Aeolus Truck & Driver News

New drivers, old hands, smart brains and clever operators were honoured at the 2025 South Island Seminar Industry Awards held in Christchurch on June 28.

The awards, hosted by Transporting New Zealand, celebrate individuals and organisations making major contributions to the road transport sector through innovation, safety, industry awareness, and training.

The Supreme Contribution to NZ Road Transport Award was a posthumous award to Alex McLellan who tragically died in a workplace accident last year. 

Alex was the founder of Balclutha’s McLellan’s Freight and was a huge presence in the freight sector. He was well known for his big hearted and ...

Mack Trucks North America has revealed a second generation Anthem range with improved fuel efficiency, new exterior styling and an updated interior.

The original Anthem was launched in North America in 2018 and arrived in the New Zealand market during late-2021.

The new model timing for North America will see production begin in early 2026. There is no confirmation for when the model change will roll through to Australia-built examples for the New Zealand market.

“The all-new Anthem delivers improvements in every area that matters to customers’ businesses: fuel efficiency, manoeuvrability, driver comfort, safety, connectivity and uptime,” says Jonat...

The iconic Kenworth W900 model – a symbol of American trucking culture since 1963 – was celebrated during the annual Kenworth Truck Parade in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The Ohio city has a 51-year connection with the local Kenworth truck assembly plant and this years’ event was the fourth annual parade in the heart of downtown Chillicothe.

The parade featured more than 50 new, classic and customised Kenworth trucks from all over the United States. The highlights included a vintage 1923 Kenworth – built the year the company was founded – models from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, through to present day trucks manufactured at the Chillicothe plant.

“The Kenworth ...

Patchell Industries has made a key appointmentwith Mitch James moving into the North Island sales manager position from early June.

Mitch is based in Rotorua and is responsible for new trailer sales across all industry sectors as well as coordinating the upgrade and servicing needs of customers with existing Patchell products.

He will work alongside national sales and marketing manager Glenn Heybourn.

Mitch brings a broad range of transport industry experience to the new role after working as a milk tanker driver from 2012 and then moving into retail truck sales in 2018 with  CAL Isuzu and then at Penske NZ.

“We are really excited to hav...

The local roll-out of new generation Isuzu models across the light- and medium-duty truck segments begins in August.

Both the N Series and F Series line-ups are set for significant updates with the first of the 6-cylinder F Series models powered by the 6.7-litre DB6A Euro 6 engine scheduled as the first phase of a progressive launch from August.

Isuzu New Zealand General manager Dave Ballantyne says it’s a very significant model range update for the marque, which has been New Zealand’s top-selling truck brand for the last two years and leads again to-date in 2025.

There are key improvements to the F-Series with all FV, FX and FY 6x4 and 8x4 models b...