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Ford details customer rewards program Michael Martinez, Automotive News / January 26, 2019 All but four of Ford Motor Co.'s roughly 3,100 U.S. dealers have signed up for a points-based customer rewards program through the FordPass app that will roll out this year. The automaker last year announced vague plans for a future rewards program that's part of a larger focus on customer retention. Executives used their make meeting to reveal details about the program, which is expected to start as early as April. The rewards system will include complimentary maintenance, and customers who sign up will receive $210 in service credits at their dealership. Customers can accumulate points for certain actions, which can be transferred to other dealerships. Dealers were told Ford would cover the cost. "Dealers really get the importance of customer experience," Mark LaNeve, Ford's vice president of marketing, sales and service, told Automotive News. "This program will marry customers to the dealership." Todd Dyer, chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, said he's happy with how the program helps build a relationship between the customer and dealer. "Consumers are going to come back to us for this," said Dyer, who owns Marshal Mize Ford in Hixson, Tenn. In addition to customer experience, the 90-minute meeting focused on improving dealer profits, which dropped in 2018 compared with 2017. To help increase those figures in 2019, Ford is tweaking its floorplan assistance as a way to offset rising interest rates. LaNeve noted that his presentation was virtually the same as that of Ford's dealer council chairman, a sign the factory and its retailers are on the same page. "I've done 30 of these," LaNeve said after the meeting. "I've never seen that kind of alignment." Dealers heard directly from Ford CEO Jim Hackett, who was attending his first NADA Show as CEO and vowed to sit down with more dealers and attend more meetings with them this year, a task he has typically delegated to other executives through his first 20 months on the job. Ford did not show dealers any photos of future product, although most saw the brand's upcoming models at some point last year after they had asked for more transparency. "I think our relationship is really, really strong," said Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of North America. "That's not an accident. It's a lot of work."

FCA recalls 182,000 Ram pickups for electrical issue Danielle Szatkowski, Automotive News / January 26, 2019 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling more than 182,000 Ram pickups worldwide to repair an electrical issue related to the vehicles' power steering. The recall announced Friday involves about 178,829 vehicles in North America, including 159,740 in the U.S. A fastener that grounds the battery wasn't properly secured in 2019 Ram 1500 pickups. As a result, the connection can become loose and disable the powering steering. Drivers can still steer, but the unstable feedback may increase the risk of a crash. FCA said there have been no reports of crashes or injuries. The automaker did not state a date for the recall to begin, but under U.S. law, it has to start within 60 days. The Ram 1500 won North American Truck of the Year at the Detroit auto show this month, an annual competition that judges redesigned or significantly changed vehicles on innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, value and driver satisfaction. Even though the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500 and Ram were all redesigned, media reviews praised the Ram for its interior. FCA US said December sales rose 14 percent, driven in part by a 34 percent increase in Ram pickup sales. For the year, Ram pickup sales gained 7.2 percent to 536,980 deliveries. .

As the road gets bumpier for truckmakers, AB Volvo faces emissions pothole Esha Vaish, Reuters / January 25, 2019 Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo’s attempts to cope with a weakening global market are being complicated by problems with a component that do not appear to be affecting its main rivals. Volvo said in October some of its engines could be exceeding emission limits of toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) because catalytic converters in its emissions after-treatment systems were wearing down more quickly than expected in certain situations. This fueled speculation that rivals Volkswagen and Daimler could have the same problem, after Volvo said it sourced converters from a single external supplier. Johnson Matthey, Umicore and BASF have a triopoly in that supply market. However, representatives for Volkswagen’s truck group Traton, which houses the MAN, Scania and VW brands, as well as Daimler have told Reuters their firms have not had any issues. Traton vehicles are meeting NOx emission limits on delivery and also over time, a spokesman said, while a Daimler spokesman said “all indications are that we achieve the targeted service lives” for NOx system components in its trucks. Volvo’s problem is a distraction at a time when demand prospects look weaker in China, the world’s largest commercial vehicles market; growth in Europe is slowing; and order cancellation rates in North America are rising. Over the past few years, orders have boomed as operators renewed fleets starved of investment during the global financial market crash. “We now factor in a cyclical downturn in 2019-20, with the U.S. order bubble an added risk,” Societe Generale analysts wrote on Jan. 14, downgrading Volvo to “sell” from “hold” and forecasting its adjusted operating income would fall 40 percent by 2020 versus 2018. Volvo warned this month its operating income for the fourth quarter of 2018 would be hit by a 7 billion Swedish crowns ($779 million) provision to cover the cost of its emissions problems. UBS cut its 2018 operating income forecast by 17 percent and said investors might worry “there may be more to come” as Volvo said it would continue to assess the provision size. Volvo, which publishes 2018 results on Jan. 30, is expected to report adjusted operating profit of 40.53 billion crowns on sales of 388 billion, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. Daimler reports results on Feb. 6 and Volkswagen on March 12. UNANSWERED QUESTIONS Volvo has not said how many trucks might be affected by the emissions problem, and it is unclear what fix regulators might ask for, or whether its supplier might foot some of the bill. However, Volvo has delivered up to 1.68 million trucks that could have the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, as regulations have meant that SCR has been a standard on Europe trucks since 2005 and on U.S trucks since 2010. Volvo refused to named the supplier, though a previously unreported Volvo document shows it was Johnson Matthey, the world’s biggest supplier of catalytic coatings for diesel trucks. A Johnson Matthey spokeswoman refused to comment. Johnson Matthey said in November it had been informed by two customers of failures in certain engine systems where it supplied “a particular coated substrate as a component” for emissions after-treatment systems. A previous report in March had only identified one affected customer. Johnson Matthey, which has around 65-70 percent market share in U.S. trucks and about 60 percent in Europe trucks, took a charge of 50 million euros to settle a lawsuit related to the coated substrate last year. Analysts have linked that lawsuit to truck-engines maker Cummins, which last year recalled about 500,000 trucks produced between 2010 and 2015 - also due to a catalyst degrading faster than expected. Cummins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Umicore spokesman said the company had no exposure to Volvo engines, while a BASF spokeswoman said the problems Volvo was having with its emission systems were not due to any catalysts provided by her company. Johnson Matthey’s report also said it had sold the “coated substrate” in question to only two customers.

The quality of Chinese tires in year 2019 is extremely good Bob. If you buy, for example, Triangle or Double Coin, you're getting a first rate tire.

Ford Trucks international / January 24, 2019 WRC-veteran M-Sport Ford WRT is starting the 2019 WRC season with the Ford Trucks F-MAX! We're proud to be “The Official Truck Supplier” behind the Ford Fiesta WRC and M-Sport. #FordTrucks #FMAX #WRC #FordFiestaWRC https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/about-wrc/rally-cars/ford-fiesta-rs-wrc/page/796--672-672-.html .

Proof that CEOs who require on-the-job training aren't a wise choice.

Ford CEO tells employees: 'Time to bury' 2018, focus on doubling profit David Shepardson & Ben Klayman, Reuters / January 24, 2019 Ford CEO Jim Hackett told employees late on Thursday the No. 2 U.S. automaker would not accept last year’s “mediocre” results and said the company was aiming to nearly double its annual operating profit. Hackett made his comments in an email to employees. Ford is restructuring its global operations, including recent plans to make cuts in Europe. It also has announced an alliance in commercial vehicles with Germany’s Volkswagen, with plans to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles, in moves meant to save billions of dollars. Ford announced its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, reporting a 2018 operating profit of $7 billion with a profit margin of 4.4 percent, down from 6.1 percent in 2017. Ford said last week that its target for operating margin was more than 8 percent. “2018 was mediocre by any standard,” Hackett said in the email. “Yes, we made $7 billion last year. But think of it this way: this represents a 4.4 percent operating margin, about half what we believe is an appropriate margin. So we are aiming for much closer to $14 billion.” Hackett did not give a timetable for hitting the $14 billion target. A Ford spokesman said Hackett was simply doing the math to show employees how the margin target translated to overall profit. Hackett, who has been on the job for 20 months, also said that it was “time to bury the year (2018) in a deep grave, grieve over what might have been and become super focused on meeting, and, in fact, exceeding this year’s plan.” Ford did not provide Wall Street with a specific financial forecast for 2019. It simply said it had the potential to improve earnings and revenue. That was in contrast to Ford’s larger U.S. rival, General Motors Co, which on Jan. 11 forecast higher 2019 earnings that far surpassed analysts’ estimates. Hackett also said in looking at Ford’s 2018 results: “I become mad for a short time. Likely mad at myself, but also because I know we are better than that. ... I know that our competition hasn’t been better than us by magic.” He said Ford had been considering moving up its time frame to electrify its product portfolio since he took over and asked how the company could learn from the trends it missed in China, the world’s largest auto market, where it is losing money.

Zoe Keenan, Perth Now / January 25, 2019 In a cruel twist of fate, a Western Australia (WA) road train carrying bales of hay to provide relief to drought-stricken farmers in New South Wales (NSW) was engulfed in flames on Eyre Highway, near the South Australian border, on Wednesday. The truck caught fire at Eucla, which had its highest recorded temperature in more than 100 years when it reached 48.6C, just under the 49.3C recorded in 1912. Drivers were left in shock after the semi-trailer’s cargo went up in flames just after 2pm, with no explanation for the fire. It was one of 48 road trains transporting hay to farmers in Cobar in an effort organised by the not-for-profit organisation Farmers Across Borders, started by Esperance farmers Sam Starcevich and Anne Bell in 2014. Ms Starcevich said luckily no one was hurt in the spontaneous fire. “We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to deliver that load of feed to drought-affected farmers in Cobar,” she said. “But we’re continuing the journey to arrive on Australia Day and deliver donations as planned.” The Department of Fire and Emergency Services estimated the damage at $50,000. The convoy will deliver almost 3000 tonnes of feed to NSW farmers.

I'm confident they will. The X12 is the "sweet spot" for so many applications.

GM to build new V8 engine at Tennessee plant Automotive News / January 24, 2019 General Motors said on Thursday it will invest $22 million at its Tennessee plant to build fuel-efficient engines for GM's large pickups and SUVs. GM will add more than 200 jobs at the Spring Hill plant to make the new generation of 6.2-liter, V-8 engines. The Spring Hill complex, originally built in 1990 for GM's now-defunct Saturn brand, also makes the popular GMC Acadia large crossover and Cadillac XT5 crossover. It employs about 3,800 people. GM claims the new V8's Dynamic Fuel Management (DFM) technology is "the industry’s first cylinder deactivation technology which enables the engines to operate in 17 different cylinder patterns to optimize performance. DFM enables only the cylinders needed to deliver the power a customer wants." “This investment will enable our Spring Hill team to continue building our award-winning engines enhanced with technology that will improve fuel efficiency and performance for our customers,” says GM CEO Mary Barra. “This investment reflects our commitment to vehicles and technologies our customers desire today and in the future.” Meanwhile, the complex is slated to begin production of the Cadillac XT6 later this year. Barra attended an event at the plant to celebrate the planned launch of the three-row crossover. GM is investing $300 million and hiring 200 people for production of the new model.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46981092

Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 students, and has yet to be executed. Now this young man murdered all five customers in the bank.....and nothing will come of it.

Five people dead in SunTrust Bank shooting in Florida BBC / January 24, 2019 Gunman kills every customer in Florida bank Officers responded after a man called police from inside the SunTrust bank in the town of Sebring and said: "I have shot five people". The gunman - Zephen Xaver, 21 - had barricaded himself in the branch, forced people to lie on the floor and began shooting, according to police. He surrendered after officers stormed the bank. The motive for the shooting remains unclear. The incident took place just after 12:30 (17:30 GMT) at SunTrust Bank in Sebring, about 80 miles (130km) south of Orlando. Police say they were the only five people in the bank at the time. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “Obviously this is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice.” .

The office furniture man from Steelcase is sucking wind.

Ford, Hackett feel Wall Street's pain over slow-motion turnaround Keith Naughton, Bloomberg / January 24, 2019 DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. needed to stop the bleeding before it could start showing gains from herculean efforts to turn the company around. That’s the key takeaway from CEO Jim Hackett’s second try in as many weeks to explain to analysts why Ford has been struggling more than some of its peers to weather a host of headwinds hitting the auto industry. He said he understands their disappointment after the company posted only its second quarterly loss since 2009. “I respect that,” Hackett said of frustrations with how long Ford’s restructuring is taking. “But it is what it takes to build an industrial model that we’re talking about -- to do it the right way and not have it fall apart.” Hackett, 63, was more blunt than he’s ever been in the 20 months since he became CEO about what has ailed Ford. He described how its product development had been “constipated” days after taking the wraps off a new Explorer SUV that hadn’t been redesigned in almost a decade. And he painted a picture of a company that allowed costs to creep up under his two predecessors. From 2013 to 2017 -- a period coinciding with the last years of Alan Mulally’s tenure and the abbreviated reign of Mark Fields -- Ford’s structural costs grew by an average of about $1.7 billion annually, Hackett said. Ford “arrested” this trend last year and will keep structural expenses flat in 2019, the CEO said on a conference call with analysts. It can move more quickly now to bring fresh SUVs, crossovers, pickup trucks and other new models to market. The call was a change in tack from Hackett’s messaging a week earlier, when the CEO’s plea for patience and the lack of specific guidance on Ford’s earnings outlook for 2019 sent shares down 6.2 percent, the biggest drop in a year. The stock was little changed in pre-market trading Thursday. Overhauling Ford Hackett has been trying to overhaul the automaker by killing off slow-selling sedans, boosting spending on SUVs, crossovers and trucks, and plotting salaried staff cuts worldwide. Last week, he announced an alliance with Volkswagen Group to jointly develop commercial vans and trucks and said the two companies will explore working together on electric and self-driving cars. But analysts have criticized the company for not providing more details on its turnaround plans and for giving vague earnings guidance. Ford executives didn’t elaborate much beyond an outlook issued last week: that there’s potential for improvement this year in revenue growth, profit margin and other measures. Ford CFO Bob Shanks also addressed fears that have been percolating in the debt market about the risk of the company’s credit ratings falling back into junk status. This prospect for one of the largest corporate-bond issuers outside the financial sector gained urgency after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ford to the last rung of investment grade in August. “My interpretation of their concerns is that it’s the operating performance. The balance sheet is very strong,” Shanks said of ratings companies’ views on Ford. “We’ve got to deliver stronger operating performance.” .

And yet so many operators are extremely pleased with their Kenworths and Cascadias, so much so that they keep buying more. Interesting. Mack brand salesmen across the country routinely see their pricing from Volvo puts them $10,000 or more over competitive quotes.

If I could get the four-cylinder 2.0L EcoBlue or 2.2L Duratorq diesels available in the global market, or the five-cylinder 3.2L Duratorq diesel available in the US market Transit as well as the global market, Ford would have a customer.

The China market Beijing Foton-Cummins ISG arrives in America. In the Middle Kingdom, it is available in both 10.5 litre and 11.8 litre displacements, although sales are predominantly the larger of the two. It's a great and proven powertrain. Zero issues. FYI......https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/40094-cummins-starts-field-testing-heavy-truck-engine-in-australia/?tab=comments#comment-290546

ForConstructionPros / January 23, 2019 The X12 engine weighs 600 lb. less than its predecessor without sacrificing any performance or power. .

Truck News / January 23, 2019 LAS VEGAS, Nevada – For International Trucks, 2018 was a banner year in the U.S. and Canada, and the company hopes to continue building on that success. “In Canada, it was phenomenal, we couldn’t keep up,” Joel Shaw, vocational sales manager for Navistar Canada, told Truck News-West during World of Concrete in Las Vegas. “On the International side, we grew our market share across Canada in each segment.” Shaw said Canadian sales have exploded, but not to the extent it has in the U.S., adding that they expect last year’s boom to level off a bit in 2019. Darin Vehlewald, product marketing manager for severe service trucks at Navistar, said they have been anticipating a dip in demand for some time. “For the last two years, we’ve really been ramping up, and I think a lot of people forecasting internally, as well as equipment manufacturers and even customers, (a downturn) is kind of expected,” he said. “A year-and-a-half ago we thought it was going to starting leveling off, but it really hasn’t up until the last couple of months. It’s not dipping but the rate at which it’s increasing has slowed a lot.” Shaw said the refuse market has been one of the strongest in Canada, with several businesses struggling to keep up to demand. In Western Canada, he said business has picked up slightly with oil back to around $60 a barrel, however continues to lag behind its eastern counterpart. There is one area, though, where Western Canada is booming. “The freight side of things has been crazy out there,” said Shaw, “which surprised me because oil just hasn’t been there, but freight has really picked up.” Approval of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline is one way to improve the western Canadian economy, according to Shaw. In the U.S., Mark Johnson, vice-president of strategic marketing for Navistar, could not be happier with the way his company has performed of late. “We posted incredible financial performance in 2018,” said Johnson. “One of the reasons we did is that we are winning the trust of our customers back. Customers are putting their faith in us once again, and really that goes to the tremendous product line that we have today.” Johnson said Navistar boasts the industry’s newest and most comprehensive lineup of vocational trucks. “No other manufacturer has a breadth of coverage of vocational, particularly in construction and concrete,” he said. “There’s a little bit of momentum in this business right now, and I will tell you in the construction and concrete markets, last year we grew our market share by nearly two points.” In addition to regaining the trust of its customers, Johnson said the company’s focus on uptime and its driver-first mentality has led to its recent success. .

Mack mDrive HD Transmission Coming to TerraPro Concrete Pumper Models Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / January 23, 2019 [Volvo Group subsidiary] Mack Trucks will offer the mDrive HD [the Mack badged version of the Volvo i-Shift] automated manual transmission (AMT) in Mack TerraPro concrete pumper models beginning in 2019. Mack says the fully integrated 12- and 14-speed mDrive HD AMTs will improve performance and offer durability and uptime benefits in an easy-to-operate package. All Mack mDrive HD AMTs come standard with split-shaft PTO functionality. Instead of taking power from a transmission- or engine-mounted PTO, split-shaft PTOs receive output directly from the transmission, supplying higher torque for large auxiliary equipment including concrete pumps. “The mDrive HD is the only AMT available with split-shaft PTO functionality, which enables us to offer concrete pumper customers all the benefits of the mDrive HD and our fully integrated powertrain,” said John Walsh, vice president of marketing for Mack Trucks. “In addition to improved performance and productivity, the mDrive HD helps increase jobsite safety. Eliminating traditional shifting allows drivers to focus on safely operating their equipment.” In TerraPro concrete pumpers, the mDrive HD will be paired exclusively with the 11-liter Mack MP7 engine, and will be available with higher horsepower and torque ratings than equivalent models with conventional automatic transmissions. That includes the MP7’s top rating of 425 hp and 1,560 lb.-ft. of torque. The mDrive HD for TerraPro concrete pumper models is available as a 13-speed direct drive or overdrive, as well as a 14-speed direct drive. With ruggedized internal components, including stronger gears and synchros, the mDrive HD is built to withstand the frequent shifting often found in construction applications. The 13- and 14-speed variants also feature low-ratio creeper gears, offering improved startability and ultra-low speed maneuverability. All mDrive HD AMTs feature a transmission-mounted oil cooler to help maintain optimal operating temperatures, even in the face of repeated, heat-generating shifts. The transmission also includes advanced standard features like Rock Free, which allows drivers to free stuck vehicles by rocking the truck back and forth simply by pumping the accelerator, and Auto Neutral, which improves jobsite safety by automatically putting the mDrive into neutral when the parking brake is set. Additional features like Grade Gripper, which helps prevent rolling backward on an incline, are also included, as well as MaxBrake, and Performance Mode. The Mack mDrive HD in Mack TerraPro concrete pumper models will be available for order in February 2019. .

Walmart Increases Pay for Private Fleet Drivers Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / January 23, 2019 Walmart has announced pay increases for truck drivers in its private fleet that includes an increase to per mile pay and activity pay. Beginning in February, drivers will receive a 1-cent per mile and a 50-cent increase in activity pay for arrive and arrive/drop occurrences. With the increase, Walmart’s drivers would be paid up to $1 for every time they arrive at a destination and drop a trailer. In the Northeast region, Walmart is also offering a 5% premium on mileage and eight different activities. Walmart says its drivers can earn an average of $87,500 in their first year of employment with an all-in rate of nearly 89 cents per mile. Furthermore, in the Northeast region, Walmart is offering a 5 percent premium on mileage and eight different activities. The new pay initiative is part of the company’s push to improve recruiting and retention in its professional fleet and Walmart says it is seeing an increase in referrals from its current drivers. The company has also revamped its hiring and onboarding program to shorten the application and onboarding time by over 50%. “Truck drivers are a critical part of our team here at Walmart and have been since Sam Walton started the private truck fleet in the 1970s,” said Greg Smith, executive vice president of Walmart U.S. Supply Chain. “Our professional drivers are part of what makes Walmart so special. This wage increase reflects the importance of our private fleet and our commitment to recruiting and retaining the best drivers in the industry.” .

Maria Halkias, The Dallas Morning News / January 23, 2019 Walmart is raising trucker salaries in its push to hire 900 more drivers this year across the United States, including Texas, where it has a big concentration of large distribution centers where empty trucks get filled. Companies are competing for the best drivers as a shortage of truckers in the United States continues. Walmart is promising more predictable scheduling to be conscious of work-life balance and said it has shortened the time from application and starting work. Last year, it also started a $1,500 referral bonus. In the latest hiring push, Walmart’s driver wages will rise by $14 million from a combination of a per-mile increase, activity and drop-off pay. That’s an average annual salary of $87,500 and 21 days of vacation in the first year. There also is potential for safety bonuses. Applicants must have at least 30 months of full-time commercial driver experience with no serious traffic violations in the past three years. “This wage increase reflects the importance our private fleet and our commitment to recruiting and retaining the best drivers in the industry,” said Greg Smith, executive vice president of Walmart’s U.S. supply chain. Walmart has had its own trucking fleet since the 1970s, when Sam Walton was putting together what was considered the most sophisticated of retail supply chains. The company’s 8,000 drivers travel more than 700 million miles and deliver to 4,700 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. The trucking industry reached a 20-year peak for tonnage hauled in 2018. American Trucking Associations estimates the industry, which has 3½ million drivers, is short more than 50,000 drivers. .