Why is my truck called Shrekão?

Every truck I drive ends up with a personality. This one was no different — except the nickname stuck so fast that these days plenty of people know the truck before they know the number plate.

Look at the mirrors: instead of traditional glass, there are digital cameras mounted high up — two "ears", exactly like Shrek's. And since it runs without side fairings, you get that big body sitting up on the chassis, all legs. Put it together: Shrek in truck form.

Those "ears" are not decoration

People find a truck with cameras instead of mirrors odd, but it is increasingly common on modern trucks here in Europe — and for good reason. A camera mounted high feeds a screen inside the cab showing the entire side of the vehicle, with far fewer blind spots than a traditional mirror. At night and in the rain it sees better, and without that huge mirror sticking out the truck is more aerodynamic — it cuts less wind and burns less fuel. So Shrekão's "ears" are safety and efficiency technology. He ended up looking like the ogre by accident; underneath the joke he is a serious truck.

"But isn't Shrek green?"

He is. And mine is red. That is the detail everyone points out — and rather than killing the nickname, it only made it funnier. The name stuck and stayed.

Why give a truck a name?

Anyone who spends ten or twelve hours a day inside a cab understands: the truck stops being a machine and becomes a road companion. It is where I eat, rest, think about my family, face the Alpine snow and sit in stationary traffic. Giving it a name is our way of acknowledging that it carries far more than the day's load — it carries the routine, the livelihood and a good deal of history. That is what Shrekão is: the companion on every journey I share with you on the channel.

So next time you pass a red giant with ears up high on a Swiss road, you know who it is. It is Shrekão — and I am probably taking him out on another run across Switzerland.