Friday, March 25, 2022

Euro imports

I regret I was unable to post for some time, but now with the pandemic (I hope) easing, combined with better weather and Daylight Saving Time I hope to resume posting on a more regular basis. And a reminder, this is a blog not a forum, and while I am pleased to receive corrections, I am not able to respond to all comments, particularly anonymous ones.

 Euro RV

There was certainly a lengthy interruption in European tourist vehicles during the height of the pandemic. Now with restrictions lifting in many jurisdictions, we may expect to see more European trucks on the roads. One of the first this year is this expedition class MAN model TGM 18.340 , with crew tilt cab. (When have you seen a tilting crew cab before? It may be a first for me.)


 Converted and fitted out by the German company Unicat Expedition Vehicles, it looks capable of handling some rough terrain. I am not too impressed with the access stairs however - you would think they could do better for the price.


Euro ATV

An ATV on steroids might look like one of these Prinoth Panthers. (Panther T7R on the left and Panther T14 on the right.)

Tracked dump trucks with rotating dump body available in several models, they are truly all terrain. The multi-national owners HTI (High Technology Industries) have Italian, German and Canadian roots. They acquired the Bombardier snow groomer company Camoplast in 2005 and their tracked vehicles in 2009. In 2011 they acquired the German company AHWI and its forestry equipment. Prinoth is orginally an Italian maker of snow grooming equipment which has diversified and expanded word wide under HTI ownership.


Prinoth's Canadian headquarters is on Boulevard J.A.Bombardier in Granby, QC. I have seen videos of these rigs working in mucky conditions and they handle like skid steers but are much bigger.

.