Mercedes-Benz Arocs

The Arocs is the construction range of Daimler Truck, and the company dates it in two steps rather than one: the Actros variant for construction, the Arocs, was introduced at bauma in 2013, and the current vehicle for the construction site at bauma in 2019. The September 2020 launch is neither — it is the update that brought MirrorCam, the Multimedia Cockpit and the advanced Predictive Powertrain Control. Three dates, three different things.

On weight, Mercedes-Benz gives permissible gross vehicle weight only as a single span across the whole range, and no page or product sheet that opens states a gross combination weight for the standard Arocs.

Two engine tables that do not agree

Two Mercedes-Benz documents describe the Arocs engine line-up, and as read today (24 September 2026) they do not print the same figures. The model page’s own “Engine performance data” table — identical on the international, German, Spanish and Turkish market pages — carries fifteen rows, each with designation, cylinder count, displacement, rated engine speed, maximum torque and the speed at maximum torque, every row marked Euro 6e as standard. The Great Britain product sheet of February 2025 instead lists eighteen power steps under ENGINE OUTPUT, in kW and hp, with no torque or rated-speed figure attached to any of them. Where the two disagree, both are given here rather than merged into one table, in keeping with the site’s rule against combining figures from different documents.

The OM 936 is the 7.7-litre and the one point of agreement: both documents give the same five steps, 175 to 260 kW. On the model page it is the only family rated at 2,200 rpm and the only one whose torque is quoted across a band, 1,200 to 1,600 rpm, rather than at a single speed — 1,000 to 1,400 Nm across the five steps.

The OM 470 is the 10.7-litre. The model page currently carries three steps only, all labelled second generation, rated at 1,500 rpm: 265, 300 and 335 kW, with 1,800, 2,000 and 2,200 Nm respectively. The product sheet instead lists five steps with no generation label and no torque or rated-speed figure: 240, 265, 290, 315 and 335 kW. The two lists share only the 265 kW and 335 kW points; the model page’s 300 kW step and the product sheet’s 240, 290 and 315 kW steps do not appear in the other document.

The OM 471 is the 12.8-litre. The model page currently carries four steps only, all labelled third generation, rated at 1,500 rpm: 310, 330, 365 and 400 kW, with 2,200, 2,500, 2,650 and 2,800 Nm respectively. No second-generation OM 471 row exists on the model page today. The product sheet instead lists five steps with no generation label and no torque or rated-speed figure: 310, 330, 350, 375 and 390 kW. The two lists share the 310 kW and 330 kW points; the model page’s 365 kW and 400 kW steps and the product sheet’s 350 and 375 and 390 kW steps do not appear in the other document.

The OM 473 is the 15.6-litre, rated at 1,600 rpm on the model page, and the other point of agreement: both documents give the same three steps, 380, 425 and 460 kW, 2,600 to 3,000 Nm on the model page.

On the model page the speed at maximum torque is 1,100 rpm for every OM 470, OM 471 and OM 473 row. On a heavy goods vehicle the applicable emissions series is Euro VI and 6e is the maker’s spelling of step E, as Euro 6 and Euro 7 sets out — the 2020 press captions and the heavy-haulage page call the same engines Euro VI. Outputs appear in kW on the model page and in kW and hp on the product sheet; how power figures are measured is set out in how truck power figures are measured.

The product sheet credits the OM 471 by itself with in-engine optimisations that lower fuel consumption by up to 4 % compared with the preceding generation, paired in the same sentence with the PowerShift Advanced transmission management system for “unparalleled dynamism.” The consumption figure is credited to the engine alone, not to the gearbox, and PowerShift Advanced is the whole of what the product sheet names for the gearbox: it is a transmission management system, not a gearbox designation, and no speed count or gearbox code is published for the civilian Arocs. What the control itself does is in automated manual transmissions.

Twelve wheel configurations, and a shorter list beside them

The model page heads twelve sections: 4×2, 4×4, 6×2/4 NLA, 6×2 ENA, 6×2 DNA, 6×4, 6×6, 8×2/4 ENA, 8×4 ENA, 8×4/4, 8×6/4 and 8×8/4. The product sheet prints a shorter wheel formula without the suffixes. NLA is a steered trailing axle behind the drive axle, ENA a single-tyred rigid one, DNA a twin-tyred one — the notation itself is in axle configurations explained.

Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive

Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive provides additional traction on chassis with no driven front axle, and the model page marks it optionally available on five of the twelve configurations: 4×2, 6×2/4 NLA, 6×2 ENA, 6×2 DNA and 6×4. Every one of the five is a chassis with no driven front axle. None of the four-axle configurations carries the mark — the 8×4 tipper included — and neither does the 4×4 or the 6×6, so on the maker’s own page it is offered only on configurations without a driven front axle. A high-pressure pump on the engine puts up to 450 bar on the front axle and generates up to 40 kW of additional drive energy per front wheel; it works up to a speed of 30 km/h, and the product sheet credits it with reducing vehicle weight by up to 575 kg. The bauma 2025 release calls it a switchable hydraulic front-wheel drive.

The product sheet states that the 575 kg weight reduction increases the payload, and names no baseline for it; how vehicle weight and payload relate is set out in gross vehicle and gross combination weight. Where Mercedes-Benz does name a baseline, in the 2020 release, the figure is a different one — an advantage of 350 kg over an engageable all-wheel drive.

Braking, and the vehicle above the range

For loaded descents there is a turbo retarder clutch: a hydraulic starting element and retarder in one, which the bauma 2025 release also calls a fluid coupling, both names in consecutive sentences for the one device. Its 2025 figure is for a pair — together with the High Performance Engine Brake, the turbo retarder clutch delivers up to 750 kW of braking power and a braking torque of up to 3,000 Nm, wear-free. The 2020 release states the same pair as parts, and the parts do not fit the whole: 350 kW (476 hp) for the clutch as a primary retarder and up to 475 kW (646 hp) for the High Performance Engine Brake, which our own addition makes 825 kW against the 750 kW the later release gives for the two together. Two Mercedes-Benz documents, the same pair stated two ways, and neither is preferred here. The 2020 release calls the clutch a primary retarder; how a primary retarder differs from a driveline retarder is set out in retarders and engine braking.

Above it sits the Arocs SLT, a separate vehicle kept off the table here. Daimler Truck put the three-, four- and five-axle SLT tractors at up to 250 tonnes gross combination mass in 2020; the heavy-haulage page and the bauma 2025 release both give up to 500 tonnes gross vehicle weight, optionally towing up to 1,000 tonnes. The 2020 release uses the term gross combination mass; the heavy-haulage page and the bauma 2025 release use gross vehicle weight.

Cabs

Eight variants are published with dimension tables — ClassicSpace, CompactSpace, StreamSpace, BigSpace and Low Roof, in S, M and L lengths at 1,700 mm, 2,000 mm and 2,300 mm; the StreamSpace L-cab is published in two widths. The floor comes in three forms: an engine tunnel of 320 mm, one of 170 mm, or a flat floor. A BigSpace L-cab on a flat floor gives 1,990 mm of headroom; a CompactSpace M-cab over a 320 mm tunnel gives 1,065 mm above it. Cabs and floors in general are covered in the cab article.

Safety and driver-assistance systems

Daimler Truck’s September 2020 release announced Active Sideguard Assist as available for the numerous Arocs model variants from June 2021 — a system that can initiate automatic braking at a turning speed of 20 km/h until the vehicle comes to a standstill, should the driver fail to react to the audible warnings. The release gives a date of availability, not a fitment, and does not say whether the system is standard or optional. The current model page and product sheet name the second-generation system, Active Sideguard Assist 2, alongside Active Brake Assist and MirrorCam, and the product sheet credits the latest Active Brake Assist with recognising hazards and critical situations and reacting with warning signals or an automatic emergency stop. The same 2020 release says that Predictive Powertrain Control is also available for heavy-duty trucks up to 120 tonnes, all-wheel-drive vehicles and vehicles with Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive or a fluid coupling, with the exception of the cement mixer.

Which systems Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 requires on a given Arocs turns on when its type was approved and when it was registered as a new vehicle, the Annex II timetable set out in mandatory driver assistance systems. For lane departure warning and advanced emergency braking it turns on the vehicle as well: note (4) to Annex II exempts six groups from both, among them vehicles of categories M2, M3, N2 and N3 with more than three axles, and the same 2020 release says the four-axle Arocs is available as 8×2 with trailing axle, 8×4, 8×4 with trailing axle, 8×6 and 8×8.

Model designation and identification

The product sheet gives the model as 964, in left- and right-hand drive, in 42 different versions. The Actros, Antos and Arocs operating instructions Daimler published in 2014 state that a vehicle’s standard equipment and product description may vary with model, order, country variant and availability, and place the vehicle identification plate in the door frame on the co-driver’s side; their example plate carries the maximum permissible gross vehicle weight, the maximum permissible gross combination weight, the permissible axle loads and the type of vehicle and model designation. The instructions name the COC documents as the place to find the technically permissible gross combination weight, and note that in ADR mode that figure is set by the vehicle’s continuous brake effect and is found in the ADR certification.

Source notes

Weights. Mercedes-Benz publishes no gross combination weight for the standard Arocs and gives permissible gross vehicle weight only as a span, 18 t-41 t, in the Great Britain product sheet of February 2025. The same sheet gives the model designation as 964 LHD/RHD in 42 different versions. Heavy haulage is a separate vehicle: Daimler Truck’s release of 23.09.2020 puts the three-, four- and five-axle SLT tractors at up to 250 tonnes gross combination mass, and the Arocs up to 500 t page and the bauma 2025 release both state up to 500 tonnes gross vehicle weight for the SLT, optionally towing up to 1,000 tonnes with the RO58 coupling. Predictive Powertrain Control was extended to heavy-duty trucks up to 120 tonnes, all-wheel-drive vehicles and vehicles with Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive or a fluid coupling, the cement mixer excepted. Traction and braking. Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive is marked “Optionally available with Hydraulic Auxiliary Drive (HAD)” on five of the model page’s twelve wheel configurations — 4x2, 6x2/4 NLA, 6x2 ENA, 6x2 DNA and 6x4 — and on none of the other seven; all five are chassis with no driven front axle, and no four-axle configuration and neither all-wheel-drive configuration carries the mark. It puts up to 450 bar of hydraulic pressure on the front axle (model page) and generates up to 40 kW of additional drive power per wheel (Daimler Truck, 23.09.2020). The Great Britain product sheet states without a comparator that HAD “assists the vehicle at speeds of up to 30 km/h” and “reduces vehicle weight by up to 575 kg, thereby not only increasing the payload, but also lowering fuel consumption”; where the maker does name a comparator it is a different figure — the 2020 release puts the advantage over an engageable all-wheel drive at 350 kg. The model page states that the turbo retarder clutch is available on the Arocs “as a wear-free moving-off and braking system”, and the bauma 2025 release that “together with the High Performance Engine Brake, the turbo retarder clutch also delivers up to 750 kW of braking power and a braking torque of up to 3,000 Nm” — a figure for the pair, not for the clutch alone. The same release calls the device a fluid coupling in the sentence before, and under that name the release of 23.09.2020 publishes the parts: “As a primary retarder, it develops a braking power of 350 kW (476 hp). Together with the up to 475 kW (646 hp) output of the powerful High Performance Engine Brake, the fluid coupling ensures high efficiency.” Those two part figures make 825 kW by this site’s own addition, against the 750 kW the 2025 release gives for the pair. Both are recorded and neither is preferred. Assistance systems. The release of 23.09.2020 announced Active Sideguard Assist as available for the Arocs model variants from June 2021 and states that it can initiate automatic braking at a turning speed of 20 km/h to a standstill. The current model page and product sheet name the second-generation system, Active Sideguard Assist 2, alongside Active Brake Assist and MirrorCam. Cabs. Eight variants with published exterior and headroom figures, on an engine tunnel of 320 mm or 170 mm or a flat floor. Exterior length is 2,300 mm for the L-cabs, 2,000 mm for the M-cabs and 1,700 mm for the ClassicSpace S-cab; exterior width is 2,500 mm on the BigSpace and the flat-floor StreamSpace and 2,300 mm elsewhere. The BigSpace L-cab gives 1,990 mm of headroom on its level floor and 1,910 mm in front of the seats; the CompactSpace M-cab with the 320 mm tunnel gives 1,065 mm above the tunnel and 1,400 mm in front of the seats. Dating. Daimler Truck dates the nameplate to bauma 2013 and the current vehicle to bauma 2019; the release of 23.09.2020 covers the MirrorCam, Multimedia Cockpit and advanced Predictive Powertrain Control update.