rear suspensions, the braking and the steering systems. It delivers a higher safety margin and a longer service life. The new truck is commonized with the GAZon Next lineup, which means you can save on maintenance costs if there are various GAZ vehicles in your fleet.
Vadim Sorokin, GAZ Group President has commented: “Valdai Next is a small city truck, maneuverable and cost-effective, which is offered with a number of the most popular pre-installed superstructures. We tried to make the new truck functional, effective and efficient for businesses and comfortable and ergonomic for drivers. Good visibility and numerous electronic driver assistants secure safety on the roads.”
