Cat unveils CT660 vocational truck

Caterpillar unveiled the CT660 vocational truck on March 20, 2011 at a pre-CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2011 special eventCaterpillar unveiled the CT660 vocational truck on March 20, 2011 at a pre-CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2011 special event

by Tina Grady Barbaccia

LAS VEGAS–Caterpillar unveiled its CT660 vocational truck on March 20, 2011, at a pre-CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2011 press event. Editors from Randall-Reilly’s Construction  Division magazines â€” Equipment World, Better Roads and Aggregates Manager — attended the event.

George Taylor, director of Cat’s on-highway truck group, says the truck redefines heavy-duty Class 8 vocational trucks.

The set-back axle configuration truck will be on the order board in April, Taylor says. Production will start in May. Deliveries are set to begin in July.

“We are going to have a full line of vocational trucks that will be customizeable to customers’ needs,” Taylor said during the unveiling. “If you need to move earth, we’ll help you do that. If you’re in the waste business, we’ll help you move waste. These are not just trucks off the line that we didn’t take time to understand how they would interact with the environment.”

Taylor says Cat’s decision to enter the vocational truck market was customer driven and isn’t a short-term decision.

“For me this has been going on for the last five years,” Taylor notes. “You’ll catch the passion that Cat has to be in the truck business. This is just the beginning.” (Cat plans to introduce the CT680 set-forward axle configuration vocational truck available in the first quarter of 2013.)

He adds that the red truck — Cat says that customers asked for a truck in any color but its flagship yellow — “is more than just a pretty face. It’s the only truck worthy of the Cat name.”

Engine options for the CT660 include the Cat CT11, CT13 and CT15 — with displacements of 11.1, 12.5 and 15.2 liters — provide horsepower ratings from 330 to 550 and peak torque ratings from 1,450 to 1,850 lb.-ft. The engines are designed specifically for vocational applications, yielding optimum horsepower/torque combinations, while providing customers the flexibility to match power and performance to specific applications and operating conditions.

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For the official Caterpillar press release on the introduction of the CT660 vocational truck, click here.

Engine options for the CT660 include the Cat CT11, CT13 and CT15—with displacements of 11.1, 12.5 and 15.2 liters—provide horsepower ratings from 330 to 550 and peak torque ratings from 1,450 to 1,850 lb-ft. The engines are designed specifically for vocational applications, yielding optimum horsepower/torque combinations, while providing customers the flexibility to match power and performance to specific applications and operating conditions.