Peterbilt announced the new Model 579 UltraLoft

Ok, that’s exciting news, but so far we saw the new Tesla truck of the future, Volvo’s electric truck concept and Kenworth’s showed their hydrogen-powered truck. Well, don’t get too excited, because we won’t see any groundbreaking technology.

Peterbilt has introduced features that improve aerodynamics, driver’s comfort and safety. Well, they did a good job with the new truck overall. They’ve designed the UltraLoft in close collaboration with their customers and drivers. The driving experience is the key factor here, so they did their best to offer a top quality truck features. Let’s see what Peterbilt have come up with:

Exterior:

Nothing special about the look, but the improved aerodynamics delivers 2% efficiency. The Model 579 have several exterior configurations from which you can choose – tractor or truck chassis, 4x2, 6x2 or 6x4 axles, mid – 117” or long – 123” hood, day, 44” sleeper, 72” sleeper or 80” sleeper cab, 4 types of fairing – roof, front chassis, full chassis and extended chassis.

Interior:

This is the real deal. Peterbilt promised to deliver the largest upper and lower bunk mattresses, best-in-class headroom, flat screen TVs and so on. It just looks great. There are 3 interior configurations you can choose from – prestige, premier and platinum. The last one is of course the highest one.

Safety:

There’s something interesting here. They did some pretty huge research about the headlamps and fog lamps in order to design the best down-road visibility and coverage. These are optional features you can choose and they add some cost to the truck, but they add value also. So, nice job here.

Operational costs:

In their website there is a calculator that can calculate fuel savings. That’s because Peterbilt did some pretty nice job optimizing aerodynamics and powertrain, which leads to lower cost of operation. How much? You can use the calculator to see for yourself.

These are the most important upgrades that they did. Overall the truck looks great on the outside and on the inside. A lot of cool features and stuff that will improve the driver’s experience. But what about the price? Unfortunately you have to visit a dealer to get the price, even if you configure it trough their website.

To be honest there’s no groundbreaking technology in this new truck, but it’s built with quality materials, a lot of research and testing is involved and we are looking forward to see what will be the drivers’ feedback in the future. 

Which reminds us that the Model 579 UltraLoft is available for ordering now and the production is expected to begin this summer.