Aeolus Truck & Driver News

It’s the second time up to bat in the New Zealand market for China’s JAC Motors marque with the launch of its N Series light truck range offering both diesel and battery electric powertrains.

The new distributor is trading as JAC Motors New Zealand and is backed by NZ Automotive Limited (NZAL). The new company is a subsidiary of Colonial Motor Company which is also the majority shareholder in Southpac Trucks.

The first JAC models to go on sale in New Zealand from early 2024 will be the N60ev, N75ev and N90ev electric models and the Cummins powered N60 and N90 diesel models.

The badging reflects the 6.0t, 7.5t and 9.0t GVM ratings for the EV models i...

The new Mobile Roller Brake Test units for the Police Commercial Vehicle Safety Team still haven’t been put into service, almost two years down the road from a media launch event in February 2022.

The new MRBT machines, billed as a key component of the previous government’s “Road to Zero” road safety campaign, were designed to be moved around the country by CVST team members in specially designed trailers towed by utes.

New Zealand Truck & Driver attended the 2022 launch and reported on the non-deployment of the machines in the December 2022-January 2023 magazine. At that time police confirmed the five completed units were in storage at the CVST base in St...

A new operating structure for National Road Carriers (NRC) is part of a wider effort to revitalise strategy and ensure the organisation is delivering the best outcomes for members.

Announcing two key moves, NRC CEO Justin Tighe-Umbers says: “NRC is moving into phase two of its transformation which is ‘investing in our people’.

“The team is key to NRC’s success and our ability to serve our members into the future,” says Justin Tighe-Umbers.

“That means getting our organisation structure, roles and processes set so we deliver our service promise to our members and service partners. Reviewing our leadership structure and investing in marketing capability a...

The road transport industry was in the news and in the hearts of a Hamilton family when truckers turned out in force to give a “truck mad” eight-year-old a birthday to remember.

Sixty-five trucks formed a surprise birthday convoy for Hamilton’s Oliver `Ollie’ Johnson that featured on Seven Sharp and multiple national news stories as well as reaching global audiences.

The story developed when Oliver’s mum Katherine Johnson made a social media post hoping a truck driver would accept her offer of $50 to take Ollie for a ride in a truck on his birthday.

“We reached out to say we’d love to help and didn’t want any money,” says Barry Hart of Hart Haulage....

ContainerLink’s Auckland operation is two months along the road to building experience with the first of its Kiwi-built Kahu EV electric trucks.

The Kahu EK16, built in Ashurst by Kahu EV went on the road in mid-April and has been carting empty containers port-to-depot and depot-to-depot around Auckland, based from the company’s Oak Rd premises in Wiri.

ContainerLink has three more Kahu trucks on order with the next in line scheduled to start work towards the end of August.

Brent Batters, General Manager Transport for ContainerLink, says the Kahu trucks have been in the planning stage since 2021 and are joining a smaller Isuzu-based SEA Electric unit...