Astra (truck)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ASTRA Veicoli Industriali SpA

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1946
Seat Piacenza , Italy
management Giulio Barberis
Branch commercial vehicles
Website http://www.astraspa.com/

Astra HD 9 at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2014

ASTRA Veicoli Industriali SpA is an Italian manufacturer of heavy trucks . The company, based in Piacenza , has been part of the Iveco Group since 1986 .

history

After the end of the Second World War , American forces left large amounts of military material on the island of Sardinia . The mechanic Mario Bertuzzi bought decommissioned trucks from these army stocks, mainly of the GMC- CCKW type, and converted them into civilian transport vehicles. To this end, he founded the Astra company in Cagliari in 1946 . The name means “stars” in Latin, as an abbreviation it stood for Anonima Sarda Trasporti or “Sardische Transport-Aktiengesellschaft”.

In 1951 Bertuzzi moved the company to the mainland and built a facility in Piacenza on a 15,000  m 2 site for the repair of Sherman and M47 tanks of the Italian and American armed forces.

Using gearboxes, axles and other components from military vehicles, the company's first own dump truck was manufactured in 1955 . With reference to the name of the company founder, this model was called Astra BM1 . For the next ten years, the company benefited from the high demand for simple transport vehicles for the reconstruction of the country. By 1965 the series was expanded to include the BM35 . In the same year the company moved to an area of ​​140,000 m 2 at the same location.

In the 1980s, the company found itself more and more in a difficult economic situation, not least because of a lack of consideration for increased customer demands. In 1986 the practically bankrupt company was taken over by the Iveco concern. Astra had already installed an increasing number of engines and other group components. Three years later, completely newly developed trucks were presented. These modern vehicles, whose cab was made of fiberglass , were given the designation BM6000 and BM6500 .

In 1994 the abbreviation BM was replaced by HD (for: Heavy Duty ), which is still used today . Two years later, 50 years after the company was founded, and after around 25,000 vehicles had been sold worldwide, the new HD7 series was presented. For the first time, engines up to 520 hp were offered. In 1999 Astra also offered heavy dump trucks with automatic transmissions ; According to their own account, these were the first heavy dump trucks in the world with this type of transmission. Astra vehicles have been equipped with the then new Iveco Cursor engine since 2000 . In the same year, articulated dump trucks with articulated steering were introduced with the ADT ( Articulated Dump Truck ) .

The small truck manufacturer SIVI , which had been using components from the Iveco Stralis and the Iveco Trakker to convert them into heavy- duty trucks since 1982 , was taken over by Astra in 2003 and integrated into production at the Piacenza location. In 2005 the HD7 series was replaced by the new HD8 . A particularly heavy version, the HHD8 ( Heavy Heavy Duty ), was presented at bauma in Munich in 2008 .

HD8 dump trucks have been used in the construction of the Nant de Drance and Linth-Limmern power plants in the Swiss Alps since 2011 , as they appear to be particularly suitable for the extreme slopes in the access tunnels , even under full load. For this it was necessary to bring the vehicles to an altitude of 2000 m by cable car .

2011, the replacement of the carried HD8 through the built today HD9 . The previous fiberglass cab was abandoned in favor of a steel cab. In 2014 the HD9 with a Euro6 -compatible Iveco engine was presented at the IAA Commercial Vehicles .

Astra produces around 2000 vehicles per year at the Piacenza site. 70% of production is exported .

Corporate structure

ASTRA Veicoli Industriali società per azioni is a public limited company with registered capital of 10,400,000 euros. The sole owner of the capital is the commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco . This in turn has been controlled by the CNH Industrial Group since 2003 .

Products

The company's production focuses on dump trucks and chassis for use on public roads, heavy dump trucks for use in mining and military vehicles .

HD9 ( Heavy Duty )

Since 2011, the Astra HD 9 has been offered as a two-, three- or four-axle vehicle using a modified cab from the Iveco Trakker . Eight Iveco Cursor engines ( Euro 3 or Euro 6) between 279 kW (380 PS ) and 412 kW (560 PS) are available. Due to the large number of engines, weights and wheel formulas , more than 100 basic models are available according to the manufacturer. In addition to dump trucks, chassis are also produced. Because of the stiff ladder frame and the low center of gravity, these are used in particular for vehicles with high structures, such as concrete mixers .

In Australia this model is marketed as the Iveco Astra .

ADT ( Articulated Dump Truck )

Astra ADT40
dump truck with articulated steering

Under the names ADT25 , ADT30 , ADT35 and ADT40 , three-axle, articulated dump trucks for use in quarries, landfills and industrial plants are offered. The numbers indicate the permissible payload . Here, too, the company's own Iveco Cursor motors (318 to 456 hp) and ZF transmissions are used.

RD ( Rigid Dump Truck )

Under the designation RD28 , RD32 , RD40 and RD50 , rigid frame dump trucks are manufactured for heavy construction site use and use in mining. Here, too, the numbers indicate the permissible payload , which, however, is often exceeded in mining operations. While the lighter models have Iveco cursor motors, the particular load on the RD50 makes it necessary to install V8 motors from Deutz AG and Kessler axles, which are considered to be particularly robust . In addition, Allison Transmission automatic transmissions are used.

HHD8 ( Heavy Heavy Duty )

For the non-European market, a conversion of the previous Astra HD8 is offered as a particularly resilient truck Astra HHD8 6 × 6 . Reinforced axles, tires and cooling systems allow a total weight of the truck of 50 t (front axle: 10 t, rear axles: 40 t) and for tractors a gross vehicle weight  (GCW) of up to 250 t.

Heavy haulage vehicles

Under the name Heavy Haulage vehicles customized Iveco are tractors for heavy transport manufactured. The basic vehicles are the Iveco Stralis (up to 130 tonnes gross train weight) and the Iveco Trakker (up to 300 tonnes gross train weight). Standard components of the basic vehicles are replaced by more resilient components: a gearbox with a converter clutch is used.

Military vehicles

Road laying machine of the Irish armed forces on a Astra chassis

The company manufactures military vehicles under the name Astra SM . These are simplified versions based on the previous HD8 . Astra military vehicles are marketed by the Iveco Defense Vehicles division of the Iveco Group.

Web links

Commons : Astra  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Company History Company website. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  2. Iveco Astra: Storia website from CNH Industrial. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  3. Quegli anni con Giacomo Marazzi all'Astra Website of the Fondazione di Piacenza of October 13, 2009. Accessed on October 12, 2014.
  4. Astra with Allison fully automatic for power plant construction in the Swiss Alps Press release from Allison Transmission, Inc dated March 1, 2011. Accessed November 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Astra Veicoli Industriali ( Memento of November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Guida Monaci . Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  6. New HD9 (PDF; 1.3 MB) Manufacturer's product brochure from April 6, 2012. Accessed on October 12, 2014.
  7. iveco.com.au
  8. Astra RD50 (PDF; 2.71 MB) Manufacturer's product brochure from February 23, 2011. Accessed on November 9, 2014.