Ford Cargo

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Ford Cargo
Ford Trucks 1848T.jpg
Overview
Manufacturer Ford Motor Company
Also called
  • Freightliner/Sterling Cargo (1999–2007)
  • Ashok Leyland Stallion
  • Ashok Leyland EComet
  • JMC Weilong [1] (2018–2022)
Production1981present
Model years
  • 1981-1997 (Europe)
  • 1986-2007 (North America)
  • 1981-present (South America, rest of world)
Assembly
Designer Patrick Le Quément (First Generation)
Body and chassis
Class Class 7 (USA)
Body style Cabover
Powertrain
Engine 5.7 Dovertech I6 (1981-2003)
7.3 Ecotorq (2003-2015)
9.0 Ecotorq (2012-)
12.7 Ecotorq (2016-)
Dimensions
Wheelbase variable
Lengthvariable
Chronology
Predecessor Ford Transcontinental
Ford C-Series (North America)
Ford D-series (UK)
Ford N-Series (Australasia)
Successor Ford LCF (North America)
Iveco Eurocargo (Great Britain)
Ford F-Max

The Ford Cargo is a forward control (cab-over-engine) truck model manufactured by Ford since 1981. Designed by Ford of Britain as the successor of the Ford Transcontinental heavy commercial tractor, Ford introduced the Cargo to North America for 1986 as a medium-duty truck, intended to replace the long-running Ford C-Series.

Contents

Coinciding with the sale of Ford commercial truck production in Europe and North America, the Cargo design has been sold under multiple brands under its production life. In Europe, it was rebranded as a Iveco Ford, later becoming the Iveco Eurocargo. In North America, the Cargo was included in the 1997 sale of Ford heavy-truck lines to Freightliner, who marketed it as both a Freightliner and a Sterling through 2007.

Originally produced by Ford UK at its Langley facility from 1981 to 1993, the Cargo was also produced by Ford Brasil from 1981 to 2019 (the source of US-market production from 1986 to 1990); from 1991 to 1997, the line was produced by Ford by Kentucky Truck Assembly, in Louisville, Kentucky (for North America, replacing Ford Brasil). Current production of the line is sourced from Ford Otosan in Turkey.

Model overview

The 1981 Ford Cargo was styled by Patrick Le Quément, designer of the Ford Sierra and the later Renault Twingo. The styling of the Cargo intentionally followed the family look of Ford of Europe's car range with the distinctive louvred black "Aeroflow" grille also used on the likes of the Escort III and the Cortina 80, both of which Le Quement had worked on under the leadership of Uwe Bahnsen. Another distinguishing feature of the original design was quarter windows that extend down nearly to floor level (also seen in the Volvo FL) for drivers in urban locations, the design was intended to better show pathways and blindspots while parking.

Ford Cargo (Europe)

With the demise of the Ford Transcontinental heavy truck range in 1983, British Ford introduced a range of heavyweight Cargo tractor units ranging from 28- to 38-tonnes gcw. The 38-tonners were powered by the Cummins L10 while those at 28- and 32-tonnes had Perkins, Cummins, or air-cooled Deutz diesels. The 7.49 tonne Cargos had Dorset and Dover fours or sixes, starting with a 89 bhp (66 kW) unit in the 0809. [3] The Dover six-cylinder engines were mounted at a slant in the Cargo. [4]

In 1986, Ford sold its European truck operations to the Italian Iveco group and subsequent vehicles have been badged Iveco Ford. After the recession in the 1990s, Iveco rationalised its production operations, overlooked by Keith Stanley Jones (Production Engineering Manager). Its Langley plant closed in October 1997, bringing British Iveco/Ford truck production to an end.

The original lightweight Cargo was replaced in 1993 by the Iveco Eurocargo range, covering the 7.5-ton to 18-ton GVW range. It was originally only built in Ford's Langley (Slough) plant, from which about a third of the production was exported to continental Europe. Cargos were also exported to Turkey and to Australia, while panels were supplied to Brazil for local assembly (these Brazilian trucks were also exported to the United States). [2]

Production has expanded since: the model is still made in Argentina (only the Cargo 1722 [5] between 1999 and 2000) and Venezuelan (also known as the Ford Trader) Ford subsidiaries, Turkey's Ford Otosan, and India's Ashok Leyland (as the eComet and as the Stallion).

Ford Cargo (Americas)

In late 1985, for the 1986 model year, Ford introduced the Cargo as part of its United States commercial truck range. [6] Intended to replace the long-running C-Series cabover (largely unchanged since 1957) the Cargo was gradually phased in alongside its predecessor, slotted below the larger CL-9000 semitractor. For the first time, a commercial Ford truck sold in the United States was assembled outside of Louisville, Kentucky, with production sourced from Brazil. [6] For the 1991 model year, production was moved to the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

Following the 1997 sale of the Ford heavy-truck line to Freightliner, production of the Cargo shifted to Freightliner, where it was marketed and sold under the Freightliner FC and Sterling SC brand names through 2007. The Freightliner & Sterling Cargo were made by Freightliner in Mt. Holly, North Carolina. The Freightliner & Sterling Cargo were discontinued after the 2007 model year.

In 2006, the Ford LCF was introduced in North America as part of a joint venture with Navistar International. While not a direct successor to the Ford Cargo (designed as a Class 5/6 vehicle; the Cargo was a Class 6/7 truck), the LCF was a low-COE similar in configuration to the Isuzu N-Series, Chevrolet/GMC W-Series, and Mitsubishi Fuso Canter. After a poor market response, the Ford LCF and its International CF/CityStar counterpart were withdrawn after 2009.

Motorsport

Rod Chapman won the FIA European Truck Racing Championship in 1985 and 1987 using a modified Cargo, with Gérard Cuynet doing the same in 1988.

Related Research Articles

Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles. The name IVECO first appeared in 1975 after a merger of Italian, French, and German brands. Its production plants are in Europe, China, Russia, Australia and Latin America and it has about 5,000 sales and service outlets in over 160 countries. The worldwide output of the company amounts to around 150,000 commercial vehicles with a turnover of about 10 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Transit</span> Range of light commercial vehicles produced by Ford

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Freightliner Trucks is an American semi truck manufacturer. Founded in 1929 as the truck-manufacturing division of Consolidated Freightways, the company was established in 1942 as Freightliner Corporation. Owned by Daimler AG from 1981 to 2021, Freightliner is now a part of Daimler Truck subsidiary Daimler Truck North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterling Trucks</span> Former US truck manufacturer

Sterling Trucks Corporation was an American truck manufacturer. Founded in 1998, Sterling was created following the 1997 acquisition of the heavy-truck product lines of Ford Motor Company by Freightliner. Taking its nameplate from a long-defunct truck manufacturer, Sterling was slotted between Freightliner and Western Star within the Daimler product range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercedes-Benz Sprinter</span> Light commercial vehicle

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Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş., doing business as Ford Otosan, is an automotive manufacturing company based in Turkey that is equally owned by Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding. The company was established in its current form in 1977, with original relations dating back to 1928. It currently operates in six locations: Gölcük and Yeniköy plants in Kocaeli, İnönü plant in Eskişehir, Craiova plant in Romania, Sancaktepe R&D Center and spare parts warehouse in Istanbul The company employs more than 20,000 people and had a production capacity of over 700,000 vehicles, 400,000 engines, and 140,000 powertrains by 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford C series</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iveco Stralis</span> Heavy-duty truck

The Iveco Stralis is a heavy-duty truck produced by the Italian manufacturer Iveco between 2002-2019. The Stralis replaced the EuroStar and EuroTech models; it covers the range above the Eurocargo, between 19 and 44 tonnes. The fire version of the Stralis released with the German based Iveco Magirus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford L series</span> Motor vehicle

The Ford L-series is a range of commercial trucks that were assembled and marketed by Ford between 1970 and 1998. They are also known as Ford Louisville or, for the 1990s aerodynamic models, Ford Aeromax. The first dedicated Class 8 truck produced by the company, although Ford had been producing "Heavy Duty" trucks since 1948 and their "Super Duty" lineup since 1958. The L-Series was the successor of the F-900/F-1000 Super Duty and the Ford N-Series. The line encompassed a wide range of models in GVWR Classes 6 through 8, as either straight trucks or as semi-tractors, with vehicles developed for medium-duty, on-highway, severe-service, and vocational applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-stop truck</span> Truck used for local deliveries

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Astra Veicoli Industriali S.p.A. is an Italian company that produces trucks, heavy transport vehicles and military vehicles. Astra was privately founded in 1946 in Cagliari, and since 1986 has been part of Iveco. In 1951 Astra moved to Piacenza. From 1946 to 1986 Astra was owned by the Bertuzzi family of Piacenza. ASTRA is an Iveco Group brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford P100</span> Motor vehicle

The Ford P100 is a car-based pickup truck that was built by Ford from 1971 to 1995, initially in South Africa, and later Portugal. It was based on medium-sized Ford passenger cars, originally the Cortina/Taunus and from 1988 the Ford Sierra. Initially marketed as the Ford Cortina Pickup, the P100 name was adopted in 1982. The P-100 name had previously been used on a small North American panel van in the 1960s.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Ecotorq engine</span> Reciprocating internal combustion engine

Ecotorq is a heavy duty diesel engine family primarily used in Ford Cargo heavy duty trucks, designed and built by Ford Otosan. Ecotorq is the first diesel engine which is completely built with CAD/CAM technologies in Turkey. Ecotorq family is produced in Ford Otosan's truck and engine transmission plant located in İnönü, and JMC Xiaolan engine plant in Nanchang, China under license of Ford Otosan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freightliner Business Class M2</span> Motor vehicle

The Freightliner Business Class M2 is a model range of medium-duty trucks produced by Freightliner since the 2003 model year. The first generation of the Business Class developed entirely by Freightliner, the M2 replaced the FL-Series introduced in 1991. Serving as a Class 5-Class 8 product range, the M2 competes primarily against the International MV and the Ford F-650/F-750 Super Duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford LCF</span> Motor vehicle

The Ford LCF is a medium-duty cab-over truck that was marketed by Ford Motor Company from 2006 to 2009. The first cab-over (COE) vehicle sold by Ford since the company sold the rights to the Ford Cargo design to Freightliner in 1996, the LCF was developed as a Class 4/5 truck, competing in a market segment dominated by the Isuzu NPR. Sold in various wheelbases, the model line was developed for various configurations, including dump trucks, fire trucks, tow trucks, box trucks, crane/bucket trucks, flat beds and stake bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iveco Zeta</span> Motor vehicle

The Iveco Zeta is a light to medium-duty truck model produced by the Italian manufacturer Iveco. Appearing in 1976 and entering production in 1977, its cab was developed with the aid of Fiat's wind tunnel in Orbassano. The Zeta series continued the lineage begun with the 1959 introduction of the OM Lupetto. The Lupetto, as well as the Leoncino, the Daino, and the Tigrotto, were all replaced by the OM X-series in 1972, which then formed the basis for the Zeta range. The Zeta itself was replaced by the all-new Iveco Eurocargo in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iveco EuroCargo</span> Medium-duty truck

The Iveco EuroCargo is a range of medium-duty trucks produced by the Italian manufacturer Iveco since 1991. The EuroCargo occupies a place between the light Daily and the heavy Stralis in Iveco's lineup. The EuroCargo replaced the Zeta model produced in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thames (commercial vehicles)</span> Subsidiary of Ford Motor Company

Thames was a commercial vehicle brand produced by Ford of Britain.

References

  1. 1 2 "Auto Shanghai 2017: JMC's First Heavy Truck Weilong Shows up". Chinatrucks.com. April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Kent, Gordon (June 1986). "Intertruck: Britain". TRUCK. London, UK: FF Publishing Ltd: 39.
  3. Kennett, Pat, ed. (September 1983). "Win a Cargo fleet!". TRUCK. London, UK: FF Publishing Ltd: 5.
  4. Kennett, Pat (September 1983). "Flat Coke floats!". TRUCK : 54.
  5. Dl, Esteban (April 12, 2013). "Camión Argentino: Ford Cargo 1722". camionargentino.blogspot.com.ar. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Stark, Harry A., ed. (1987). Ward's Automotive Yearbook 1987. Vol. 49. Detroit, MI: Ward's Communications, Inc. p. 259. ISBN   0910589007.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)