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Detroit Press Release / February 8, 2019 Find out why distributorship Flagg Inc relies on Freightliner M2 106 trucks with DD5 engines to help make their business successful. .

Cummins Press Release / February 13, 2019 What is Cummins Integrated Power? A portfolio of powertrain solutions, across a variety of fuel options, Cummins Integrated Power represents your power of choice. With key technologies expertly paired, you’ll get a fully integrated powertrain optimized for your operations. Learn more: https://www.cummins.com/integrated-power .

Speaking of VW, after 51 years of use, VW completely rebuilt a woman's Beetle. .

Fanuc is a solid Japanese robotics manufacturer. They had a JV with GE but it ended in 2009. So no Bob, there's no connection between Kuga and Fanuc. And yes, after acquiring Kuga, most Chinese manufacturing is sourcing Kuga, rather than Fanuc or other. An exception is the Japanese automakers in China who spec Fanuc.

Don't put Putin and Vlad in the same sentence. I read Putin is unhappy with Vlad after he broke up with the defense spokeswoman he personally appointed, Rossiyana Markovskaya. .

Transport Topics / February 13, 2019 Sales of medium-duty trucks had a strong start in 2019, climbing above 18,000 units in January, WardsAuto.com reported. Sales rose 11.7% to 18,154 compared with 16,246 a year earlier, according to Ward’s. As the year began, Cummins Inc. CEO Tom Linebarger forecast North American production of medium-duty trucks would reach 134,000 units, up 2% from a year earlier. “Our market share is projected to be in the range of 74% to 76%,” Linebarger said during a recent conference call. Class 7 sales in January climbed 17.7% to 5,390 compared with 4,578 a year earlier. The truck makers with the most sales drove the year-over-year gain. Freightliner led with 2,683, an increase of 350 from the 2018 period. International Truck jumped 314 units to 1,344. Ford nearly doubled its sales with 341, up from 173. Class 6 sales jumped 21.8% to 6,721 compared with 5,518 units a year earlier. International had the lion’s share of the gains as it nearly doubled sales — to 2,533 from 1,335 in the 2018 period. Sales in Classes 4-5 slipped 1.7% to 6,043 from 6,150 a year earlier. Meanwhile, Dodge Ram announced its 2019 Ram Chassis Cab models will come in Classes 3-5 and will be available in the second quarter. They are built at the Satillo Truck Assembly Plant in Coahuila, Mexico. “Commercial trucks are important to the entire industry, but specifically for a truck brand like Ram it’s very important. They can represent as much as 25% to 30% of our sales. We’ve focused on capability with this new Chassis Cab. We looked at payload, gross vehicle weight and trailer-towing. Those things were all important to our customers,” said Dave Sowers, the head of Ram commercial vehicle marketing. Upgrades and features include the new Cummins 6.7-liter I-6 diesel engine, active safety systems, cargo-view camera, Park Assist, and a trailer tire pressure monitoring system for up to six truck tires and 12 trailer tires with up to four trailer profiles. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / February 13, 2019 International Truck is now offering the Bendix Wingman Fusion collision mitigation technology as standard equipment across its entire lineup of on-highway tractors, including the International LoneStar, LT Series and RH Series trucks. Bendix Wingman Fusion integrates radar, camera and the vehicle’s brake system into a driver assistance system that delivers driver alerts and interventions to help drivers mitigate rear-end collision, rollovers and loss-of-control situations. Wingman Fusion combines and cross-checks information from a suite of sensors to assesses situations faster and reacts earlier, while also helping to reduce false alerts and false interventions. By creating a highly detailed and accurate data picture, Bendix Wingman Fusion delivers enhanced rear-end collision mitigation, and adaptive cruise control, along with following distance alerts, stationary object alerts, lane departure warning, alerts when speeding, and braking on stationary vehicles – all while prioritizing alerts to help reduce driver distraction. Event-based data – including video – can be wirelessly transmitted for driver coaching and analysis by fleet safety personnel. Other options include blind spot detection that helps drivers address vehicles in their blind spots that may not be visible in their mirrors. The forward-facing camera of Wingman Fusion is powered by the Mobileye System-on-Chip EyeQ processor with state-of-the-art vision algorithms. “As part of our DriverFirst philosophy, we concentrate on consistently improving the overall driver experience, specifically safety,” said Jim Nachtman, director, heavy-duty, Marketing, International Truck. “Partnering with Bendix to make Fusion standard on all of International Truck’s heavy-duty vehicles makes for an important joint contribution to make North American roadways safer for everyone.” Since 2015, International Truck has offered the technology as an option for all on-highway models. Bendix Wingman Fusion is also available as an option on International’s medium-duty lineup, including the International MV Series, HV Series, HX Series and CV Series trucks.

All in all, I still think the 567 "Heritage" is a decent looking truck. https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/45657-peterbilt-to-launch-model-567-heritage-edition-in-september/?tab=comments#comment-336547

The 1975 CNT900 on the right, originally part of Chrysler's fleet, was in the Walter P. Chrysler museum until it closed in December 2012. It was sold at auction. .

Again, the short nose Big Horn 900. .

Edward Lampert’s Plan for Sears: Smaller Stores, Less Apparel The Wall Street Journal / February 13, 2019 Edward Lampert, who steered Sears into bankruptcy and kept it alive with a $5.2 billion offer for its assets, says he will sell or sublease some of the 425 remaining stores, devote extra space to tools and appliances, and open more smaller stores. Edward Lampert has a plan for Sears after its trip through bankruptcy: smaller stores and less apparel. The hedge-fund manager, who steered Sears into bankruptcy and kept it alive with a $5.2 billion offer for its assets, says he will sell or sublease some of the 425 remaining stores. He plans to devote more of the retail space to tools and appliances. He also wants to open more smaller stores, similar to one in Oak Brook, Ill., which at 62,000 square feet is about one-third its original size. “Our goal is to continue to shrink the size of our stores,” Mr. Lampert said in his first interview since his rescue plan was approved by the bankruptcy court this week. “If I had my druthers, I’d rather be bigger than smaller. We still have enough of a critical mass.” The restructured company, which doesn’t yet have a new corporate name, will be composed of 223 Sears stores and 202 Kmart locations, as well as the Kenmore and DieHard brands. Sears sold its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker in 2017 but retains a license to sell products under the name. Mr. Lampert said he would remain the company’s chairman but would hire a new CEO to carry out his vision. The billionaire, who rescued Kmart from bankruptcy and merged it with Sears in 2005, had served as chief executive since 2013, but he relinquished that role when the company filed for bankruptcy in October. The shrunken Sears will compete against bigger retailers such as Home Depot Inc., Lowe’s Co s., Best Buy Co. and Amazon.com Inc. After closing hundreds of stores in recent years, it will lack the economies of scale and negotiating clout with suppliers that the larger players wield. “They have already been category-killed by the big box chains,” said Burt Flickinger, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group. He said Mr. Lampert’s idea of focusing on so-called hard lines was a good one, but is a decade too late. “They have lost the confidence of the vendor community,” he continued. “Sears and Kmart prices are no longer competitive.” Once the largest seller of major appliances in the U.S., Sears has fallen to fourth place, behind Lowe’s, Home Depot and Best Buy, according to research firm TraQline. But it still commands a 12.9% share of the market, which has $36 billion in annual sales, giving it a position from which to rebuild. With J.C. Penney Co. recently announcing it would no longer sell appliances, Sears has one less competitor in the mall. “They have a shot, but it’s a long shot,” said Craig Johnson, president of consulting firm Customer Growth Partners. “Most of the profits on appliances are made on the servicing side, and Sears still has a good service business.” In addition to the retail stores and brands, the restructured company includes Sears Auto Centers, Sears Home Services and logistics company Innovel Solutions Inc., which operates 11 warehouses, a fleet of trucks and specializes in delivering appliances. One challenge is that appliances are purchased far less frequently than apparel, giving shoppers fewer reasons to visit a store or website on a regular basis. Mr. Lampert’s answer is his company’s Shop Your Way loyalty program. Points can be earned not just at Sears and Kmart, but also at partner companies, including Ulta Beauty and Uber. “Shop Your Way has always been our answer for how we’re going to be more relevant,” Mr. Lampert said. During a court hearing last week, a lawyer for the creditors’ committee questioned the Shop Your Way program, noting it has consistently missed expectations. A Sears executive acknowledged that targets had been missed, but said the program would be a cornerstone of the company going forward. Mr. Lampert said Sears didn’t need to win over new customers, and could survive by doing more business with existing shoppers, something other retailers have echoed by launching loyalty programs that reward their best customers. The Sears chairman said he hoped to win back suppliers now that the company was in better financial health. “We have a clean balance sheet,” he said, referring to the roughly $4 billion of debt and pension obligations that were eliminated through the bankruptcy process, including $1.3 billion that was owed to Mr. Lampert’s hedge fund. “We hope suppliers take a more constructive approach.” Mr. Lampert said Sears didn’t always get credit for its innovations such as introducing curbside pickup and equipping its sales staff with iPads before it became fashionable to do so. “We did things before others,” he said. “The problem is they didn’t end up mattering enough. Whether we didn’t do it well enough or we ran out of time, or we didn’t market it enough. It wasn’t the ideas, it was making them matter and turning them into profit.” Although Mr. Lampert is buying the best Sears and Kmart locations, not all of them are profitable. “It would be very difficult to keep all 425 stores open,” he said. “We would like to maintain a presence in at least the stores that we’re in. That may be in a different location in the mall, if we were to sell the store, or sell and lease back part of the store.” In addition, Mr. Lampert is buying a number of stores that have already closed. He said those locations would probably not reopen and would likely be sold. He said a lot depends on the mall owners. “The mall owners are very influential,” Mr. Lampert said. “They were not rooting for the company to emerge from bankruptcy.” The restructured company is controlled by Mr. Lampert, but he doesn’t want Sears to stay a private company indefinitely. “Being private has certain advantages of being able to do things that public investors wouldn’t endorse,” he said, adding that must be balanced against the opportunity to raise capital as a public company. “If I am a betting person, which I am, I would say at some point we would be public again,” Mr. Lampert said.

It's noteworthy that Ford's Australian and European-designed vehicles don't have the wide range of "issues" that Dearborn vehicles do.

Ford recalls nearly 1.5 million F-150 pickups for sudden downshifts Michael Martinez, Automotive News / February 13, 2019 DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is recalling 1.48 million previous-generation F-150 pickups after five accidents linked to potentially faulty transmissions. The vehicles, from the 2011-13 model years, can downshift without warning, Ford said. The problem is related to a 2016 recall of more than 153,000 F-150s, Expeditions, Mustangs and Lincoln Navigators from the 2011-12 model years. The affected pickups have six-speed automatic transmissions that Ford says could experience an intermittent loss of the output speed sensor signal to the powertrain control module, leading to an unintended downshift into first gear. The pickups were built at Ford's Dearborn Assembly Plant from April 28, 2010, through Oct. 28, 2013, and at the Kansas City Assembly Plant from May 18, 2010, through Nov. 18, 2013. Federal safety regulators have been investigating for a year whether to expand the 2016 recall. As of January 2018, NHTSA's Office of Defect Investigations said it had received 123 complaints of a problem "causing the vehicle to slow down suddenly without warning." Additional recalls Ford on Wednesday issued a separate recall for about 28,200 2017-19 Lincoln Continentals with faulty door latches. It also is recalling roughly 4,350 2019 Mustangs, Lincoln Navigators and Lincoln Nautiluses with instrument panel clusters that might fail to turn on. In both cases, Ford said it was unaware of any injuries related to the defects.

Ford Trucks International / February 13, 2019 Ford Trucks F-MAX "The Official Truck Supplier" wishes Fiesta WRC and M-Sport the very best of luck in the whitest race of the season, Rally Sweden, which takes place on 14-17 February! #RallySweden #FordTrucks #FMAX #WRC #FordFiestaWRC .

Based on the CNT800, the U.S. Air Force purchased "Type A/S 32 R-9 Fuel Servicing Tank Trucks". They officially had a GVW of 58,000 pounds but looked realistically like much more. A 504 cu.in. 210 horsepower Cummins V8 was paired with an Allison MT42G automatic transmission. The trucks were acquired by Consolidated Diesel Electric Company who added the 5,000 gallon tank body and discharge pumps and made the sale to the government. There were 2 or 3 sitting for sale off of Route 13 in Wilmington, Delaware years ago. Note the speedometer includes km/h because many were used in Europe. http://www.vintagemilitarytrucks.com/1972_Dodge_T-80_800-Series_Consolidated_Refueler_JumboTanker-3.htm .

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/55566-nemf-files-voluntary-chapter-11-petition/

Ford told Britain's May it is preparing alternative factory sites Reuters / February 12, 2019 Ford told British Prime Minister Theresa May that it is stepping up preparations to move production out of Britain, The Times reported on Tuesday. The automaker told the prime minister during a private call with business leaders that it is preparing alternative sites abroad. Ford, which operates two engine plants in Britain, last month said that it faces a bill of up to $1 billion if Britain leaves the Europe Union without a deal. Automakers and other manufacturers have warned about the toll a no-deal Brexit could impose, including higher tariffs, disruption to supply chains and threats to jobs. Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29. Ford is the top-selling automotive brand in Britain, which is its third-largest market and the destination for roughly one in three cars made at its plant in Cologne, Germany. It employs about 13,000 people in Britain.

It is a factory prototype. It's a Big Horn 900.

I have a bad feeling that Trump is not going to act on his March 1 deadline. I would have played this differently, but we're here with this. If he doesn't raise tariffs from 10% to 25% on March 1, we're obviously going to lose face.

The latest vocational models. .

Leading Chinese construction equipment maker SANY decided to enter the highway market several years ago, after having produced concrete mixer chassis for its line of bodies from around 2010. These trucks are available with engines rated from 400 to 550 horsepower. .