Acela Introduces 4x4 High Mobility Class 5 Cab-Over Truck Chassis

Acela Truck Company is introducing its new Acela Straya – the first four-wheel drive, Class 5, high-mobility, cab-over truck chassis in North America. The medium-duty Straya offers maneuverability and visibility and off-highway capabilities for use in the most demanding work environments.

Based on the successful and reliable Isuzu NRR base chassis, and inspired by Isuzu Australia's 4x4 work truck fleets, Acela Truck Company has leveraged its vast defense vehicle experience to incorporate military vehicle components and capabilities with Isuzu's chassis to create the Acela Straya for extreme commercial and governmental applications.

The new Acela Straya is equipped with the Meritor 3000 Series axles featuring the field-proven US Military production wheel-ends currently used on the US Army's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), as well as Driver-Controlled Differential Lockers (DCDL) and 41-inch military tires. It is the only commercial vehicle in North America with available onboard Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS), a driver-controlled push-button capability that adjusts tire pressures on demand from 95 to 17 PSI – a feature almost exclusively found in military tactical vehicles, allowing the Straya to be driven on-highway, at highway speeds, and off-highway through sandy, swampy, snowy, steep, washboard, and other challenging terrain. In off-highway conditions, the lower tire pressure settings allow the Straya to mimic tracked vehicle performance, replacing the need to transport slow and expensive tracked vehicles to the worksite.

"Designed in concert with our wildland fire, utility, pipeline, and mining clients, they are very excited to take first deliveries," stated David Ronsen, president of Acela Truck Company.

The vehicle was primarily designed for high-mobility performance for wildland/urban interface fire trucks, transmission line, utility, pipeline, and open-surface mining and border patrol operations. The Straya will be available in single- and crew-cab configurations in multiple wheelbases and provides 19.6 in. of ground clearance and up to 36 in. of water fording capability. The cab-over design offers the best chassis "real estate-to-wheelbase" ratio, maximum driver visibility, and a small turning radius of 49 ft. (on 150-in. wheelbase with a 12-ft. body), providing maximum maneuverability and significantly differentiating it from other commercial truck models. The Straya seats up to seven people with multiple seating options available to suit almost any application.