RoadwayR

Say what you will, but the air has gotten considerably cleaner in Southern California within the last 10 years. The Westport engines, in my opinion, are somewhat crude conversions of existing diesels. Their big advantage is that they interchange with Cummins diesels, but a CNG/LNG engine does not need to be nearly that large and heavy. Spark-ignition engines are under a lot less stress that compression-ignition. What is needed is a designed-from-the-start CNG/LNG engine family for large trucks. The PSI 8.8L comes close to ideal for medium duty trucks. It is basically a much-updated GM 8.1L, As for Ford, they do not really offer and CNG/LNG vehicles, they merely sell you a 'prep package', and it's up to you to find an 'approved' upfitter. My experiences with that have not been so great. GM is offering some 'factory' dual fuel vehicles, at least you can get parts and service through authorized dealers (not a problem). CNG has made great inroads here in transit bus and refuse fleets. It is not only cleaner, and the economics are there in many cases.

Good, an asset to sell to help cover their upcoming legal expenses.............

Page & Page, as I recall some of those were adjustable, 2/3 on the driver, 1/3 on the tag. Popular in the 60's.

I heard Brigadiers were built by GMC at their old Pontiac heavy truck plant until it closed in 1989. They were built alongside the earlier Cat 3208 powered Topkicks (and Kodiaks). When the new '530' series Topkick/Kodiak came out in late 1989 production moved to Janesville, WI.. The Brig. was indeed a very popular truck with a lot of fleets, particularly auto transporters. Agreed the WG was a cheap truck! I remember one fleet in Southern California had a few N-10's. That was all I ever saw of those trucks.

It seemed to me the N10 was dropped to make way for the GMC Brigadier when it became part of the White/GMC line.

With the loss of the Blue Diamond and now Caterpillar it's a safe bet Navistar will go after a GM joint venture to fill the assembly line in Escobedo.

The EPA never wanted SCR. They pushed Navistar when they saw NAV was trying to get by NOX regulations with EGR alone (maybe Cat too?). When NAV couldn't get EGR to work all of a sudden they became the bad guys in the EPA's eyes. Sure Ustain and the rest of the big shots should have cut their loses years before but in the end I think NAV was far more a victim than a criminal. It proves the EPA can't be trusted. BTW- there were allegations that some individuals working for the EPA owned patents for 'advanced EGR' that NAV was trying to use. If so that was some conflict of interest. Maybe that should be investigated.

How are the MAN based Navistar diesels now that they have SCR?

I don't know, I suggested an NPR to a friend 15 years ago, he never bought another domestic class 4/5 truck. Says the Isuzu's reliability, cost of ownership, and maneuverability is far superior to any domestic truck. Cabs are spacious, but not as easy to get in and out of. Isuzu's crew cab is far larger inside than any domestic. Body mounting is easier as well. Parts can be more expensive, but who cares if you don't need them?

And they want Navistar?

This isn't truck related, I believe GM is talking about small diesels for passenger cars and light trucks. In addition, these efforts will probably become more focused on other countries, primarily in Asia. Diesels will likely be slowly phased out of light vehicles in the U.S. and western Europe for cost and emissions reasons. France is already moving in that direction. BTW- what became of the rumors GM was getting back into medium duty trucks?

The Giesel! Converting diesels to spark-ignition CNG engines is not the ideal solutin.

So, what about Westport?

So, VW has finally entered the U.S. truck market? Not exactly a high volume player, but a well respected company.

I think the time for VW to have acquired Navistar may have passed, and from what I hear Navistar has some formidable anti-takeover 'poison pills'. I think Navistar would have to want to be taken over. Worst may be behind them now anyway, why sell out? As for VW, they never realized their goal of merging Scania and MAN and owning 100% of the result. Their executives have suffered from delusions of grandeur (or Daimler-Benz) for years. No question a Navistar acquisition would be appealing to VW.

Once upon a time, most Volvo dealers sold GM medium duty trucks. Nowadays, GM doesn't make any medium trucks and Volvo doesn't have any dealers, so I guess it's a wash.

New truck models or joint ventures?

Or, it opens the door for it...........