Hands on: The Peterbilt medium-duty truck lineup

Hands on: The Peterbilt medium-duty truck lineup

I’ve never seen anyone beat up a truck as much as Phil Hall. The Peterbilt medium-duty segment manager pounds on the grill, punches the kick plate, stands on the cupholder and slams the door—all to prove a point. The newly unveiled Peterbilt medium-duty lineup is tough, and the new Class 7/8 Model 537 and Model 548 and Class 5/6 Model 535 and Model 536 are built to last.

“We’ve been building medium-duty trucks for 25 years, and of all the trucks that we built, 95% are still in service,” Hall said during a press conference at the Texas Motor Speedway. “That tells us that some of these trucks are going into their fourth lifecycle, and that’s a great testament from the continuous improvement, quality and the durability of our trucks and our processes that we have in our manufacturing, engineering and design.”

Hall noted that the medium-duty lineup’s human-centered design is propped up by five key pillars: uptime; efficiency; versatility; technology and productivity. In the video above, Hall walks us through the product highlights.

“We couldn’t come up with all of these ideas and solutions without the customer’s input,” Hall said. “We engaged the customer throughout. That result is the medium-duty truck that we have today. We set a new standard for the new medium-duty market and not just for the first life cycle, but many multiple life cycles for the future.”

Watch the video above for the hands-on medium-duty details, and Hall’s energetic product walk around.

More medium-duty details

There was plenty to talk about here. In this bonus clip, Jake White, product marketing manager, Peterbilt, talks about the medium-duty Model 535 truck.

No script? No plan? No problem. Welcome to Fleet Equipment Unscripted—the video interview series that connects you with the greatest minds in the heavy-duty trucking world.

Bookmark the Fleet Equipment Unscripted page to catch all of our Unscripted episodes, and subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here to have the latest news and in-depth trucking stories delivered straight to your inbox.

Fleet Equipment Unscripted is sponsored by Hendrickson.

You May Also Like

Online truck parts buying is happening, but are you getting what you need?

Buying truck parts online is more complicated than a Prime impulse purchase.

Fleet-Pride-Online-Parts-Buying-1400

There’s no debate: Online truck parts buying is happening, but not without its challenges. Truck part purchasing demands the correct specs. When you have websites offering a single, blurry product image, with specs that are kind of correct, you roll the dice on an attractive price for a part that may or may not fit.

Peterbilt previews PACCAR’s hydrogen internal combustion engine powertrain

The decarbonization potential of hydrogen-fueled powertrains in the heavy-duty trucking Industry.

2-peterbilt-1400
Buying a truck goes beyond the transaction

With insurance and preventative maintenance part of the package, financing a truck means more than handing over the cash for the keys.

2-navistar-1400
Volvo Trucks N.A. president on the market, EV growth and a Super Truck

It’s an ATA MCE tradition that we catch up with Volvo Trucks North America President Peter Voorhoeve. Here’s what he had to say.

Volvo-ATA-Supertruck-Unscripted-1400
Staying safe in the truck service shop

And other top truck service tips from Jake Schell, FE’s resident truck service columnist and Mitchell 1 associate product manager.

Truck-shop-service-safety-1400

Other Posts

Five truck trend takeaways from November

The biggest stories from November focused on the latest truck trends, all in one place.

The fuel efficiency faceoff begins!

The battle to earn the CDL is over, but the fight to crown a fuel efficiency champion is just getting started.

EPS-4-faceoff4-1400
Peterbilt delivers Model 520EV refuse vehicle to City of Roses Disposal Recycling

The zero-emissions Model 520EV will provide recycling and waste collection services for the city of Portland.

Eaton Cummins Endurant XD series transmission now available at Kenworth Mexico

The automated manual transmission is now available in Kenworth T680 and T880 trucks in Mexico and Latin America. 

Endurant-XD-1400