There’s a shiny and stylish newcomer at work in the Bay of Plenty forests, and it hasn’t taken long for it to spark up a bit of conversation on the CB and bush radio.

The new flagship for the Rotorua-based Williams & Wilshier Transport fleet is a Kenworth K220 8x4 logger in 2.3m flat roof sleeper cab configuration. While the exterior changes from Kenworth’s previous K200 generation are pretty subtle, the eyes of logging truck drivers and loader operators are sharp – and they like what they see.

This brand new K220 is only on its fourth working day when New Zealand Truck & Driver catch up with driver Jordan van den Broek. And there were plenty of comments and questions across the airwaves about New Zealand’s first K220 logger during our Big Test run with Jordan in the Matahina Forest.

“It’s always interesting when you see new gear come out here,” says Jordan.

The rollout of the new Kenworth K220 is gaining momentum with more of the new generation trucks arriving in New Zealand at the same time as the last of the K200s are hitting the road.

The K200 has been a very successful model for the brand – in particular in the logging sector. So, what better environment to test the new K220 in?

Long term Kenworth owner Williams & Wilshier Transport recently put its first new K220 to work. And the truck was only on the road for a week before we get a chance to get behind the wheel.

Williams & Wilshier loggers do a wide range of work, and this truck spends some of its time on the Bay of Plenty highways as well as working on the off-highway network. That’s great news for us as we get to run this truck at 64.5 tonnes all up weight.

This K220 has a Cummins X15 producing 578hp and an Eaton Ultra Shift 18-speed automated manual transmission. It’s not that often we test automatic Kenworths working in the bush, and it brings a different angle to this test.