Deals on Wheels #464

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