Rugby fans at haulier Jaga Brothers Transport won’t forget the day a mighty Mercedes-Benz Actros demonstration vehicle arrived at their base in Newport – it was delivered by a true legend of the game!
Voted the greatest of all time in a poll of international players conducted in 2003 by Rugby World magazine, Sir Gareth Edwards has for many years been a Director of Euro Commercials, which represents the three-pointed star in South Wales.
The latest addition to the Dealer’s demonstration fleet is a top-of-the-range 2563 GigaSpace tractor unit. The truck is powered a state-of-the-art, 15.6-litre straight-six, which produces a potent 460 kW. Its extensive specification, meanwhile, includes fuel-saving Predictive Powertrain Control (PPC) technology and a Mercedes-Benz Safety Pack featuring the remarkable Active Brake Assist 4 system with pioneering pedestrian recognition capability, as well as Proximity Control Assist and a driver’s airbag.
The first operator to put the new unit through its highly impressive paces, Jaga Brothers Transport serves a diverse customer base from headquarters on the Queensway Meadows Industrial Estate, with steel and bricks featuring prominently on the list of commodities it carries.
The company was established in 2006 by James and Gary Hill; their parents Dez and Margaret are also directors. Both brothers played representative rugby for Newport schools. “We’re all rugby people here,” said James, “so seeing the truck roll onto our yard with Sir Gareth at the wheel was fantastic. It was a great thrill for us all to meet the best player ever to pull on a Welsh jersey.”
Mercedes-Benz is one of four manufacturers represented within Jaga Brothers Transport’s fleet of 40 tractor units. Two of its seven Actros, both 330 kW (450 hp) variants, have been in service since the summer of 2017; the remaining five, which Euro Commercials delivered earlier this year, have 375 kW (510 hp) engines.
Jaga Brothers Transport also operates a number of Swedish-built V8s, and was keen to see how the most powerful Mercedes-Benz performed in comparison. Euro Commercials’ demonstrator certainly lived up to the Dealer’s billing.
“We ran the Actros for a couple of weeks and the feedback from our drivers was overwhelmingly positive,” confirmed James Hill. “The truck was out for the entire first week, during which it was in London and the South-East, then went up to Halifax and the North-West, before coming back to East Anglia. They don’t always appreciate change, but by the time he got back the driver had really grown to like the Mercedes-Benz.
“In its second week the Actros stayed a bit closer to home and we split its time between two drivers. One loved its big, spacious and well-appointed cab, while the other was really blown away by its pulling power.”
He added: “The Actros returned over 9 mpg most of the time, which put it a little way ahead of our other big-engined tractors. And this, of course, was a brand new truck, so the fuel figure is bound to improve as it gets a few more miles under its belt and settles down.”
Mr Hill confirmed that the seven Actros which Jaga Brothers owns are proving to be reliable, fuel-efficient, and popular with their drivers, and was also quick to praise Euro Commercials’ back-up.
“The Dealer’s service is excellent,” he enthused. “Its team understand the importance of minimising downtime, so will always inspect and maintain our Actros in the evening and at weekends. They also collect and return the vehicles for us, which is a major bonus, and greatly appreciated.”
Shortly before the Jaga Brothers trial, Euro Commercials presented its new demonstrator at the Porthcawl Truck Gathering, where it attracted plenty of admirers. Truck Sales Manager Gary Clark observed: “Not many Dealers would be prepared to put such a highly specified vehicle on their demonstration fleet, but at Euro Commercials we like to ‘think outside the box’.
“There’s a relatively small, ‘tight-knit’ tractor unit community down here in South Wales, and we’re looking forward to giving as many of them as possible the opportunity to put the very latest Mercedes-Benz technology to the test in their own operations.”
