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Iveco Truck & Bus Press Release / June 13, 2019

Scania Group Press Release / June 17, 2019 Thanks to some detective work and help from reliable Scania enthusiasts, we managed to track down the owner of the very first Scania V8 to roll off the production line. “I have always had a passion for new technology – now I’m driving electric,” says Henrik Olsson, now 81 years old. In the late 1960s, Henrik Olsson needed a replacement for the Scania LS76 that his transport company was using for timber haulage in the forests of Värmland in western Sweden. The contract for a new Scania had already been signed when, one Sunday, the salesman called again. “He said he’d heard a rumour about the release of a completely new model, a V8,” recalls Olsson, “and wondered if I’d be interested in becoming the first person to buy an LBT140.” Need for extra power That didn’t require much thought. Of course he was keen on the extra power: 350 hp compared with the 260 of the LS76. “We really needed that to handle the steep, slippery dirt roads. The LBT140 provided a sense of security. You knew you’d manage the hills without any problem.” Initially however, the new truck was not completely hassle-free. The engine was so powerful that the drive shaft broke a couple of times. “But on those occasions, the service was outstanding,” says Olsson. “That’s one of the reasons we stuck with Scania – plus the fact that the truck was good, of course.” “I’d love to start over again so I could drive electric trucks.” Having run his company for 20 years, Olsson sold the business, becoming an official for the Värmland province hauliers’ association. Now retired, he maintains a passion for vehicles. awaiting the delivery of the latest model. “I’ve always been interested in new technology, so of course I was curious. Driving an electric vehicle is a great feeling; the car reacts instantly, feels powerful and is completely quiet. I’d love to start over again as a driver so I could drive electric trucks.” So what happened to the first Scania V8? After four years and 600,000 problem-free kilometres, it was replaced. Its ultimate fate is unknown. .

Renault Trucks Press Release / June 17, 2019 Renault Trucks is 125 years of history. 125 years of know-how. 125 years of passion. 125 years of innovation. A legend in its own time. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the RENAULT TRUCKS T HIGH 1894 EDITION https://www.en.renault-trucks.com/1894-edition . .

Renault Trucks Press Release / June 6, 2019 Transporters and fleet managers tell us how Renault Trucks improves their business and makes their life on African roads easier. .

Massive country.......massive truck market.

Ford Trucks Russia / June 7, 2019 The new Ford Trucks F-MAX tractor is presented to Russia's largest trucking companies at the ASMAP-2019 exhibition in Moscow. .

Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) / June 13, 2019 We’ll show you the future — and change it — as we monitor and analyze critical components in real time. We provide proactive solutions to keep trucks on the road. Learn more about the expertise of our Uptime Center and Dealer Network from the video below. .

GM looks wistfully in rearview mirror and sees Hummer Jay Ramey, Automotive News / June 18, 2019 Axed in the darkest days of the auto industry crisis a decade ago, Hummer is now looking rosier and rosier in the rearview mirror, especially if you consider the rate at which General Motors' competitors are selling trucks and SUVs. Jeep is churning out vehicles at a pace not seen since World War II, as if suburbanites are mobilizing for Iwo Jima. Ford has not one but two Broncos in the works and has been making noises about ditching cars altogether. Even the Mustang will be some kind of truck very shortly. Ram has become a runaway hit for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which, if you look at its sales numbers, should really be called Jeep Ram Automobiles. General Motors is scrambling to adapt, seemingly adopting Ford's Big Bronco/Small Bronco tactic by introducing as many Blazer versions as it can. (We wouldn't bet against seeing a giant K5 Blazer at some point, at the rate things are going.) This brings us to the Hummer brand, which in its best days was a Gulf War I hero despite not seeing much combat and not being armored back in the day, and in its worst days was a caricature of itself in the form of Hummer H2s roaring between gas stations on the school run in some leafy suburb lest it run out. Arnold Schwarzenegger single-handedly made civilian H1 ownership a thing, all without social media. (Just let that achievement wash over you for a couple of minutes). That's how much power the Hummer brand once wielded, even before GM started churning out slightly more domesticated models. The gas crisis of 2005 dealt a serious blow to Hummer, but with the oil spigot once again turned back on, thanks to making the Midwest Plains states an earthquake theme park with timing slightly less predictable than Old Faithful, the Hummer brand soldiered on to see something approaching sensibility and variety, thanks to the H3 and the H3T. But it was not enough to withstand the pressures of the auto industry crisis that also saw the demise of Oldsmobile, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn. With the benefit of hindsight, it's hard to blame GM for killing off Hummer. A decade ago it seemed that by 2019 we'd all be driving very small hatchbacks that are either hybrid or electric, and hypermiling them to the point that turning on the A/C would make you ineligible for the diamond lane. In 2009, the vehicles of 2019 looked ... a lot smaller than they've turned out to be, and also a lot less expensive. Prius variants of all sizes, all with tapered wheel arches and steel wheels, were supposed to make up the bulk of the country's automotive landscape, and pickup trucks were supposed to be either electric or powered by tiny diesel engines, like they are in Europe. The landscape did indeed change -- but in a completely different way. Brands once considered above SUVs -- think Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini -- are all aboard the SUV train today, with half of them costing as much as a house in the wealthy Indianapolis suburbs. We don't know when the SUV train will stop, but it's obvious GM now wishes that it had saved Hummer by introducing a Wrangler competitor back when it had the money to do so, thus allowing the brand to survive into the present day.

Navistar pumping $125M into Alabama engine plant Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / June 17, 2019 Navistar said Monday it will invest upwards of $125 million in new and expanded manufacturing capabilities at its Huntsville, Ala., engine plant over the next three years. The North Alabama plant currently manufacturers International-branded diesel engines, including the 12.4 liter big-bore A26 engine offered in International’s Class 8 on-highway trucks lineup. The additional capabilities put the plant at the head of the line to produce Navistar’s next-generation large-bore powertrains developed with global alliance partner and stakeholder Traton. “Over the last two decades, the State of Alabama has been a wonderful partner for Navistar as we have developed and produced big-bore engines and other products in the state,” says Navistar Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Persio Lisboa. “Today, we are excited to have the opportunity to expand our presence in Alabama, while adding to our array of next-generation products.” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle called Navistar “a longstanding corporate partner in our community” adding he was pleased the company sees Huntsville as a strategic part of its growth strategy. The facility expansion is expected to add 145 jobs. “We welcome the new production component to Navistar’s manufacturing operations and look forward to a successful future,” Battle says.

VW's $2 Billion Truck IPO Reflects Push to Trim the Empire Christoph Rauwald, Bloomberg / June 17, 2019 Volkswagen AG’s plan to list its truck division later this month will test whether it can pull off a feat that was once unthinkable for the German automotive giant: get smaller. For decades, the world’s biggest carmaker only knew how to expand -- adding Bentley luxury cruisers, Ducati racing bikes and Scania heavy trucks while taking its network of factories well past the 100 mark and its headcount over 640,000. Even in the face of the debilitating diesel-cheating scandal in 2015, the manufacturer didn’t trim its portfolio, bolstering investment in electric cars instead and even creating a new division for mobility services. Now with the pace of change in the auto industry quickening, Volkswagen is trying its hand at trimming the empire. If the listing of a minority stake in Traton SE -- a truck and bus maker with three vehicle brands and valued at as much as 16.5 billion euros ($18.5 billion)-- goes well, it would give Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess more sway to balance the often diverging interests of VW shareholders including the Porsche and Piech owner family, Lower Saxony and powerful labor unions. Healthy Valuation “Traton’s IPO pricing suggests a healthy valuation which puts a spotlight on VW’s significant sum-of-its-parts disconnect,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan said in a note. Concerns over the company’s ability to switch to electric vehicles is “unfairly” weighing on its share price, the analyst said. Volkswagen rose 0.2% to 141.42 euros at 11:46 a.m. in Frankfurt trading, taking gains this year to 1.8%. For now, Diess is seeking deeper technology partnerships and the possible sale of assets like transmission maker Renk AG and MAN Energy Solutions, which develops engines. A successful Traton listing, targeted for June 28, could even spark rival Daimler AG to follow suit with a carve-out of its own truck business. Lagging Peers Traton's return on sales is rising, but still trails major heavy-truck competitors. The truck group comprises three main assets, Scania, MAN and Volkswagen-branded budget trucks sold in South America and Africa, as well as a unit offering digital services to fleet operators. With 29 production and assembly sites globally, the business last year sold 223,000 vehicles. While that’s 14% more than a year earlier, it’s less than half of Daimler’s truck division, the world’s biggest. Volkswagen is offering 50 million Traton shares at 27 euros to 33 euros apiece, plus a possible over-allotment of 7.5 million shares, meaning at the top end of the price range, the sale would raise as much as 1.9 billion euros. Here are the key points in one of the biggest initial public offerings in Europe this year: Sales Pitch Traton is looking to woo investors by combining the best-in-class technology and strong margins of the Scania unit with the prospect of a turnaround at MAN and growth potential in key markets, according to company presentations and research from advising banks seen by Bloomberg. The plan includes the following four pillars: Scania is the group’s crown jewel, and Traton will aim to show it can maintain the heavy-truck specialist’s profitability. The Swedish brand is expanding its use of alternative-fuel technology like hydrogen ahead of stricter emissions rules and introducing digital services to generate more revenue from fleet operators. MAN has long been a problem, but some investors like a turnaround story, and so Traton will push its effort to revive the German division’s weak returns. This will be underpinned by replacing a 12-year-old truck with a new model next year. MAN also has room to expand in the lucrative aftermarket business. Traton is a major player in Brazil -- a hugely profitable truck market before the economy tanked -- and a recovery there will play well for the manufacturer’s VW-branded budget trucks, which could expand in the Middle East, Africa and Mexico. Traton is still more a collection of parts than a whole, and the company will talk about synergy prospects with a target to cut costs by 700 million euros by combining purchasing and engineering. Scania is leading development of the so-called CBE, a 13-liter engine that’s due to power more than half of Traton’s heavy trucks in 2025. Strengths Chief Executive Officer Andreas Renschler, 61, is the mastermind behind Traton. After helping to establish Daimler’s commercial vehicles business as the world’s largest, he was lured to Volkswagen in 2014. Despite the partly overlapping operations, he’s improved earnings over the past four years, mainly by enforcing closer cooperation between long-standing rivals Scania and MAN. Investor interest in Traton will largely be a bet on Renschler’s veteran skills to deliver in the cyclical truck market. The timing of the listing, which was delayed earlier this year, is complicated by global volatility. The window may be as good as it gets. Rival Volvo Group -- the main pure-play competitor -- has gained 26% this year. “It’s no secret that the market environment is very volatile,” VW Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter told reporters on Monday. “It’s not ideal, but it’s not bad either.” VW remains open to sell more Traton stock at a later stage, up to a maximum stake of 24.9%, if market conditions are supportive, he said. Weaknesses Traton has only small bridgeheads in the key North American and Chinese markets, and the prospects for expanding those positions face obstacles. In North America -- the truck industry’s largest profit pool -- Traton merely owns a 16.8% shareholding in Navistar International Corp., which doesn’t it allow it to do much. Lifting the stake will cost money and add complexity. Meanwhile, Navistar still faces fierce competition from market leaders -- Daimler’s Freightliner, Volvo’s Mack and Paccar Inc. While Daimler and Volvo have functioning production joint ventures in China, the world’s biggest truck market, Traton’s cooperation with Sinotruk Hong Kong Ltd., where its holds a 25% stake through MAN, has yet to deliver the hoped-for results. Alliances can fall short of aspirations to create economies of scale, with the recent tensions at the Renault-Nissan Alliance a fresh reminder of the difficulties in uniting separate cultures. Traton also has a cooperation with Hino Motors Ltd., a Toyota Group company, on electric technology, product development and purchasing. MAN has long attempted a turnaround, but improvements have been tepid compared to an aggressive restructuring at Volvo that doubled margins within roughly three years. MAN’s production footprint in high-cost Germany and a lineup that includes less-profitable medium-duty trucks limits the potential for improvement.

Matt Cole, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / June 17, 2019 Recalls from three companies were announced recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, affecting a small number of trucks and trailers. Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) issued a recall for approximately 253 model year 2019 Freightliner 108SD, 114SD, Business Class M2, Cascadia, Western Star 5700 and Freightliner Custom Chassis XC vehicles for an issue with air disk brakes. DTNA says the brake caliper mounting bolts on the affected trucks may not be tightened sufficiently, which could reduce the effectiveness of the brakes. Daimler will notify owners of affected trucks, and dealers will inspect and repair them for free. Owners can contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712 with recall number FL-816. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-367. Additionally, Autocar is recalling approximately 23 model year 2019-2020 Xpeditor severe duty trucks. Autocar says the rear axle brake may have a delayed release, causing the truck to fall out of compliance with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Autocar will notify owners, and dealers will re-work the air brake systems for free. Owners can contact Autocar customer service at 1-888-218-3611 or 1-877-973-3486 with recall number ACX-1905. NHTSA’s recall number is 19V-354.

A massive loss of face.....heads are going to roll.

China pulls WTO suit over claim to be a market economy Tome Miles, Reuters / June 17, 2019 GENEVA - China has halted a dispute at the World Trade Organization over its claim to be a market economy, a panel of three WTO adjudicators said on Monday, meaning Beijing must accept continued EU and U.S. “anti-dumping” levies on cheap Chinese goods. One trade official close to the case said so much of the ruling had gone against Beijing that it had opted to pull the plug before the result became official. “They lost so much that they didn’t even want the world to see the panel’s reasoning,” the official said. Without a WTO ruling in Beijing’s favor, the EU and United States can keep imposing duties on cheap imports from China while disregarding its claim that they are fairly priced. China had insisted that they treat it as a “market economy”, countering their view that the price of Chinese exports could not be taken at face value due to state interference in the economy. It took legal action saying that under its 2001 WTO membership terms it must be recognized as a “market economy” after 15 years. “China believes that there can be no other plausible reading of this simple and unambiguous treaty language,” China’s WTO ambassador Zhang Xiangchen said at a WTO hearing in 2017, calling the text “crystal clear”. But the United States and the EU disagreed. They said Chinese goods — especially commodities such as steel and aluminum — were still heavily underpriced because of subsidies and state-backed oversupply, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage. The row had become an explosive issue for the United States, with President Donald Trump threatening to quit the WTO if the organization did not “shape up”. Chinese, EU and U.S. officials did not immediately comment on the suspension. Beijing launched disputes against Brussels and Washington at the WTO in December 2016. It only pursued the case against the EU, but asked to suspend legal proceedings on May 7, the panel said. After an EU request to take certain considerations into account, China reiterated its request to suspend legal proceedings. The panel accepted and halted the case on Friday. The official said China was on course to lose the bulk of the case, with only some minor points going in its favor. “They were going to win something, but it was overshadowed by the huge defeat that they had on the main claim.”

GM ponders an electric Hummer David Welch, Bloomberg / June 17, 2019 DETROIT -- A zero-emission Hummer sounds as paradoxical as non-alcoholic whiskey, but General Motors is mulling over the idea of building an electric vehicle that would bring the defunct gas-guzzling brand back to life. For now, it’s just an idea GM is considering as it plans which vehicles will be included in a fleet of electrified SUVs and trucks, say people familiar with the matter. The Hummer name has surfaced as way to tap growing demand for rugged SUVs with off-road capabilities, while avoiding the gasoline-burning image that made the brand something of a pariah a decade ago, said the people, who asked not to be named because the conversations are private. Electric Hummer chatter comes as GM is looking to transform itself from a conventional, gas-powered-vehicle maker into what CEO Mary Barra calls an “all-electric future.” Hummer is one of many options GM is exploring as it races to develop the next generation of battery-powered vehicles. Several other car companies also are rushing to produce commercially viable electric-powered models. When asked about it, GM President Mark Reuss was unconvinced. “I love Hummer,” Reuss said on the sidelines of a press conference on June 12. “I’m not sure. We’re looking at everything.” Building an electric Hummer may never come to pass, but without electrification, GM would have a tough time selling a traditional Hummer in an era when emissions rules have become much stricter than in the brand’s heyday. BEV3 project GM is currently working on two major battery-electric vehicle programs. The first is its BEV3 project, which will develop passenger cars, crossover SUVs and a variety of other small and mid-sized models. That’s part of the automaker’s pledge to put 20 EVs on the road globally by 2023. The second program would make electric pickups and other full-size vehicles, some of which can go off-road. In its family of brands, GM has large SUVs -- such as the Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade -- as well as hulking GMC vehicles including the Sierra truck and Yukon SUV. GMC also has Denali-labeled models that denote luxury and an AT4 brand for off-road capable trucks. Any of those potentially could be offered with electric powertrains, Reuss said. “It’s massive. There might be places where we go first that are not just heavy-duty work trucks but more style and capability for off-road,” he said. “There are lots of things that are very attractive.” GM kept Hummer after its 2009 bankruptcy but halted sales in 2010. Back then, the 10-miles-per-gallon Hummer H2 made the brand a symbol of automaker indifference to global warming. The vehicle was so heavy its weight placed it beyond the reach of federal government rules for fuel-economy tests, further enraging environmentalists. Hummer’s death knell came when oil soared past $100 a barrel, spiking gas prices and sinking sales. GM bought the brand in 1998, six years after AM General debuted it as a civilian version of the armored Humvee military vehicle made famous for its role in the Gulf War. Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was an early and very public advocate for the brand and its first model, which later became known as the H1. GM sales started with the H2 model in 2002, a $60,000 SUV made using some parts from Chevy pickups and SUVs. It was a smash hit among buyers looking for brawn and bling, prompting the Detroit automaker to follow up with the mid-sized H3 SUV and H3T pickup truck. Demand for Hummer vehicles peaked in 2006 with U.S. sales of 71,524 vehicles, but fewer than 4,000 were sold by 2010, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Watching Jeep Over the past few years, GM has been watching the growth of Jeep, the crown jewel and moneymaker of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and wondering if Hummer might win a piece of that market, said the people familiar with the brand discussions. GM sees an opportunity to compete with Jeep for off-road vehicles that have creature comforts commanding high premiums, two of the people said. The company’s designers have done work with Hummer concepts and have experimented with Hummer styling cues on future GMC brand models. Even if GM goes through with a plan to make an electric Hummer, it would be years away. GM’s planned electric-truck project is well underway, but those models aren’t expected to launch until after the debut of the BEV3 architecture for smaller vehicles. Cadillac or one of the higher-volume brands would probably get some of the first models on the larger electric-truck-based platform. Earlier this year, GM was negotiating to form a joint venture with Rivian Automotive Inc., a startup electric-truck maker based outside Detroit. When the deal fell apart, GM accelerated development of its own battery-powered pickup and SUV program. It’s not alone in thinking there’s latent demand for large and luxury-market vehicles. When the GM deal died, Ford Motor Co. invested $500 million in Rivian with plans to build an electric pickup. And Jaguar Land Rover Holdings., which has a strong presence in large and luxury SUVs, will sell a plug-in hybrid version of the Range Rover this summer. The Indian-owned, British brand also has joined forces with BMW AG to work on electric drive. At its annual meeting on June 11, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said he is pushing hard to get an electric pickup truck that is capable of work duties but drives like a Porsche. He plans to show the vehicle this summer. Should GM decide to move forward with Hummer, it would need to rebuild the brand’s marketing and retail strategy. The automaker could sell Hummers in Cadillac or Buick-GMC dealerships -- for example in a small, brand-dedicated showroom. Previously GM gave specific franchises to separate Hummer dealers, who were disgruntled when sales ended. That alone could be a hurdle for greenlighting a resuscitated Hummer brand, one of the people said. Whatever happens, GM won’t be the first to think of an electric Hummer. Schwarzenegger worked with Kriesel Electric to put a battery and EV motor in his own H1 two years ago -- pioneering a zero-emission version of a vehicle that once went by the tagline “Like Nothing Else.” .

"We've got a plan," Engle said. They didn't have a plan before? Or was it years and years of bad plans?

GM urges patience as Silverado falls to No. 3 Michael Wayland, Automotive News / June 17, 2019 Sticking to its focus on profit, not share DETROIT — General Motors' prolonged ramp-up of the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado has put the longtime No. 2 pickup in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable position: third in Detroit's three-way race. Ram has beaten the Silverado in nine of the past 10 months, according to U.S. sales estimates from the Automotive News Data Center that have been validated by GM's quarterly reports. The Ram has outsold the Silverado by 36,619 since the latest Silverado 1500 hit dealerships in August and holds a lead of nearly 22,000 five months into 2019. Including the GMC Sierra 1500, which was also redesigned at the same time, GM's full-size pickup share was down 3 percentage points in the first five months of 2019 compared with the same period a year earlier. With the Sierra, GM remains in second place in the full-size segment, behind Ford Motor Co. But GM executives insist the shake-up in a closely watched battle with major image and profit implications isn't a sign of trouble. They say the trucks' launch is going as planned and that GM is focused on profits, not market share. Barry Engle, who became GM's president of the Americas on April 1, played down declining Silverado sales as a "temporary phenomenon" that will be corrected with more capacity and a normalization of production. "Given our limited availability, we deliberately launched with a really high mix in trims," Engle told Automotive News this month. "But as we get broader availability and get the full portfolio out there, we'll be just fine." Broader availability includes increasing annual capacity of the pickups by 60,000 — 40,000 for the heavy-duty models and 20,000 for the 1500s. The increased capacity will aid plans to roughly double production of the Silverado Trail Boss, an off-road-inspired trim, to more than 20 percent of the mix, Engle said. The increase is a result of the brand's national dealership council saying retailers needed more inventory of the models."We're selling every one of those we can make, and the real demand for that thing is probably double what we thought it would be and what we capacitized at," he said. "The dealers are just screaming for more." GM also has not started selling the redesigned pickups to fleet customers in any significant numbers, Engle said. Fleet will be "all plus business" on top of the automaker growing its retail share of the market, he said. The Silverado's share of the light-duty retail market, according to Engle, has risen from 21 percent in January to 26.4 percent in May. The Sierra is up 1.9 percentage points to 10.5 percent, GM said. "I think you see a trend there," he said. "We're back and we're, as I've described, just starting to hit our pace." GM has touted the introduction of its so-called T1 trucks, which also include its full-size pickups and SUVs, as the automaker's single-largest launch ever in terms of resources. ‘Fleet is flat' Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley made Ram's intentions to outsell Chevrolet well-known last year, after the company's redesigned pickups hit the market months before GM's. GM has sold more than 800,000 full-size pickups in the U.S. on average over the past four years. However, combined sales of the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado are down 7.9 percent in 2019 through May, according to Automotive News Data Center estimates. In contrast, Ram pickup sales are up 22 percent. Randy Marion, owner of Randy Marion Chevrolet in Mooresville, N.C., said he has "no issues" with the redesigned Silverado but looks forward to getting more vehicles for his fleet business, which ranks among the top five in the country for Chevy. "Our days' supply is very low on the fleet and commercial side of it," Marion said. "Our retail Silverado is up 27 percent over last year, and our fleet is flat." GM and its dealers started June with an estimate of 200,000 Silverados on hand, roughly equal to the number of Rams in inventory, and an estimated 74,000 Sierras, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Based on how quickly the vehicles are selling, those figures equate to a 99-day supply for the Silverado, 98 days for the Sierra and 85 days for Ram. Another longtime Chevrolet dealer who asked for anonymity to avoid repercussions from the factory said the Silverado rollout has been ineffective for dealers due to a lack of incentive support, the increased pressure from Ram, and difficulty getting certain trims and engines earlier in the launch. Average incentives for the Silverado and Sierra have been about $500 less than Ram in 2019 but $1,500 more than the Ford F series, according to estimates from Autodata. GM President Mark Reuss last week said he always has a wary eye on competitors but that the company is on plan and just beginning to sell lower-priced models of the pickups — a part of the segment where Ram has been aggressive with incentives and leasing. "We look at that and monitor it and, yeah, we're always worried about it, but we've got a great truck and we continue to roll it out in a high mix," he said June 12 after announcing a $150 million investment in Flint, Mich., to help increase production of the Silverado HD and Sierra HD. "And now we're getting into the work truck and the high-volume, lower end of the price points on the T1s. We've got a good plan." Ram's U.S. sales through May were 231,382, vs. an estimated 209,688 for the Silverado. Including an estimated 77,873 for the Sierra, GM still led FCA in full-size pickups by about 56,000, though both companies trail the F series, which has posted sales of 368,972 this year. Quicker launches Last week, GM started shipping the 2020 Silverado HD and 2020 Sierra HD to dealers. The production ramp-up for those pickups will continue this year, ahead of the expected arrival of GM's redesigned full-size SUVs in 2020. Each of those launches, Engle said, will take less time than the rollout of the 1500 pickups, as they involve lower volume and only one plant at a time. The company also is applying lessons learned from launching the 1500s to those products. "It will be the same measured approach, the same idea, the same philosophy, but we will be able to accelerate it," Engle said. "It won't take as long." GM started producing crew-cab models of the redesigned 1500 pickups in July in Fort Wayne, Ind., followed by double-cab models in October. GM's plant in Silao, Mexico, came online with regular-cab and crew-cab models around the beginning of the year. The pickups started arriving at dealerships in August, about four months after Ram began shipping its pickups. "We've got a plan," Engle said. "We're in this for the long haul." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silverado versus Ram [aka. Dodge Truck] Silverado sales margin over Ram 2015 150,422 2016 85,458 2017 85,141 2018 48,601 2019* -21,694 *Through May

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / June 17, 2019 Navistar announced a $125 million investment in its Huntsville, Alabama, engine plant as part of a plan to begin producing next-generation big-bore diesel engines developed with its European partner, Traton, in the future. Navistar makes International brand diesel engines at the plant, and plans to make the new investments over the next three years. The principal engine currently built at Navistar's Huntsville plant is the International A26, a 12.4L big-bore [MAN D26 derived] engine offered in Class 8 on-highway trucks such as the International LT Series and RH Series, as well as in vocational trucks such as the International HV Series and HX Series. According to local news reports, part of the expansion is relocating to Huntsville a gear box assembly line. In 2017, Navistar and VW told reporters that the two companies would collaborate on a fully integrated, next-generation diesel big bore powertrains for North America, launching in 2021. It also said at the time that it expects to be in a position to launch its first medium-duty electric powered vehicle for the U.S. and Canadian markets in late 2019 or early 2020. "Over the last two decades, the state of Alabama has been a wonderful partner for Navistar as we have developed and produced big-bore engines and other products in the state," said Persio Lisboa, Navistar's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Today, we are excited to have the opportunity to expand our presence in Alabama, while adding to our array of next-generation products." In 2014, as part of its turnaround efforts, the company announced it was moving its mid-range engine production from Huntsville to its Melrose Park, Illinois, plant.

There's no "fine line" about it.........copying is copying.

Ford suits show ‘fine line' in patent cases Michael Martinez, Automotive News / June 17, 2019 In 1993, on an otherwise drama-free June day in America's heartland, Ford Motor Co.'s future product development and purchasing boss, Hau Thai-Tang, faced a crisis. He was embedded with the Newman/Haas racing team throughout the IndyCar season and was preparing for a race at Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin. It was the team's de facto home track, and Newman/Haas expected an easy victory. But during practice, another driver consistently outperformed the team's stars. Initially flummoxed, Thai-Tang's group eventually discovered the rival car had been outfitted with a part near the front wheels that made it faster by pushing away turbulent air. Under immense pressure, Thai-Tang and his team quickly mocked up designs for a similar device, faxed them to the team factory outside Chicago, and had the part built, overnighted and bolted onto the car in time for qualifying the next day. Although the rival team secured the pole position, Newman/Haas won the race. "These guys are obsessed about understanding the competition," Thai-Tang recalled to Ford employees during a 2018 presentation. "They copy with pride; there's no hubris there. If they think somebody else has a better idea, it doesn't last for very long." That idea — "copy with pride" — may be common in a competitive marketplace. If a rival beats you to market with a useful technology or feature, the thinking goes, it's often easier to swallow your pride and adapt something similar rather than spend millions of dollars to essentially reinvent the wheel. Greg Reilly, an assistant professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law, said the U.S. patent system encourages engineers and others to "design around" inventions to improve upon them. Fraught with risk But that comes with tremendous legal risk. It's not hard for an effort to "design around" or "copy with pride" to devolve into illegally stealing trade secrets or intellectual property. "It's an incredibly fine line," Reilly says. "You can be infringing on a patent without even knowing." Some high-profile lawsuits against Ford illustrate the difficulties automakers face when navigating those thorny issues, especially as vehicles increasingly rely on complex software and technology. Versata Software Inc., a Texas software developer, sued Ford in 2015, claiming the automaker illegally developed a copycat program of what it used to pay Versata to supply. While such lawsuits are not uncommon, the case continues to dog Ford four years later. Versata has spent tens of millions of dollars pursuing the case, hiring high-profile lawyer Lanny Davis — who was a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton and who represented President Donald Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen — and Bo Dietl, a New York private detective and former Arby's pitchman. The case is expected to go to trial in November. This year, three Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors sued the automaker claiming Ford stole their patented dual port- and direct-injection technology to use on the country's top-selling vehicle line, the F series. Hollywood turned one dispute with Ford into a 2008 film, Flash of Genius, that chronicles the company's protracted legal battle with inventor Robert Kearns during the 1970s and 1980s. Kearns ultimately won his case against Ford, which was found to have infringed upon his patent for an intermittent windshield- wiper mechanism. "As a general matter, for a company that is developing new technology to know what's out there and know whether they're violating patent rights is a difficult question," Reilly said. "There's some real tough situations." Ford declined to comment for this story. Versata case Versata and its attorneys argue that the company's case is cut and dried. It centers around proprietary software, known as Automotive Configuration Manager, that Ford had licensed from Versata to help identify incompatible parts in millions of possible vehicle configurations. Versata accuses Ford of having workers with firsthand knowledge about the Versata product copy it so the automaker could stop paying for it. Versata says Ford even used identical terms and phrases from Versata's manual for the Automotive Configuration Manager software. Ford, soon after the lawsuit was filed, claimed it began developing replacement software in 2010 and that the technology is different from Versata's. "Ford's invention approaches vehicle configuration very differently, and more efficiently, than" Versata's technology, Ford said in a filing. Versata is seeking at least $180 million in past damages, and it wants Ford to remove the software, which could potentially affect its manufacturing operations. Versata, from the outset, has taken its complaints public. Its lawyers held a 2015 press conference with an elaborate display of a cutout of Henry Ford standing by a faux brick wall with a large hole in it, representing the internal divide that Versata says Ford breached by having people with knowledge of Versata's software develop the in-house replacement. Dietl became involved when Versata hired his investigative firm to find evidence of theft. Ford has accused Dietl's firm of harassing witnesses, a charge he denies. Dietl subsequently took out full-page ads calling on executive Elena Ford, who Dietl says is on a committee that oversees the automaker's software and technology use, to apologize. "We're going to use whatever resources we need to for justice," said a senior Versata executive who asked not to be named because of the ongoing litigation. MIT professors Most intellectual-property disputes, Reilly said, can be difficult to litigate because they involve a lot of he said, she said. Many cases stem from efforts by an inventor or startup to persuade a large company to adopt a technology. The company may decline the technology but soon brings something similar to market. That's the situation described in a January lawsuit against Ford by three MIT professors. They claim the automaker stole technologies used in its popular EcoBoost engines. The suit, filed in federal court in Delaware, says the professors transferred ownership of their creations to MIT, which then granted exclusive patent-licensing rights to a small company the three founded, Ethanol Boosting Systems. EBS offered to license patents for the enhancements to Ford in 2014, but the automaker declined. The suit alleges that Ford's counsel for global engine intellectual property "indicated that Ford had no plans that he knew of to use that technology in its vehicles." But, the professors argue, Ford has since applied their technology to a number of vehicles, including the F-150 and Mustang.

Ford Trucks International / June 16, 2019 There’s nothing more important to a father on the road than his truck. That is, of course, except his children. Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere. .