Elegant Stone Seeing Fuel Savings & Driver Satisfaction From New Volvo FM 8x2 Rigid Curtainsider

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Elegant Stone of Cleckheaton recently acquired an FM 8x2 rigid with a Globetrotter cab; the truck represents the first Volvo in the firm’s fleet. (Photo courtesy of Volvo.)

Volvo Trucks wasn’t the only manufacturer Elegant Stone considered when it recently needed to replace an older truck in its fleet. No other model, though, could match the Volvo FM 8x2 rigid’s combination of quality and price. Founded in 1998, Elegant Stone is a bespoke maker of wet cast and semi-dry cast stone headquartered in Cleckheaton in County West Yorkshire. The firm will use the new FM to deliver stone from its Bradford factory to building jobsites in London and throughout the greater south east.

“We’ve always opted for a 6x2 axle configuration in the past, but we’ve gone for 8x2 this time, which allows us to get another 4.5 tonnes on,” says Elegant Stone Sales Manager Roy Davis. “We’re carrying architectural cast stone, a very heavy product, so this gives us some additional flexibility to increase the load when we need to.”

Welcome Aboard

The FM is Elegant Stone’s first Volvo truck. Supplied by Crossroads Truck & Bus, it’s equipped with a six-cylinder Volvo D11K engine rated for 330 horsepower (246 kilowatts) and 1,600 newton-metres (1,180 pounds-foot) of torque. Micra Truck Bodies added the FM’s curtainsider bodywork, and Elegant Stone spec’d the truck with a Globetrotter cab featuring a 28-litre (1-cubic-foot) fridge mounted in the rear upper wall and raised A-pillars that provide up to 1 cubic metre (35 cu ft) of additional space over the preceding Globetrotter cab.

Also on tap is a 12-inch high-resolution digital instrument display in the cab interior, new rearview mirrors and a passenger-corner camera, and a lowered door line. Elegant Stone will also benefit from Volvo’s drive plus and long-haul fuel packages. The latter includes Volvo I-See predictive cruise control that uses map-related data to put the truck’s kinetic energy to use and help cut fuel usage by up to 5% vs. a truck without I-See. Davis says the FM is delivering 12 mpg for Elegant Stone as compared to the 8 mpg from the truck it replaced.

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Elegant Stone will use its new FM to deliver cast stone from its factory in Bradford to jobsites in London and the south east. The truck replaces an older 6x2 rigid from a competing manufacturer and offers a payload that’s 4.5 tonnes greater. (Photo courtesy of Volvo.)

Comfort = Happy Driver

Davis says roughly 80% of the goods that Elegant Stone delivers are transported south, primarily to big one-off properties in the London region and home counties.

“So, quite long journeys,” Davis says. “The driver is very happy with the new truck. His maiden voyage was an overnighter, and he fed back to us how much more room and storage there was. The digital dashboard was a big hit, as well. Driver shortage is a big issue at the moment, so it’s important we do what we can to improve the quality of life out on the road.”

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Source: Volvo