FORD S-MAX VEHICLE OF CHOICE FOR GERMAN BREAKDOWN SERVICE
Ahead of the arrival of the new 2010 model Ford S-MAX in Ireland, the sporty people carrier has become the vehicle of choice of ADAC, the German automobile club and break-down service provider.
With more than 16 million members, ADAC is the largest automobile club in Europe and anyone familiar with Germany’s extensive motorway network will recognise their distinctive yellow-liveried vehicles. More and more, those ADAC vehicles are specially-produced yellow S-MAX models. Already the German automobile club’s breakdown service has 330 S-MAX “yellow angels” patrolling the country’s highways and autobahns. The number of S-MAX models on ADAC’s fleet will rise to 530 vehicles by 2011.
“The typical lifespan of one of our road patrol vehicles is six to eight years, thus, any vehicle we choose has to have a very high standard of quality and dependability”, said ADAC’s National Fleet Manager, Alois Stiegler. “The flexibility of the S-MAX, with its great load capacity and excellent driving dymamics make it the ideal vehicle for our work”.
The ADAC S-MAX fleet consists of 2.0-litre TDCi 140 PS diesel models, with diesel particulate filter and “Durashift-6-tronic” (six-way automatic transmission with sports mode). The vehicles are specially adapted to ADAC’s specifications at the Ford factory and are delivered without rear seats and are spray-painted with ADAC’s special yellow colour. At ADAC’s own workshops, the vehicles receive a range of extra electric circuitry to help with “jump starting” other vehicles. In addition, the vehicles are fitted out with a range of communications and safety equipment and emergency lighting.
ADAC’s links with Ford go right back to the 1960s when their road fleets included Ford Taunus models. Since then, ADAC has used Escort, Focus, Mondeo and Galaxy models in the provision of its emergency and breakdown service across Germany.