Volvo’s New Extra-Large Semi-Truck Can Be Loaded Up To 200,000 Pounds And Is Just A Bed Away From Being America’s Craziest Pickup Truck

There was once a time when America’s commercial truck producers thought regular people would love to buy a big rig with a pickup truck bed slapped on its back. For a while, they were right, but those days are mostly gone. Volvo Trucks North America just launched its new VNX “extreme duty” heavy-haul semi-tractor, a rig that can get loaded all the way up to 200,000 pounds. But hold on, Volvo might have also just accidentally created the coolest platform for America’s craziest pickup truck — it just needs a long bed.

There are some transportation jobs out there that require a bit more special attention than a typical load. Sometimes, a customer needs to move a piece of equipment that’s larger or heavier than regulations normally permit. These items can include excavators, cranes, wind turbines, transformers, aircraft, farm implements, houses, raw materials, or really anything else of substantial weight or size. Jobs like this require heavy-haul trucking, and you’ll often see specialized trucks, trailers, and other equipment doing the hauling.

The new Volvo VNX continues the truck maker’s revitalization efforts in America. Previously, Volvo launched new VNL long-haul and VNR regional-haul rigs. Now, the VNX is here for the special heavy jobs, and it’s bringing a lot of character and horsepower with it. I also can’t stop imagining an untapped market for this thing, too.

Volvo’s Big, Heavy Hauler

At the heart of the VNX is Volvo’s 12.8-liter D13 straight-six turbodiesel with 540 horsepower and 1,950 lb-ft on tap. That mill’s engine brake is good for 630 horses of stopping power. In addition to being a mountain of strength, Volvo says that the engine meets EPA 2027 emissions standards while pumping out 83 percent less NOx emissions than the previous-generation engine. Particulate matter has also been cut by 50 percent compared to previously. I love when diesel power doesn’t mean choking on emissions!

What makes the VNX stand out is its versatility. Volvo says that when it began development on its new truck platform seven years ago, it looked to potential customers, the construction and logging industries, to guide development. Volvo trucks are often used for construction in Brazil and forestry in Norway. Volvo is the vocational leader in markets within Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Here in North America, Volvos get workouts hauling dump trailers. Volvo says that one of the benefits it has that other truck producers don’t is that it also builds the construction equipment that is often hauled by Volvo trucks.

On the other end is a rig that’s pretty flexible. The truck is available as a sleeper or a day cab, with an axle-forward or axle-back configuration, and as a straight truck, heavy-haul tractor, or vocational truck. The VNX, Volvo says, was engineered with a clear area behind the cab for body builders to attach their specific components. It also comes with a selection of heavy steel bumpers to adapt the truck to different frame configurations. More metal is used for the truck’s grille, which has a metal mesh behind it to catch foreign objects.

If the truck looks properly chunky, that’s because it is. The high-tensile steel frame is good for 200,000 pounds of gross combined weight (the weight of the truck, trailer, and cargo) as standard, which is more than twice the legal limit of a standard highway truck. Certain applications can bring the gross weight even higher. The VNX rides on the same platform as the VNL and the VNR, which were developed as part of a $3 billion investment. Mack’s new Pioneer and Anthem trucks are close cousins to these Volvos.

But it also isn’t just a huge hunk of metal. Like any proper Volvo, the VNX has a focus on safety. Volvo says the tractor has pedestrian detection, blind spot monitoring, active variable power steering, a 360-degree camera, and optional side curtain airbags.

To help protect against damage from sharp objects and thermal shock, Volvo says the new windshield of the VNX is twice as strong as tempered glass, with five times the scratch resistance. Apparently, the pedestrian system can see people from 23 feet to 230 feet away. Hopefully, that will help lead to fewer incidents involving pedestrians and trucks.

The VNX also has what sounds like a fun but useful function. With Remote Steer, the driver can hop out of the truck and drive it using a remote, like it’s a huge RC car. Top speed is limited to 5 mph, but, honestly, even that speed would make me giggle like a kid playing with a big toy. Volvo says that the practical function is that the driver can see everything going around the truck, and can use the remote to do a precision maneuver that might be harder from inside the cab.

In launching the new VNX, Volvo is firmly planting its stakes in the vocational market, an area that’s generally been left to the likes of Mack, which is also a Volvo brand. Volvo Truck North America says it’s finally building the truck that its American customers have been begging for since the launch of the Volvo VHD in 2000.

That’s all fine and dandy, but I have an even crazier future for the VNX. Sure, Volvo says you can run a rig 200,000 pounds heavy with this thing, but I have a crazy idea.

Okay, Hear Me Out

Back in the 2000s, America’s truck producers had an obsession with making pickup truck versions of medium-duty commercial trucks. Honestly, it was pretty stupid, but also awesome at the same time. In that decade alone, a regular person could buy a GMC TopKick C4500 by Monroe Truck Equipment, an International CXT, an International RXT, the International MXT, or a Ford F-650 Supertruck. Only the Supertruck remains in production today.

Update: I forgot that Sportchassis also continues to exist!

Here’s an International XT, for example:

You would think that some of these rigs should require a CDL to drive, and, normally, you’d be right. The International 7300 that made for the base vehicle of an International CXT was a Class 7 truck, which normally has a gross vehicle weight range of 26,001 pounds to 33,000 pounds. These trucks usually work as cement mixers, dump trucks, garbage trucks, bucket trucks, or even tow trucks. There are 7300s out that that bump right up on that 33,000-pound limit.

To make the CXT legal for the drivers in most states to operate on a standard license, International capped GVWR at 25,999 pounds. That’s how the rest of the aforementioned commercial truck pickup trucks worked, too.

Now, it would be extra silly to do this to a Class 8 truck, and frankly insane to do it to a heavy-haul truck, but I can’t stop looking at this yellow beast and imagining a bed on it. Yes, that bed will sit so high that it’ll be unusable. Yes, the pickup will be so huge that it would take up multiple spaces at the grocery store. Yes, this truck would be a monument to excess. Pedestrians and cyclists would probably riot if someone made one of these into a pickup truck. You will get no argument from me; this is a dumb idea!

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see a nice and long bed on it. I love the super singles, the ground clearance, and the fact that it already looks like a pickup truck, but scaled up. Or do pickup trucks look like this? Either way, parking a bed on the back would turn the VNX into America’s craziest pickup truck, and I’m not sure even the biggest F-650 Supertruck would come close.

Thankfully, however, I am not in charge of an automaker or a truck manufacturer. Remember, I’m a huge fan of Smart Fortwos, Nissan Murano CrossCabriolets, Chevrolet HHRs, Chevrolet SSRs, Suzuki RE-5s, Chrysler Crossfires, and other vehicles that have appeared on a “worst” list at some publication at least once. I like bad ideas on wheels!

In all seriousness, it’s pretty awesome to see what Volvo and Mack have been up to in the trucking industry lately. If these trucks help to make the lives of drivers easier, I’m for it. The drivers that keep America moving don’t get enough credit for what they do, so it’s nice for them to have good tools for their craft.

Top graphic image: Volvo