• Mercedes-Benz Trucks continues Atego success story in impressive style

• Atego's excellent reliability and economy key factors behind buying decision of W. & L. Jordan GmbH from Kassel, Germany

• Managing director Jörg Ludwig Jordan cites first-class service offered by Kassel plant as reason for his company's long standing customer-supplier relationship with Mercedes Benz

Involved in the wholesale flooring trade since 1919, W.& L. Jordan is a family-owned company which supplies its wide range of high-quality products nationwide from 30 locations. Almost 100 drivers work around the clock. W. & L. Jordan's fleet is made up of around 90 trucks. "Our customers expect punctuality. We use the Atego because it has never let us down," says managing director Jörg Ludwig Jordan, explaining why he chose the Mercedes-Benz brand, which currently accounts for more than 90 percent of his fleet. Furthermore, this customer-supplier relationship has been going strong for 40 years and, according to Jörg Ludwig Jordan, is based on the first-class service provided by the Kassel plant and on W & L. Jordan's close ties with the region – a region in which Daimler-Chrysler is a major employer with its axle plant.

"We are proud of the fact that our company is the one to receive this milestone truck,” said Jordan at the vehicle handover. "As a leading German flooring and wood supplier, we need agile short-radius distribution trucks that offer sufficient payload, short setup times and excellent reliability. The Atego ticks all of these boxes. Plus its moderate running costs make it the most economical vehicle for our particular needs." The company is also saving money in other areas. This is because, although the new Atego 1222 L trucks will do a lot of their driving on German motorways, their optimised permitted gross vehicle weight of 11.99 tonnes means that they are exempt from paying motorway tolls.

When launched in 1998, the Atego immediately set new standards in terms of overall vehicle concept, ride comfort and vehicle handling. A major facelift followed in 2004. Power is provided by four and six-cylinder in-line engines from the 900 series, with a displacement of 4.25, 4.8 or 6.4 litres and an output of between 90 and 210 kW (122 and 279 hp). The cabs feature a new design both inside and out.

One of the main driving forces behind the Atego's success has been and remains its outstanding versatility, since it is designed for short-radius distribution like no other truck. Further contributing factors include its ability to be optimised for a wide range of different industries, the sheer wealth of powertrain configurations and load-carrying capacities on offer and the ease with which different bodies can be fitted. In terms of special equipment for specific customer requirements, there is increasing demand for Telligent automatic gearshift.