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Holly Shively, The Springfield News-Sun / January 17, 2019 SPRINGFIELD — Hundreds of Springfield Navistar employees expecting signing bonuses and other lump sums won’t get the payouts come Thursday. The six-year national deal between the United Auto Workers and major Springfield employer Navistar has become a major point of dispute. UAW representatives have said the contract is ratified since it was approved in December, but Navistar spokeswoman Lyndi McMillan said all contracts at the national and local levels must be ratified before any proposed changes are implemented. Springfield’s local UAW didn’t ratify its local contract and is still in negotiations a day before the employees expect their payouts. Union workers at all seven Navistar locations nationally won’t get the payouts they say they are owed since Navistar doesn’t view the main contract as ratified. “Back in December when we were originally going to ratify the contracts, it was put in there that if the contract was ratified that day in December, we would pay out no later than Jan. 17,” McMillan said. But since the contract isn’t in effect, according to Navistar, the truck manufacturer is operating under an extended version of its former agreement, which expired in October, McMillan said. Once the local contract is ratified and all agreements go into effect, a new date will be set for the payouts. But the UAW national branch in Detroit has said the Springfield agreement has no impact on the main contract. “The UAW position is that the contract is binding and payouts are due on Jan. 17,” said Brian Rothenberg, UAW national spokesman in Detroit. He declined to comment further on what will happen if the payouts aren’t received. Navistar and the Springfield UAW are meeting daily on one or two open issues, McMillan said. The local agreements typically focus on issues such as work rules at each local facility, staffing on the assembly line and similar topics. Local UAW 402 president Chris Blizard refused to comment on the negotiations. “We’re confident that both sides will come to an agreement that’s a win-win for us as a company and as a union,” McMillen said. Highlights of the six-year deal include a $2,000 signing bonus, a $1,000 profit-sharing payout, and a 4-percent lump sum payment for workers this year and 3-percent lump sum payments in 2020 and 2022, according to information from the UAW. The new deal also includes pension plan improvements, the elimination of tiered wages and language to keep the contract intact in case the company is sold or merged. The UAW represents the majority of Navistar’s local workers. There are about 2,000 workers in the facility now and thousands of retirees living in the area. As early as 2010 the company only had 300 workers in its local plant, though. It has made a major turnaround in recent years reporting a net income of $170 million in the third quarter of 2018, up from $37 million the same quarter the previous year. The national agreement covers Navistar Local 6 and 2293 in Melrose Park; Ill., Local 472 in Atlanta; Local 119 in Dallas; Local 1872 in York, Pa. and Local 402 and 658 in Springfield. Local 658 is a clerical unit.

Western Star Trucks Press Release / January 16, 2019 Andy Johnson, Brand Manager for Western Star, explains the many new enhancements made to the WS 4700. .

WASHINGTON (Reuters / 1-15-2019) - United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer did not see ANY progress made on structural issues during trade talks with China last week, Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said on Tuesday. “He (Lighthizer) said that there hasn’t been ANY progress made on structural changes that need to be made,” Grassley said, adding that those issues would include intellectual property, stealing trade secrets and putting pressure on corporations to share information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WASHINGTON (Reuters / 1-17-2019) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some or ALL tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions scheduled for Jan. 30. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nothing like sending a consistent message......................

U.S. Big Trucks End Year Up 3.5% Class 8 sales fall 0.2% in 2017 while all other classes post gains. Wards Auto / January 12, 2019 U.S. medium- and heavy-duty truck sales hit 43,534 in December, 24.3% above year-ago’s 36,365. With seven months of consecutive year-over-year gains, big trucks ended the year at 415,042 units, 3.5% ahead of like-2016’s 400,996. Class 8 sales posted a 48.5% gain, a third December best, to 22,355. The push wasn’t enough to equal last year’s total of 192,662, with 2017 falling 0.2% short to 192,252. Segment leader Freightliner almost doubled its volume, reaching 8,504 deliveries and accounting for a 38.0% market share. Volvo was the only truck maker in the group to underperform in December, down 12.8%, outweighing sister brand Mack’s 5.8% gain. That left Volvo Truck down 4.5% for the month. Medium-duty truck sales totaled 21,179, a 6.1% bump compared with year-ago’s 20,736, ending the year up 6.9% at 222,790 deliveries. All medium-duty classes exceeded 2016 sales, topped by Class 4’s 30.7% increase to 18,690 deliveries. Class 7 deliveries jumped 14.1% with large volume gains from Freightliner (+27.9%), Ford (+65.2%) and Kenworth (26.6%). Freightliner accounted for a 46.7% market share for the year and ended 2.5% above year-ago with 29,256 units. Class 6 was the only sector to finish below year-ago. Deliveries totaled 5,385 units, down 5.0%. Segment-leader Ford was the main downward force, with sales plummeting 39.3% from 2,883 units to 1,685. Runner-up Freightliner’s 49.0% bounce to 1,640 units wasn’t enough to offset Ford’s decline. Chevrolet’s LCF entered Class 6 for the first time in December with 7 units. Freightliner also clinched the No.1 spot in this class for the year with a 32.9% market share. Class 5 pulled off a 3.7% gain thanks to Ford’s 10.0% jump to 4,846 units and Hino’s 79.1% spike to 564. These gains offset FCA’s 15.0% plunge to 1,705 units. Ford held the No.1 spot in the class all year long, ending with a 63.0% market share and 9.9% gain over 2016. Class 4 continued to outperform any other class with demand jumping 30.3% to 2,328 trucks. Last month marked the best December since 2009 when 2,519 trucks were delivered. Hino was the only truck maker to decline, falling 8.5% below last year with 104 units. Mitsubishi Fuso saw the greatest improvement, soaring 710.0% from 15 to 117 units. For the year, Ford claimed first place with a 24.3% rise in sales and a 15.4% market share. With domestics and imports climbing 700.6% and 469.2%, respectively, GM grew from a 1.7% market share in 2016 to 9.3% in 2017. .

Jim, this is my barometer. There "should be" a publication that states fleet sales in the US, but I'm not sure. http://subscribers.wardsintelligence.com/data-center

Russian truckmaker Tonar introduces new ore train Autoreview RU / December 18, 2019 Tonar continues to expand its range, in which off-road dump trucks constitute an important part. Recently, the company’s newest dump truck giant has just come out for testing. The eight-axle combination with a total weight of almost two hundred metric tons and a length of twenty-eight meters is designed to carry 127 tons of ore. The all-wheel drive Tonar model 7502 6x6 tractor is nine meters long and over four meters tall. Under the hood is a 19-liter 760 horsepower Cummins QSK diesel engine paired with an Allison automatic transmission. The suspension and axles, produced by Tonar, are based on Chinese Hande’s designs - 13 tons in front and two 25 tons in rear. Tires are size 14.00 R25, and the two fuel tanks each have a capacity of of 610 liters. The cargo is transported in two nine-meter steel side-dump trailers with Penta hydraulics. It’s an Australian market B-Train design, with the first semi-trailer also has a saddle on which the second rests. Tonar’s future plans include a six-link 400-ton road-train. .

KrAZ Trucks Press Release / December 27, 2018 On the nights of December 25-26, KrAZ off-road trucks were called into help to people trapped during snowstorm on road Zolotonosha-Kremenchug near the village of Lipovoye. The call for help came from officials of Poltava region SES. Snowstorm and high wind paralyzed traffic, causing traffic jams, as a result, many cars and trucks have been hit by snowstorm. About 200 vehicles became trapped in snowdrifts on the border of Cherkassy and Poltava regions, and KrAZ vehicle and workers have been engaged in relief efforts. It turned out that SES does not have enough vehicles for response, for this reason, vehicles of outside organizations including those of KrAZ Trucks have been used for relief efforts. Drivers from the KrAZ R&D center operating KrAZ-6322 trucks and KrAZ-Fiona armored vehicles sent for relief efforts assisted in recovery operations on Kiev road as part of rescue team. According to them, the last trip was made to deliver people to warming centres set up in hotels and schools of the nearby villages of Lipovoye and Sviatilovka. KrAZ off road vehicles are being used currently for recovery of vehicles to clear up traffic jams. It is worth nothing that not only KrAZ vehicles with snow clearing and salt spreading equipment annually take the heat in relief efforts. Special vehicles of rescue services, military units and “KrAZ” company used for recovery have much job to tackle with. And it is no surprise as KrAZ trucks have been designed for use in harsh environmental conditions. KrAZ Trucks manufactures a wide range of modern vehicles for various applications. At customer’s request, they are often all-year-round vehicles equipped with easily mountable/removable snow clearing equipment. .

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Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / January 16, 2019 Volvo Group Venture Capital AB on Wednesday announced its investment in Philadelphia-based Momentum Dynamics Inc – a provider of high-power wireless charging capabilities for electric vehicles. Momentum Dynamics develops and commercializes high-power inductive charging for the automotive and transportation industries, suitable for commercial electric, autonomous and connected vehicles. Volvo Group Venture Capital Vice President Per Adamsson says Momentum Dynamics’ technology and competence within inductive bi-directional transmission of electrical energy and information safely through air, water and ice will fit the harsh conditions under which our customers operate. “High capacity charging up to 300 kW for trucks, buses, construction equipment, industrial and marine applications will support the electrified transition,” he adds. Wireless electric charging allows any type of vehicle to automatically and without supervision connect to the electrical power grid without the use of wires or cables. Without the need for a driver to plug in their vehicle to a charging station, automatic and bi-directional “electric fueling” may occur frequently and opportunistically – resulting in efficient use of battery capacity, longer driving ranges and improved uptime. Momentum Dynamics is conducting pilots in Europe and North America with both fleets and vehicle manufacturers of cars, buses, trucks and trains.

Nikola Moves Closer to Marketing Hydrogen-Electric Trucks Roger Gilroy, Transport Topics / January 16, 2019 LAS VEGAS — Nikola Motor Co. founder and CEO Trevor Milton said two key customers — private fleet Anheuser-Busch Cos. and truckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises — will begin fleet tests of Nikola’s zero-emisssions hydrogen-electric Class 8 trucks by the end of the year, as the first shoots of the necessary fueling infrastructure are emerging in Phoenix. Milton spoke with Transport Topics in an exclusive interview here Jan. 8 during CES, the world’s largest technology event. “I wanted to redesign everything from the ground up. I can’t do that if I keep a lot of the same stuff that is on trucks right now,” Milton said. “We are just lucky that we started a long time ago so we are ahead of everyone. We developed our own fuel cell, our own batteries — they are more energy dense than any other battery on the market in the world.” Nikola’s battery is almost 400 watt-hours per liter, he said, calling that 50% to 70% more energy dense than rival batteries. Its 240-kilowatt fuel cell is the biggest he knows of, and there are two on board his Class 8 trucks. Andrew Lund, chief engineer in the product development office at Toyota Motor North America Inc., told TT he wished Nikola well. “They are a very interesting company. Certainly they are going to produce heavy-duty trucks. So in one way they are competitors. But I view them as more of a partner in, really, growing hydrogen infrastructure. Their announced plan is to build hydrogen stations across North America. I would want them to be successful because that would bring about the hydrogen society that Toyota has believed in for so many years.” Milton said his company plans to build 700 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States over the next seven years. The first 14 stations will be up and running by 2021, according to the company, which is based in Phoenix, where two stations are being built and each of which will produce more than 1,000 kilograms of hydrogen. “Then we go to stations that produce 24,000 kilograms a day. We focus mainly on dominating the hydrogen-production side, and the truck is a catalyst to drive the cost of the hydrogen down. Our hope is we can share stations with Daimler or others that are interested, like Hyundai,” Milton said. In September, Hyundai Motor Co., in cooperation with H2 Energy, will provide 1,000 hydrogen-electric heavy-duty electric trucks to the Swiss commercial vehicle market, to be delivered beginning this year through 2023. News reports said the South Korean truck maker could bring its hydrogen trucks to the United States. A day-cab version of the Nikola truck for North America plus its flat-face, heavy-duty truck intended for the European market will be on display April 16-17 in Phoenix during an event the company calls Nikola World. “That’s when the whole world gets to see the production truck, a beautiful, stunning truck,” Milton said. “So what we have done now is proven out that the truck works, the components function together, the aerodynamics of the truck work. The cab, the body, all that’s done. That’s the hardest part. It took five years to do, to actually make all the systems fully function together.” As of early January, 2,500 people had reserved to attend the event, he said. At the same time, Milton said he is looking forward to competing against the North American arm of Daimler Trucks, the world’s largest truck maker. Daimler Trucks North America is the leader in Class 8 U.S. retail sales. “They have their own fuel cell, although they have tens of billions of dollars invested in diesel so they can’t scrap it. They have to transition out of [diesel] over 10 years. They will be right there alongside of us,” Milton said. “Once we do it and prove it, and they see the model working, Daimler will come right in. But there is enough room. I actually welcome it. When Daimler comes in, the world takes notice and they know it’s legit.” Kenworth Truck Co., a unit of Paccar Inc., and Toyota announced at CES they are collaborating to develop 10 hydrogen-electric tractors for drayage operations in the Los Angeles basin — with Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell technology going into Kenworth’s T680 trucks. Milton referred to the effort as “research and development.” Nikola has about 11,000 orders for its truck. .

Roger Gilroy, Transport Topics / January 16, 2019 Single-digit increases defined U.S. retail sales of medium-duty trucks in December and for the full year compared with year-ago periods, WardsAuto.com reported. Sales of Class 4-7 trucks reached 22,045 in December, up 4.1% compared with 21,179 a year earlier. Year-to-date, sales rose 6.5% to 237,303 compared with the 2017 total of 222,790. “We are still in an expansion cycle in the medium-duty space. We have just had very moderate, sustainable growth since 2010,” one analyst said. Municipal fleets have been one of the dark-horse growth drivers over the past year, he said. “There was quite a bit of pent-up demand as a result of the housing bubble implosion [in the earlier Great Recession],” he said. “That demand, quite honestly, is still getting worked out, but it is probably about at the end of its run.” Rising real estate values have pumped money into government coffers. “That facilitated clearing the backlog of demand,” he added. Sales of Class 7 trucks were up 1.4% for the month and 3.6% for the year — posting totals, respectively, of 5,519 and 63,828. Class 6 sales were the exception to the modest gains. All truck makers but one in the crowded space posted increases for the full year. These sales rose 10.1% in December and climbed 12.9% for the 12 months — to 5,913 and 71,626, respectively. The biggest year-over-year gain in Class 6 sales occurred at International, a unit of Navistar Inc. It saw sales climb to 16,118 compared with 13,232 a year earlier. “So many of these medium-duty vehicles are service-based. If you look at the economy this year, just the top line, the service portion of the economy actually outperformed goods-based performance,” the analyst said. Sales of Class 4-5 trucks inched up 2.4% in December to 10,613 and 4.2% in the 12-month period to 97,715. .

Social media had a good laugh, but Winnie wasn't really banned. As in all countries politics in China can be ruthless......this is nothing. The world's largest truck market makes China an obvious global market focus for Scania. I learned early on that the western media either gets it wrong or wants to create a story for the readers back home who are gullible about the Middle Kingdom. .

The genius of John Bogle in 9 quotes MarketWatch / November 25, 2018 Diversification: "Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack." Expenses: "The grim irony of investing is that we investors as a group not only don't get what we pay for, we get precisely what we don't pay for." Market timing: "The idea that a bell rings to signal when investors should get into or out of the market is simply not credible. After nearly 50 years in this business, I do not know of anybody who has done it successfully and consistently." Trading volume: "In recent years, annual trading in stocks — necessarily creating, by reason of the transaction costs involved, negative value for traders — averaged some $33 trillion. But capital formation — that is, directing fresh investment capital to its highest and best uses, such as new businesses, new technology, medical breakthroughs, and modern plant and equipment for existing business — averaged some $250 billion. Put another way, speculation represented about 99.2% of the activities of our equity market system, with capital formation accounting for 0.8%." Index funds: "The index fund is a sensible, serviceable method for obtaining the market's rate of return with absolutely no effort and minimal expense. Index funds eliminate the risks of individual stocks, market sectors and manager selection, leaving only stock market risk." Investing simplified: "Investing is not nearly as difficult as it looks. Successful investing involves doing a few things right and avoiding serious mistakes." Time and patience: "Time is your friend; impulse is your enemy." Stock-market risk: "If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks." Trusting brokers: "It's amazing how difficult it is for a man to understand something if he's paid a small fortune not to understand it."

John Bogle, Vanguard founder and investing legend, dies at 89 MarketWatch / January 16, 2018 John C. Bogle, the father of the retail index fund and an outspoken champion for low-cost investing that won him heroic status among individual investors, died Wednesday. He was 89. Bogle founded the Vanguard Group, the mutual fund behemoth known for inexpensive mutual funds that track a market index rather than trying to beat it. Vanguard is now a giant of the asset-management industry that has shifted toward the passive style of investing and saved trillions of dollars for investors in the process. “Jack Bogle made an impact on not only the entire investment industry, but more importantly, on the lives of countless individuals saving for their futures or their children’s futures,” Vanguard Chief Executive Tim Buckley said in a news release Wednesday afternoon that confirmed Bogle’s death. “He was a tremendously intelligent, driven and talented visionary whose ideas completely changed the way we invest. We are honored to continue his legacy of giving every investor ‘a fair shake.’” Bogle formed Vanguard in 1974 and it began operations the next year. As of Sept. 30, 2018, it had about $5.3 trillion in global funds under management, according to the company. When Bogle first launched a fund tracking the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.22% at a low cost to investors in 1976, he called it “the Vanguard experiment,” but it was widely derided as “Bogle’s folly.” Known then as the First Index Investment Trust, its initial underwriting collected just $11 million; it is now known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund VFINX, +0.22% , and has $441 billion in assets, Vanguard noted Wednesday. “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack,” Bogle famously said of the passive-investing approach. Beyond convincing the investment community that index funds were worthwhile, Bogle also pushed Vanguard to offer the funds directly to consumers, avoiding brokers. Vanguard said Wednesday that the approach has saved shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars in sales commissions. Vanguard says its average expense ratio is 0.11%. Bogle remained at the helm of Vanguard until stepping down in 1996. He stayed in the public eye, however, making speeches and commenting on the markets. In 1999, Bogle created the Bogle Financial Markets Resource Center, which he ran as president until his death. “Presumably you are accumulating money now and putting money away for the future. Do not, under any circumstances, stop doing that. That is the first rule. Don’t stop investing,” Bogle told MarketWatch in 2017, when asked for general rules for investing. “The second rule is, particularly for the younger people in the world: A good solid market decline is a blessing. You’ll be buying — if you invest each month — stocks at lower and lower prices. Don’t be antagonized by that; use that as an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Isn't Watts still offering the 41MR439 main cab harness, manufactured by Fargo, the original Mack supplier?

62QS179P2.......give Watt's Mack a call. The P2 version has a key lock. The non-locking P1 version was long ago NLA. If you also need the catch, that's a 62QS136P2.

Look guys, it's very late and I've got the flu. Yes, an electric lift pump is an available option, as it is with most global truckmakers. To meet the US market price point, Volvo apparently doesn't offer it there. Never ever had an issue with the Ultra-Liner's cab jack. The MH was also available with an optional air actuated cab lift pump (supplier Power Packer now offers electric as well). I'm also partial to the Cruise-Liner (despite its many shortcomings), and both F and G models. There are very good reasons why COE design is the global standard, but to each his own.

Plastic shell?

To each his own....... In my mind, COEs are beautiful, and some of the most attractive were/are produced by decades-long former Mack partner Scania.

The original Scania V8, and the Mack ENDT865/866, all launched in 1969, were born together. Continually evolved forward, today's advanced Scania V8 is altogether different, but proudly carries on the spirit of the Mack V8.

GM's Washington charm offensive sidelined by Wall Street's push for profit David Shepardson, Reuters / January 16, 2019 General Motors code named its November announcement to cut nearly 15,000 jobs in North America and restructure itself “Turbo,” suggesting a leaner approach for the largest U.S. automaker would “accelerate its transformation.” Wall Street investors cheered the ambition to get smaller and boost profits. But in Washington, the move remains a public relations crisis that threatens to derail a methodical effort by Chief Executive Mary Barra to keep GM in good graces with the White House and other politicians. President Donald Trump called Barra’s decision “nasty” and said GM had “better” find a product to build at a plant in Ohio, a pivotal state for Trump’s 2020 re-election effort. Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from southeast Michigan and former GM employee, said at the time that GM had become “the most thoroughly disliked company in Washington.” At the Detroit auto show this week where GM is faces off with politicians from the states most impacted by its job cuts, Dingell told Reuters that “GM is going to work hard to improve relationships.” Despite the angst in Washington, Barra and her deputies are showing no signs of shifting gears. “We’re not here to make everybody angry,” GM President Mark Reuss told Reuters this week at the auto show. He said GM’s restructuring is driven by many factors - including the need to offset tariff costs and finance new electric vehicles and battery technology. That requires GM to stop “investing money in things that don’t make money.” It is a message Barra herself hit hard on Friday during a presentation to investors in New York, where she promised stronger profits and outlined plans for its Cadillac brand to challenge Tesla. “We have demonstrated time and again that we are willing to make tough and strategic decisions to not only meet our commitments but to secure the company’s future,” Barra said. Barra’s charm offensive had proven successful for most of President Donald Trump’s first two years in office. Atop Barra’s list of accomplishments: shielding GM’s profitable Mexican truck production and its $5 billion investment in its Mexican operations announced in 2014 to double capacity in Mexico from punitive trade measures from the Trump administration. But the new conflict with Washington comes at a critical time for GM, which wants to sell many more electric vehicles and has been lobbying Congress to expand the $7,500 tax credits. It still needs help from regulators to get self-driving cars without steering wheels on U.S. roads. And GM stands to benefit from the Trump administration’s plan to weaken fuel efficiency standards “We’ve done this to help you, and I think his disappointment is it seems like they kind of turned their back on him,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters in November, referring to Trump’s reaction. Kyle Martin, research analyst with Westwood Management in Dallas, which owns GM shares, said GM needs the cash to develop to electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle technology. “That money has to come from somewhere,” he said. Trump’s election win brought a dire warning from GM executives in a presentation in late 2017 and early 2018 to the company’s board: an end to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could cost the automaker billions of dollars in tariffs on GM’s Mexican vehicles. They concluded that the costs would still be less than the billions of dollars and years it would take to shift production to the United States. GM argued that while it was building autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles in the United States, it needed to keep generating profits on Mexican-built trucks to fund those operations. So Barra made engaging with the White House after Trump’s election a key focus. She went to dinner at the house of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and spoke on several occasions with Trump himself. Barra hired a former senior Trump aide who handled trade policy issues, Everett Eissenstat, to run GM’s DC office in August. And she has had numerous talks with U.S. officials, including conversations with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, about the new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada - including a key call in August to address concerns from GM that the new trade deal could have disadvantaged its Mexican operations. Barra is now counting on those relationships to help her steer through 2019, and mend fences in Washington. She invited Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to Michigan to attend a board meeting in June 2017 and take a ride in an self-driving car in Michigan, according to previously unreported government records reviewed by Reuters. Barra also had a previously unreported lunch in April 2017 with Chao at the White House with other officials. She spent two days last month on Capitol Hill meeting with angry lawmakers and explaining the cuts. In a brief interview with Reuters in December, Barra said she understands “that there’s a lot of emotion and concerns” but emphasized that the actions were about safeguarding the company’s future. She has her work cut out for her. Representative Andy Levin, a Michigan Democrat who took office this month, noted the Detroit-Hamtramck plant - one of the facilities losing production - is on a site that GM won approval in the early 1980s to dislocate more than 4,200 people as the state tore down about 1,500 homes and 140 businesses. “We as a society made a huge sacrifice for GM so they could have a new plant. And 30 years later they are just going to throw it away?” Levin said. “We’re not going to stop and just say, ‘Oh this is a cost of doing business.’”

Chinese operators are pleased with the JMC-badged Ford Cargo. http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105705.html http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105707.html http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105708.html http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105709.html http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105710.html http://www.360che.com/news/190114/105711.html

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Volvo Trucks Press Release / January 15, 2019 Truck driver Jarle Tveiten provides an insight into his life transporting live fish through the Norwegian fjords. . .

Scania Group Press Release / January 10, 2019 Swedish haulier Skaraslättens Åkeri has reduced its fleet’s annual fuel bill by nearly EUR 10,000 per truck since it traded in the R 580 for new Scania R 520 trucks. In addition to owning 31 trucks and 350 trailers, Skaraslättens also subcontracts additional services from 50 haulage companies. They jointly transport incoming goods from Asia destined for major retailers such as Ikea. On return trips, the trucks load bundles of wood for export. V8 R 520 makes a remarkable difference Skaraslättens maintains a policy of regularly renewing its all-Scania fleet and limits vehicle age to a maximum of three years, or 400,000 kilometres. This means the trucks are in excellent condition and still fetch a healthy residual value when they are sold on. “Last year, we purchased 20 new trucks. Receiving the new V8 Scania R 520 turned out to be a stroke of luck; the difference is remarkable,” says Skaraslättens’ Head of Finance, Håkan Johansson. The V8’s power is vital, since the haulier often handles heavy 60-tonne loads of two containers. “It’s all about logistics: the bigger the operation, the more assignments can be performed,” he says. 20 percent less fuel consumption in just two years Johansson notes that Scania said that its new generation could provide a five percent increase in fuel efficiency, and adds that Skaraslättens has easily improved upon this figure in its operations.In fact, records show that Skaraslättens’ R 580 trucks averaged 41.5 litres per 100 kilometres in 2016, which dropped to 39.2 litres the following year. With the arrival of the new R 520 trucks, fuel consumption has been reduced to just 33.1 litres per 100 kilometres; that’s 20 percent less than two years ago. Across the fleet, that fuel efficiency translates into an annual savings of more than EUR 300,000. “That could be the difference between make or break for a company,” says Johansson. Driver incentives influence fuel savings The savings are partially passed on to the drivers through an incentive programme; a portion of the hourly wages is based on driving performance. “In my estimation, I would say that two-thirds of the fuel consumption can be attributed to the truck, while the driver can influence the remainder,” says Johansson. .