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| A Spartan FurionRT custom chassis for Miami-Dade Braun ambulances. |
Spartan Motors Chassis Inc. has received several new orders from Braun Industries for its FurionRT ambulance cab and chassis, the ambulance industry’s first custom chassis.
Braun is providing 16 FurionRT (Rescue Transport) ambulances to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue department and 11 FurionRT units to DeKalb County Fire & Rescue in Georgia.
“We’re excited to partner with Braun to bring the next generation of ambulance and rescue vehicle innovation to Miami-Dade and DeKalb County,” said Tom Gorman, chief operating officer of Spartan Motors. “Together, we are offering fire departments improved visibility, cab space, modernized styling and increased weight-carrying capacity for their ambulance and rescue vehicle fleets, customized to meet each department’s needs.”
He thanked officials in the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Logistics Division for their “key assistance in developing the FurionRT and bringing it to the market.”
The FurionRT cab-and-chassis is designed for maximum maneuverability and reliable performance with unrivaled power and payload for the Type I-Additional Duty ambulance market. The corrosion protected 94-inch steel tilt cab features four doors and unobstructed visibility.
“Braun Industries is proud to have partnered with Spartan on the Braun Super Chief/Spartan FurionRT project,” said Braun Executive Sales Manager Chad Brown.
He said the Braun Super Chief/Spartan FurionRT combination provides longer life expectancy with superior ride quality, compared to a traditional ambulance/rescue on a commercial chassis.
John Sztykiel, the president and CEO of Spartan Motors, said his company’s strategy is to transform a large commercial market by breaking it into smaller market niches, where there is more room to add value to a vehicle and benefit the end-user.
“Thirty years ago, we applied this strategy to the fire truck market with the first enclosed cab and other innovations at a time when 95 percent of the fire truck market rode on a commercial chassis,” he said. “Today, more than 55 percent of the fire truck market is on a custom chassis.”
With the FurionRT, he said Spartan intends to apply the same strategy in the ambulance market, but over a shorter time span. “Miami-Dade, the sixth largest fire department in the nation, now has 30 percent of its ambulance fleet on a custom FurionRT chassis only a year after the product’s debut,” he said.
Spartan Motors Chassis, a subsidiary of Spartan Motors, is a leading manufacturer of custom chassis.
Braun Industries, headquartered in Van Wert, Ohio, has built custom, hand-crafted ambulances since 1972.
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