It's Italian! ; Maranello Red, adjustable suspension, 1733 lb-ft of torque, automatic shifting: No, it's not an F1 Ferrari.(Brief Article)(Evaluation)

Voting for the AutoWeek 2002 World Heavy Truck of the Year is over, so stop sending in your ballots.

Most North Americans can be forgiven for not knowing Industrial Vehicles Corp. (IVECO, pronounced ``ee-VEH-ko'' in EE-tah-lee) is Fiat Group's main builder of trucks. This eighth-largest manufacturer on Earth of truck tractors weighing 16 metric tons and up (17.64 normal tons) is phasing out its popular Eurostar line. Well-Stop the presses, Jimmy!-here's the Eurostar's replacement: Stralis.

``Stralis?'' The name comes, of course, a little from the Latin ``astralis,'' meaning something relating to the stars and, since you asked, a little from the ancient Greek ``astralos,'' meaning a type of starling. IVECO folks say it relates to arrows and stuff. All generally good things, no?

Stralis might even inspire C.W. McCall to sing an Italian version of the 1975 hit song Convoy. This flat-faced deer killer is the most comfortable European transport truck for long hauls we've ever tested. Well, okay, it's the only one we've ever tested. But we were surprised.

Start with a ride that sends more cush to your tush, the latest ZF EuroTronic2 automatic transmission that'll just send you, and ABS stopping power that'll send your heart to the windscreen while you sit safe, secure and gagging on your sinews.

Both 4x2 and 6x2 Stralis tractors come with standard air suspension at the rear-driven axle operating through four air bellows you can regulate for a wide range of travel and firmness. This helps over speed bumps and rail crossings where you'd typically expect to be bounced around like a super ball in a stairwell. In Stralis, we kept having images of fluffy souffle over bumps.

If you're regularly yanking around full heavy loads, the tractor can come with air suspension front and rear. Then it can ride lower to keep the center of gravity down and prevent tipping over going around the cloverleaf. The fancy 6x2 tractors have a steering third axle in front of the driven axle with the wheelbase stretching to 150 inches, dwarfing the Ford Excursion's 137.1-inch base. Which is irrelevant, but sort of cool.