RoadwayR

Volvo didn't do UD any favors in the States either. Never understood why Volvo didn't develop a medium duty range off UD for Volvo dealers here.

They are slated to be phased out over the next few years. Most Freightliner M2's sold these days are Cummins powered anyway. Only other medium duty I can think of other than Ford that isn't Cummins powered is the Chevy/International.

They are independant now, still headquartered in Germany.

Sad, but I think both Navistar and Traton need each other to survive. What is going to be funny is to see what happens to Daimler Truck now that they are independent of Mercedes-Benz. I hear that Freightliner is the largest part of and generates the most profits in Daimler Truck by far. With Daimler going to Cummins engines even in Europe who owns who?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cummins-build-medium-duty-engines-165959786.html

My guess is in the FTR: https://www.cummins.com/news/releases/2021/02/05/cummins-and-isuzu-announce-global-mid-range-powertrain-and-advanced

Mercedes needs cash to develop BEV's, spinning off Daimler Trucks will make a separate Mercedes-Benz more valuable. I hear Freightliner generates most of the profits on the truck side.

The other part of the deal is Isuzu will supply Cummins with smaller diesels for Cummins to market to other OEM's. So I wonder when the Ram will have an Isuzu diesel under the hood!

Why not?: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Isuzu-to-source-truck-engines-from-Cummins-for-key-models

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2021/01/general-motors-to-supply-hydrotec-fuel-cell-cubes-to-navistar/

My old man worked for an aerospace metal firm. They had this kind of International along with tilt cab GMC's that had the right half of the cab sectioned off. Could carry long sections of material on a relatively short single axle flatbed.

Sometimes when you hear something like this it's the beginning of pulling out of the market. But with Hino, they are likely going to take advantage of a slack market and forgo new truck sales until they can address their engine emissions problems properly. Maybe with an all new engine family. Better strategy than what International and Caterpillar did a few years ago.

You will see that sort of reinforcement on most trucks with frames that dip down under the cabs, non straight rail. The International/Chevy medium duty doesn't need them, those trucks have a regular straight rail class 6 chassis. The cabs on those trucks do sit higher, however.

Air ride rear suspension is a factory option on the Silverado medium duty, is it available on the International CV as well?