Deals on Wheels #464
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N<br />
Not so l<strong>on</strong>g ago, three Anthems, a<br />
Super-Liner and a Trident left Brisbane<br />
early <strong>on</strong>e morning, heading south <strong>on</strong><br />
the first leg of what Mack is promoting as<br />
a nati<strong>on</strong>al ‘Evoluti<strong>on</strong> Tour’.<br />
Over several m<strong>on</strong>ths the trucks will travel<br />
many of the country’s major routes from east<br />
to west and back again, stopping to showcase<br />
not just Anthem but also the significant safety<br />
and cab developments <strong>on</strong> Super-Liner and<br />
Trident, which altogether make these Macks<br />
something special.<br />
Even so, as the five trucks punched down<br />
the Pacific Highway towards Sydney, the<br />
Super-Liner and Trident at first glance<br />
appeared little different to the current crop.<br />
From any angle though, Anthem is definitely<br />
a breed apart.<br />
Visually, there’s never been anything like<br />
Anthem and typically perhaps, early reports<br />
and various photos from the US, and more<br />
recently Australia, have delivered vastly<br />
mixed opini<strong>on</strong>s of the truck’s idiosyncratic<br />
hood design. Quite simply, some like the look<br />
of it, some d<strong>on</strong>’t. Again, it’s just typical of a<br />
trucking populati<strong>on</strong> with as many opini<strong>on</strong>s<br />
as pub politics.<br />
Not so typical though, and certainly<br />
surprising, was the lack of comment over<br />
the UHF radio during a short 200km stint<br />
behind the wheel. There was plenty of truck<br />
traffic heading the other way and given the<br />
model’s unique looks and ‘Mack’ emblaz<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
trailer, it was reas<strong>on</strong>able to expect a fair<br />
amount of feedback <strong>on</strong>e way or the other.<br />
Sure, it was easy to spot northbound drivers<br />
having a quizzical look at the boldly styled<br />
truck but you could also count <strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong>e hand<br />
the number of times the radio crackled with<br />
comment about this new breed of bulldog.<br />
Maybe it was because there has already<br />
been so much publicity about Anthem that<br />
radio chatter was so subdued. After all, the<br />
truck first hit the headlines in the USA back<br />
in September 2017 and we’ve been reporting<br />
the model’s ‘upcoming’ Australian launch<br />
ever since, most notably after a visit to the big<br />
kennel in Pennsylvania in early 2018.<br />
It has been a l<strong>on</strong>g wait but by the end of<br />
2020 speculati<strong>on</strong> was mounting that Anthem<br />
was <strong>on</strong> the brink of calling Australia ‘home’.<br />
As we reported in our final issue of the year:<br />
“… if the whispers are correct and Mack’s<br />
new Anthem does actually debut <strong>on</strong> the<br />
Australian market in early 2021, it will be<br />
an incredibly momentous occasi<strong>on</strong> for the<br />
bulldog breed in this country. A milest<strong>on</strong>e for<br />
true celebrati<strong>on</strong>.”<br />
But other than its distinctive snout, what<br />
makes Anthem such a milest<strong>on</strong>e model?<br />
Well, three things: <strong>on</strong>e, Anthem utilises<br />
what Mack insiders call a ‘bridged’ versi<strong>on</strong><br />
of Volvo’s Tier II electrical architecture,<br />
meaning the operati<strong>on</strong>al systems and<br />
features which define the extent and finesse<br />
of Volvo performance and efficiency now<br />
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