kscarbel2

DAF Trucks Press Release / January 2, 2019 Renowned international transport company, Hegelmann Transporte Group, is expanding its fleet with 540 DAFs XF 480 Super Space Cab. The tractor units will be supplied to the south German company on a programmed delivery throughout 2019 and 2020. It is the third large order in quick succession for DAF Trucks, following orders for 400 trucks from waste-to-product company Renewi and 1,500 units from fleet operator Girteka Logistics. Hegelmann Transporte was established in 1998 and has specialised in just-in-time transport for the car, heavy and food industry. Hegelmann’s 4,000 employees, 2,000 trucks and 2,000 trailers operate from the Algarve to the Chinese border. The company’s headquarters are located in Karlsdorf-Neuthard, near Stuttgart. Maximum uptime, highest ROI "To make our international growth strategy a success, we require maximum uptime and the highest possible return per kilometre,” states Siegfried Hegelmann, one of the two owners of the family business. “DAF understands that like no other. Our profitability is their goal – that makes DAF our ideal partner." Drivers put DAF on a pedestal Hegelmann already owns more than 100 trucks from the latest generation XF. Drivers praise cab comfort and space in the Super Space Cab, alongside excellent driving characteristics inherent to DAF's top-of-the-range model. "Because there is a large shortage of professional drivers, this also plays an important role in our choice to once again opt for the DAF XF," says Siegfried Hegelmann. Unrivaled fuel efficiency The newly ordered trucks are equipped with Predictive Cruise Control (PCC), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS) and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), ensuring both comfort and safety at the highest level. The exceptionally smooth 355kW / 483 hp PACCAR MX-13 engine delivers unmatched fuel efficiency. No less than 1,100 service points For the maintenance of its trucks - the XF has service intervals of up to 200,000 kilometers - Hegelmann relies on the dense DAF dealer network of more than 1,100 dealers and service points in Europe. In addition, the company has selected DAF MultiSupport for repair and maintenance contracts, ensuring timely preventive maintenance and optimum vehicle availability. .

Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) / December 19, 2018 A lift axle solution for 6x2 tractor configurations, Volvo’s Adaptive Loading is designed to help trucks run at peak fuel efficiency and performance every mile of every haul. It senses weight differentiation and automatically lifts the axle to reduce friction and save fuel. Adaptive Loading also improves traction during lighter hauls, by transferring all weight to the rear axle of the vehicle. From a full load down to an empty trailer, this integrated and automated technology makes every driver a more efficient driver. .

Roger Gilroy, Transport Topics / January 7, 2019 LAS VEGAS — Daimler Trucks North America announced it would begin production in 2021 of medium- and heavy-duty battery electric trucks that are now being developed in close cooperation with select North American customers. DTNA is North America’s leading truck maker in Class 6-8 diesel-powered trucks, which face more stringent emissions for lowering truck emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2021, 2024 and 2027. In addition, in November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would issue a rule to further cut the emission of nitrogen oxide from diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks. DTNA’s efforts to develop battery-electric trucks is occurring against that backdrop. “This is not something we do here at Daimler Trucks North America ourselves. We are heavily involved in trying with all of these other development projects that we have at Daimler — in Japan and in Europe,” Andreas Juretzka, DTNA’s eMobility product lead, told the media at a ride-and-drive event here Jan. 6-7. DTNA is bringing customers in “at a very early stage” and will share that within the global development process, he said. Two fleets, Penske Truck Leasing and NFI Industries, will receive the first electric trucks. Penske will receive 10 eCascadias and 10 eM2s for use in California and the Pacific Northwest, while 10 eCascadias will go to NFI for drayage activities from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to warehouses in California’s Inland Empire. At the event here preceding the annual Consumer Electronics Show, DTNA let reporters, for the first time, drive prototypes of its medium-duty eM2 and Class 8 eCascadia model. Behind the wheel of the eCascadia, it is hard to tell just by ear if the truck is running. There is no shifting through gears as it accelerates smoothly and silently — it has two e-axles and electric motors at the wheel hubs. As the truck, pulling a fully loaded trailer, takes the turns and heads down the straightaway, there is the expected agility and power, but engine noise is missing. In the cab, driving is peaceful. The eM2 offered a similar sense of a brand new experience for commercial vehicle drivers. Meanwhile, questions about the trucks’ operational cost, environmental benefits, their range, the needed infrastructure, their reliability and what lies further in the future are under serious discussion, according to DTNA. For example, leasing the truck batteries to fleets is being considered, Juretzka said. DTNA has an electric vehicle customer council that includes 30 key fleet customers. Its next meeting is scheduled for May. .

Superformance Will Resurrect Ford's Stunning Shelby GR-1 Concept Steve Siler, Car & Driver / January 7, 2019 Remember the Shelby GR-1 show car from way back in the early 2000s? That stillborn project is about to come back to life thanks to Superformance, a tuner based in Irvine, California. The company bills itself as "a distributor of complete, rolling-chassis replica and continuation race cars of the 1960s." But Superformance appears to have hit fast forward on that tape to, well, at least the middle of the past decade: CEO Lance Stander has announced that the company will add replicas of Ford's stunning 2004–2005 Shelby GR-1 show car to its product lineup. It's worth nothing (if you couldn't tell by looking) that the GR-1 was created in homage to the Cobra Daytona coupe. Currently, all of Superformance's products are indeed rooted in the 1960s and currently include replica or continuation Shelby Cobra, Ford GT40, Shelby Cobra Daytona, Caterham, and Corvette Grand Sport models. The announcement was made at the Petersen Automotive Museum's annual Shelby tribute on January 6 by Stander, who was part of a panel sharing stories about Shelby and discussing Shelby's influence on the industry and racing culture. With Shelby American vice president Vince Laviolette next to him on the panel, Stander said that Superformance has teamed up with Shelby American to develop electric versions of the gorgeous GR-1 in addition to a gasoline-powered version. Laviolette confirmed this but didn't provide any details other than to say, "It's gonna be very fast." Stander was more forthcoming, saying, "We're shooting for a two-second Shelby." "It's been a project I've been working on with Ford for about six years," said Stander. "We originally said we want to do the GR-1, and we spoke to everyone at Ford and they said it's never going to happen. Just forget about it. We could have done a replica, we could have done a kit car, but that was never good enough for us. We had to get licensed by the original manufacturer, and it had to have all credibility. So I just kept plodding along and eventually the stars aligned, the right people at Ford got to hear about it and . . . a couple of guys at who really wanted to see it happen at Ford Design in Europe, and the next thing I know is Ford Licensing is contacting me." The car won't be out for about two years, they said, but when it is, 200 aluminum special-edition GR-1 cars will be made available—which could be either polished or painted—with the remainder wearing carbon-fiber bodies. Whether Superformance will be able to call it by the concept's original name, Ford Shelby GR-1, or whether it will get a moniker such as Shelby Legendary GR-1 or just Shelby GR-1, is still an open question. And as for the idea of an electric GR-1? "Carroll [Shelby] was always on the edge," said Laviolette, who said Shelby was looking at electric powertrains before he died in 2012. "He was an innovator. And that's the way we still hold the company. You know, the world's changing, and we have to go with the world." .

.

Reuss consolidates power over product Michael Wayland, Automotive News / January 7, 2019 DETROIT — Mark Reuss now has his father's old job. His assignment is to make sure it won't be his father's General Motors. Reuss' appointment as president of GM last week caps a year of executive realignments designed to position the company for a wrenching restructuring that calls for not only staff and capacity cuts, but wholesale changes in how GM does business, from headquarters to r&d labs to the factory floor. Aside from the title change, the 55-year-old Reuss will assume responsibility for GM's quality organization from CEO Mary Barra. The promotion gives Reuss complete oversight of the vehicle side of the business. And it signals the urgency with which GM is pursuing its mission to prepare for potentially transformative change in the auto business. Reuss, a 35-year GM veteran whose father, Lloyd Reuss, was president from 1990 to 1992, described the appointment as "truly a great honor." He succeeds Dan Ammann, 46, who on Jan. 1 became CEO of GM's Cruise autonomous vehicle unit in San Francisco. "Mark has played a critical role in leading the development of the company's award-winning vehicles while transitioning his team to prepare for growing electrification and autonomous technologies," Barra said in a statement last week. Reuss' responsibilities as president will be more product-focused than Ammann's were. Barra will retain direct responsibility over regional operations across the globe and GM Financial, while CFO Dhivya Suryadevara will continue to oversee corporate development — previously all responsibilities of Ammann. 20 new vehicles Reuss had already taken over responsibility for Cadillac and global portfolio planning from Ammann in June 2018 and quickly began restructuring the product side of the house — a vast network with 32,000 employees that includes r&d, engineering, design, safety, quality and product planning — to focus more resources on autonomous and electrified vehicles. That transformation will continue, if not accelerate, as GM plans to launch at least 20 new battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles globally by 2023. Reuss has said GM is doubling the resources allocated to electric and autonomous vehicle programs in the next two years. The reorganization has been mirrored across the company with many top lieutenants of Barra and Reuss refocusing on autonomous and electrified vehicles. The efforts are meant to fulfill GM's "triple zero" vision of a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. One of the most high-profile moves was the appointment of Pam Fletcher, vice president of global EV programs, to the new position of vice president of global innovation and r&d laboratories in October. For more than a decade, Fletcher has been in leadership roles supporting the engineering of GM's EV and self-driving technologies. In her new role, in which she reports to Barra and Reuss, she is leading the teams at GM "whose mission is to disrupt the traditional automotive industry," according to her GM profile. That includes directing seven r&d labs around the globe that are focused on technologies such as battery chemistry, mixed-materials science, smart manufacturing systems and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. More shuffling Other moves included Doug Parks' role as vice president of autonomous and EV programs expanding to include Fletcher's EV responsibilities; Michael Ableson, GM vice president of global strategy, moving to the new position of vice president, EV infrastructure; and changed assignments for several other vice presidents in the Global Product Group. The last major overhaul of GM's product development operations, led by Barra and Reuss, came nearly five years ago, as GM responded to the ignition switch crisis that was linked to 124 deaths and was facing stricter oversight from federal safety regulators at NHTSA. At that time, Reuss said the new structure would have "a militaristic zeal for preventing and resolving" issues like the defective ignition switch before they occurred. That commitment hasn't changed with Reuss taking over quality from Barra, said spokesman Mike Albano. Quality and safety remain "paramount, and that will never change no matter the organizational structure." .

Christoph Rauwald, Bloomberg / January 7, 2019 Daimler AG will start sales of a U.S. truck able to brake, accelerate and steer at all speeds on its own this year, a stepping stone to more automation as growing Internet shopping strains freight companies battling driver shortages. The updated Freightliner Cascadia, also with lane-keeping assistance, will fuse information from radar and cameras to enable partially autonomous technology, Daimler said Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. To maintain its lead over the likes of Volvo AB and Paccar Inc., the manufacturer said it plans to offer highly-automated vehicles, which don’t need drivers on some routes, within a decade. Highly-automated trucks will improve safety and boost the performance of logistics, Daimler truck chief Martin Daum said in a statement. Success in North America is vital for Daimler’s commercial vehicles unit to expand sales and profits after global deliveries rose above 500,000 vehicles last year, the highest in a decade. Daimler’s truck unit for years has struggled to lift returns beyond those of some smaller peers with fewer economies of scale and is now contending with rising investments in self-driving and electric trucks as well as digital services. Demand in the region is expected to moderate somewhat during the second half of this year, Roger Nielsen, the division’s North America head told reporters in Las Vegas. The world’s biggest commercial vehicle maker still expects “another great year” as orders remain strong, he said. The North American market is to reach a peak in 2019 after climbing to the highest level since 2006, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. The Mercedes-Benz maker is currently working through its biggest corporate overhaul in a decade to give individual units more independence. Investors have called for a partial listing of the commercial vehicles division. Daimler is investing 500 million euros ($575 million) over the next few years in autonomous technology and is adding 200 jobs for the project, mainly in the U.S. Separately, the company said it doesn’t see a business case for so-called platooning, where two or more trucks are digitally coupled behind one another at a short distance to save fuel. Adding to competition from Volvo’s Mack brand and Paccar Inc., electric-car leader Tesla said it plans to start delivering heavy-duty electric trucks this year. .

The Navistar dealers are excited about the CV product. Designed and built by Navistar in partnership with GM, the CV/Silverado is a truck to be reckoned with. I suspect the GM commercial dealers will exceed our expectations.

T-Line sells Diamond T parts.....same cab as you have. Why don't you ask them? https://tlinetrucks.com/

Achates Names New President and CEO Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / January 3, 2018 Achates Power has appointed David Crompton as president and CEO, joining the company after 28 years with Cummins where he served as president of both the engine business and power systems business. Crompton has experience in the powertrain industry covering pick-up trucks, commercial vehicles, military and off-road industries. He replaces David Johnson in the role who will remain an adviser to Achates. The appointment comes at a critical time for Achates Power, as the company plans to implement an opposed-piston engine and the company and investors have committed additional funding to speed up the design’s implementation into the marketplace. "Achates Power can make a positive impact on the future of transportation and industrial power by providing a superior option to deliver high efficiency and low emissions across current and future markets,” said John Wall, chairman of the board for Achates Power. “The Board and Investors have full confidence in the work that the Achates Power team is doing and the ability for Dave Crompton to help bring to market an ultra-clean, ultra-efficient, low-cost internal combustion engine." In 2018, Achates demonstrated a 2.7-liter Light-Duty Demonstration Vehicle and continued to develop its opposed piston gasoline compression ignition engine, and received funding from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for a heavy-duty opposed engine demonstration program.

It is. They have developed their own variant of a globally established engineering concept. The key note for Americans to realize is, the Chinese are now self-developing high-end technology of all sorts. Typical of Asians, they are aggressive (go getters).

Jason Cannon, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / January 4, 2019 North American Class 8 orders limped out of 2018, posting just 21,000 units – the lowest total since August 2017. However, it’s hard to look back unfavorably on last year considering heavy orders for the past 12 months totaled a staggering 482,000 units, according to FTR. Another analayst, who pegged Class 8 order totals for 2018 at 490,100 units, notes last year crushed the previous high-water mark of 390,000 units in 2004. “It is important to put slowing orders into context,” he said. “With a 300,000-plus unit backlog and a solidly booked build schedule, the drop in orders is in-line with expectations.” The December slide in order activity was expected as fleets ordered mostly to secure a shrinking number of available build slots during the second half of 2019. Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, says there are few build slots remaining this year and he expect orders totals to remain low the next several months. “Order rates right now are not that relevant because of the record-breaking totals recorded in June and July last year,” he says, adding backlogs will continue to fall but will remain lofty at the beginning of 2019. “Fleets got a jump on ordering to reserve 2019 build slots, so orders had to fall off at some point, and December was the start of it.” With orders rates reduced, Ake says they are not a good barometer of long-term demand. “All the orders are in, the question now is how many of these orders will actually be built,” he asks. “We will have to watch the build rates and retail sales closely for clues about the future strength of the Class 8 market. FTR forecasts freight growth to ease back some from the 2018 peak, but the expectation is that it will remain vibrant for the first half of 2019. “At some point, the economy and freight growth will moderate and truck builds will decline,” Ake says. “Then order cancellation rates will rise.”

China is getting closer to equipping its warships with electromagnetic railguns, state media reports -- which means its fleet could soon boast some of the most advanced weapons technology on the planet. Citing CCTV, the state-run Global Times on Thursday reported the underlying railgun technology -- which utilizes electrical power rather than explosives to launch projectiles -- was based on "fully independent intellectual property," rather than copied from other countries. Unconfirmed sightings of a Chinese landing ship apparently equipped with a test railgun in an undisclosed location have circulated around the internet this week. Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, said it was significant that China appeared to be transitioning from copying foreign weapon designs to "developing their own" technology. "It also tells you (that China) is no longer 10-15 years behind (the US)... They are now approaching parity with the west in terms of weapons development," he added.

Ford Trucks International / January 3, 2019 http://fmax.fordtrucks.com.tr/en . .

U.S. lifts tariffs on China-made injection molds Steve Toloken, Automotive News / January 4, 2019 WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration unexpectedly put a hold on steep 25 percent tariffs on injection molds imported from China in late December, a decision analysts say is likely to hurt American mold building companies but help U.S. plastics companies that supply automakers. The announcement from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) means that the 25 percent tariffs on injection molds -- imposed in July as part of the first round of $34 billion in duties on Chinese imports -- will be suspended for at least one year. USTR did not explain its decision, but one attorney for the mold making industry said it may be a response to a flood of more than 200 requests from plastic injection molding companies, many in the automotive supply chain, to exempt their specific mold imports [from Red China]. The USTR announcement is broader than molds, exempting about 30 different categories of imports from the tariffs. Molds are the largest plastics-related category. "I believe they have had so many requests from companies seeking exemptions of molds from the tariff, that the government decided to exclude molds in their entirety rather than spending resources on each individual exemption request for a mold," said H. Alan Rothenbuecher, a lawyer for the Indianapolis-based American Mold Builders Association. "No one knows for sure why, but that is my opinion." Rothenbuecher, a partner with the Cleveland-based law firm Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, said the ruling will hurt U.S. mold builders but help U.S. plastics companies that buy molds. "There was and is strong support among the [U.S.] mold builder community for these tariffs," Rothenbuecher wrote in an email. Plastics processors, however, said [whined] the higher costs from the 25 percent tariffs would be hard for them to absorb, causing significant problems in their already price-sensitive businesses [can't have your cake and eat it too]. Auto suppliers impacted Many argued to USTR that since mold purchasing takes months and the contracts for these molds were signed before the tariff details were discussed, they could not plan for the 25 percent tariffs. Plastikon Industries Inc., for example, asked for what it called a "one-time exclusion" for molds ordered from China in late 2017 for a project for a U.S. automaker. "Due to the timing, significant size and technical requirements for the U.S. vehicle launch, however, the company cannot re-source the items of concern to a U.S. supplier," the company said. It said [whined] a 25 percent tariff would "impart significant economic hardship," possibly forcing it to cancel the multiyear contract with the automaker and risking the jobs of 600 workers at one of its plants in Kentucky. Other companies, including plastics housewares maker Keter U.S. Inc., made similar points, arguing that higher tooling costs would make its U.S. manufacturing less competitive and risk jobs. Plastikon said it had taken steps to source more molds in the United States. "We fully support the strategic objectives of shifting manufacturing to the U.S. and have already taken steps to source future molds from the U.S. and from fair trade countries," Plastikon told the USTR. Automotive reaction More than half of the requests for tariff exemptions came from injection molding companies in the automotive supply chain and argued that the tariffs would raise costs or slow down vehicle development. [Chinese-owned] Yanfeng U.S. Automotive Interior Systems LLC, for example, submitted more than 80 requests. Forteq North America Inc. submitted more than 20, and International Automotive Components Group North America Inc. and Faurecia U.S. Holdings each requested more than 10 mold tariff exemptions. IAC -- which was founded by Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross -- noted that its Chinese mold supplier is chosen directly by its customer, Ford Motor Co. IAC added that the U.S. mold making industry did not have capacity to meet its needs. The Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said lifting the tariffs will help hold down U.S. car prices but hurt mold makers who supply the industry. "It's good for autos; it's bad for domestic mold builders," said Kristin Dziczek, CAR's vice president of industry, labor and economics. "The mold industry in the U.S. is no better, no worse off than they were, but the protection from Chinese molds would have been beneficial." While the automotive injection molding sector was vocal in complaining that tariffs would bite them, the U.S. mold making industry has clearly faced its own worsening trade picture in recent years. The U.S. trade deficit in molds shot up from $1.14 billion in 2015 to $1.53 billion in 2017, the last full year figures are available, according to a recent report from the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association, which said the U.S. imports 3.5 times as many molds as it exports. The mold trade deficit with China rose from $390 million to $498 million in those three years. But industry trade data also suggests Canada may be the bigger challenger to the U.S. industry's trade picture. U.S. mold makers consistently have their largest trade deficits with Canada. It reached $884 million in 2017, and that rose from $690 million in 2015, according to the association's report. AMBA Executive Director Troy Nix said survey data collected from processors is now showing a trend toward more sourcing of molds in the United States. Nix added that the industry will be watching to see if eliminating tariffs on Chinese molds would slow or reverse that. Rothenbuecher said getting rid of the tariffs on Chinese molds will "plain and simple" hurt U.S. mold builders, but he also said the U.S. government may have been concerned about signs of overcapacity in the American mold making sector. Reaching capacity "It has been reported that the U.S. mold building industry may be or is at overcapacity with the amount of work that has been directed back to United States mold builders," Rothenbuecher said. "That consideration may have played into why molds are now being exempted from the tariff." Several U.S. injection molding companies argued that lead times are being stretched out for U.S.-built molds because the industry is at capacity. Mack Molding Co., for example, said in its filing that it goes overseas when U.S. capacity is tight: "Due to the more recent robust economy, many of the domestic mold shops have had a workload that prohibits us from getting fast deliveries on tooling to support our customers, so we have the tooling built in China and fly the molds back to the U.S." As well, custom injection molder Sajar Plastics told USTR it faces long lead times for tooling in the U.S. and is currently having 28 molds built in China. "U.S. tool shops typically take 18-20 weeks for each tool build," Sajar wrote. "Many of the tools we currently have in China are ready to ship within the next four weeks and be in production in the next 10 weeks." USTR said that the tariff exclusions would be retroactive to the original July 6 tariff announcement and would run until Dec. 28, 2019, one year past the official publication of the exclusions in the Federal Register. What happens after that is not clear, but some industry observers said they could be extended.

If you're pulling heavy loads, per Eaton, an overdrive version of their boxes is stronger than a direct drive unit. For US fleets pulling a mere 36k (or less), direct drive works. However, in the rest of the world where the norm is far more, an overdrive box is preferable.

Reuss succeeds Ammann as GM president Michael Wayland, Automotive News / January 3, 2019 DETROIT -- General Motors product chief Mark Reuss will succeed Dan Ammann as president, the automaker said Thursday. Reuss, 55, will assume responsibility for GM's quality organization in addition to leading its Global Product Group and Cadillac. The appointment is effective immediately, according to GM. In November, GM said Ammann, 46, would step down from the role to lead the company's Cruise autonomous vehicle unit, effective Jan. 1. A replacement was not named. Reuss, whose father, Lloyd Reuss, served as GM’s president from 1990-1992, described the appointment as “truly a great honor.” The position’s responsibilities will be more product-focused for Reuss than they were for Ammann. GM CEO Mary Barra will retain direct responsibility over global regions and GM Financial, while GM CFO Dhivya Suryadevara will continue to oversee corporate development -- previously all responsibilities of Ammann. Reuss added responsibilities for Cadillac and global portfolio planning from Ammann in June 2018. Since then, he has been restructuring and building an integrated product development team that will focus significantly more resources on autonomous and electrified vehicles -- particularly battery-electrics -- while streamlining GM's army of engineers. Barra, 56, said Reuss’ appointment to president will continue to “strengthen” the automaker’s core business and “take advantage of growth opportunities and further define the future of personal mobility.” “Mark has played a critical role in leading the development of the company’s award-winning vehicles while transitioning his team to prepare for growing electrification and autonomous technologies,” she said in a statement. Reuss, a mechanical engineer and road racer, began his GM career as a student intern in 1983. The 35-year GM veteran has risen through the ranks to be one of the most well-known executives in the company -- particularly for his contributions to GM’s product portfolio and performance chops. Previously, Reuss was executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain from 2013-2018. Before then, starting in 2009, Reuss was president of GM North America, responsible for the automaker’s performance, manufacturing, portfolio and dealer network. He also created and led the GM Performance Division in 2001 while serving as executive director of Architecture Engineering. Reuss will continue to serve on the board of GM China’s joint venture, Shanghai General Motors Co. He also serves on several non-GM boards such as The Henry Ford and other Detroit-area philanthropic, business and educational organizations. .

Ford follows GM in moving to quarterly U.S. sales reporting Michael Martinez, Automotive News / January 3, 2019 DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. this year will follow crosstown rival General Motors by moving to quarterly reporting of U.S. sales figures. The automaker is abandoning monthly reporting amid a busy product year, where it will continue the culling of its sedan portfolio and add a number of nameplates, including the Ranger midsize pickup and Lincoln Aviator crossover, and debut redesigned models of its Escape and Explorer crossovers. Ford, which is one of two automakers to hold monthly sales calls for analysts and media, will transition to a quarterly call and release beginning in April. It will still provide monthly figures to data agencies. "We feel it's kind of transitioning to more of an industry standard," Mark LaNeve, Ford's vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said Thursday on a call with analysts and media. "We think the intense focus on month-to-month numbers is just not how we want to run the business. We believe quarterly will provide great transparency." GM moved to quarterly sales reporting last April. Ford, at the time, said it would assess the situation, noting that there's oftentimes volatility in monthly figures. Analysts have cautioned that moving to quarterly reporting could [will] lead to less transparency and more speculation and errors, especially if some automakers follow suit and others do not.

Volvo sets aside $800m for costs over ‘emissions control’ issue Sylvia Pfeifer, Financial Times / January 3, 2019 Volvo Group has said it will set aside Skr7bn (US$780 million) to cover potential costs related to the admission that its trucks could be emitting higher levels of poisonous nitrogen oxide gases than is legal. The company revealed in October that the “emissions control component” in its vehicles was wearing out faster than expected, sending its shares down more than 6 per cent on the day of the announcement. At the time Volvo predicted a “material” cost from the issue. The Swedish group said on Thursday that the estimated costs were based on “several factors” such as vehicle testing and statistical analysis, as well as “dialogue with relevant authorities”. “The next step will be to define how to implement corrective actions concerning the component in vehicles affected by this issue,” Volvo said in a statement released after European markets had closed. Shares in the company closed at Skr113.85 on Thursday in Stockholm, down from a six-month high of Skr160.85 at the start of last October. The provision will impair operating income in the fourth quarter of 2018, while the negative cash flow effect will start in 2019 and gradually ramp up in the coming years, the company said. “The Volvo Group will continuously assess the size of the provision as the matter develops,” it added. Volvo said the degradation of the component did not pose a product safety issue. All engines and vehicles equipped with the component “meet emissions limits at delivery”, it added.

Remember Paul, the truck above doesn't pull any weight in the states, max 36,287 kg.

Transport Engineer / December 24, 2018 Grundy & Co Excavations has taken delivery of its first DAF 8x4 tippers, after positive performance from a demonstrator vehicle. Supplied by dealer North West Trucks, the Widnes-based operator’s two new arrivals are CF 450 FAD eight-wheelers and join a mixed tipper fleet. Owner Kevin Grundy says: “We’ve never had a DAF 8x4 before, but it’s fair to say we were very, very impressed – impressed enough to order two of them, and we certainly haven’t been disappointed.” A key factor in the decision was the DAF’s low chassis weight, enabling the operator to specify a heavy-duty steel body, from Marshalls Truck Bodies, without any loss of payload. Fuel performance, too, has been an unexpected bonus. “We’re all finding it hard to believe,” says Grundy. “Even the drivers are talking about it. We have never had heavy tippers that didn’t need refuelling for two and a half days like these two.” He adds: “When you’re getting around 11mpg on motorway stretches from vehicles doing this type of work, and they’re still bedding in, you know you’re on to a winner.” The drivers are also enjoying the cab comfort and overall performance, he says: “It makes a big difference to a driver to have a truck that really can do the job without strain, because that allows them to focus on the rest of their work – driving safely, meeting schedules and getting the best performance out of the vehicle.” .

As future of Sears remains in doubt, the retailer's mail order houses stand tall in Lehigh Valley Kayla Dwyer, Thw Morning Call / December 29, 2018 The first weekend she moved into her Mosser Street home in Allentown, Laurie DeTurk got a puzzling question from a friend who stopped by for pizza. “Is this a Sears house?” She paused. “What are you talking about?” A trip to the basement quickly revealed the answer. There in a dark corner was a serial code stamped on the side of a wood beam. It was the telltale proof that DeTurk’s red brick home with a pitched roof came from Sears, Roebuck & Co. Before the days of Levittowns and McMansions, a slew of companies offered mail order homes in the United States and abroad. Sears was the largest in the United States, selling as many as 70,000 homes from its Sears Modern Homes catalog between 1908 and 1940. Customers would pick the design and get nearly all the materials down to the nails delivered to the site, where buyers would hire a contractor or build the homes themselves. The prices ranged from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars — including DeTurk’s 1930 Belmont model, which boasted six rooms and a bath. But DeTurk knew none of that when she bought the house in 2008. “Laurie just thought it was cute,” said her boyfriend, Dennis Parry, who lives with her. Had she known, DeTurk said, she would have been even more attracted to the house. “It would have definitely been a selling point, because it’s so unique,” DeTurk said. That quality could be lost to memory if the once-mighty Sears, which began in 1893 and went on to become the country’s largest retailer, doesn’t find a way out of bankruptcy. On Friday, Sears’ chairman, Eddie Lampert, through his hedge fund, ESL Investments, submitted a bid to buy the retailer and keep it alive. The locations of only a fraction of the 70,000 Sears homes have been documented for posterity. Sears Archives, a website devoted to the history of the retailer, was collecting data on mail order homes for a while, but that fizzled. There are enthusiasts scattered across the country keeping regional lists and embarking on street surveys with the aid of Google Street Maps and mortgage records. One national database kept by the blog Kit House Hunters has surpassed the 10,500 mark, which leaves at least 50,000 left to be discovered. Pennsylvania ranks third on this list, with nearly 1,500 Sears homes identified. Pittsburgh is listed as a hotbed of houses, nearly reaching the 500 mark. Cluster in Hellertown The Lehigh Valley’s own hotbed is in Hellertown, thanks to Bethlehem Steel. With its burgeoning workforce in mind, Bethlehem Steel bought a plot of land in the late 1930s and drew up plans for the Mountainview neighborhood. The company commissioned Quaker Construction Co. to start building 300 Sears homes — designs that would be picked out by Steel employees — beginning in 1939. Jeanette Boos, who lives on Constitution Avenue , remembers her father peeking in on the progress. “These will never hold up,” he said at the time. But they did. They formed the basis of a tight-knit community that Marian Van Keuren, then 63, recalled in a letter she wrote in 1998 to the new owner of theBirch Street home she grew up in. Van Keuren, who has since died, wrote of children spending summer days playing by the creek or making plans to sneak into the Hellertown pool at night, only to chicken out every time. She also recalled singing Christmas carols around a tree at Juniper and Birch roads. “And Santa Claus would come and give candy to the kids. I think the tree has only been gone a few years,” she wrote. With Sears’ ending home sales in 1940, the Mountainview orders were among the last placed. In the end, 61 of the planned 300 homes were built. The neighborhood later expanded with a wave of Cape Cods, including Boos’ home, built by a company called Wills Homes Pennsylvania — but they were not Sears blueprints. Rebecca Hunter, author of the book “Putting Sears Homes on the Map,” said Bethlehem Steel wasn’t the only company to build Sears homes. She said Standard Oil Co. built a subdivision for its coal miners in Carlinville, Ill. On a smaller scale, she said, contractors could make a decent buck advertising their services in the early days of mail order homes. Built to last Despite their mail order origins, Sears homes were not shanty towns. “This thing’s not going anywhere,” Parry said of the Mosser Street home his girlfriend bought. “It’s built 10 times better than houses today.” Sears sold catalog homes before the days of cheap plywood, using sturdy hardwood from forests that are depleted today, Hunter said. Most of the nearly 450 designs were small, two- to three-bedroom houses marketed to the “buyer of modest means.” The listing prices, however, were only for the pieces. They did not include the land, the foundation, the plumbing, heating or lighting fixtures, or the labor. No surprise, then, that a quarter of the homes’ original owners worked in the construction trade, Hunter said. The buyer also had to pay the cost of freight. Add all this together, and the end price was probably double the sticker price, Hunter estimated. Still, that’s a hefty resale value for the vast majority that still stand and would sell in the $100,000-200,000 range today. Hunter said she saw an Osborn model recently come on the market near her hometown of Elgin, Ill., listing at $199,000. Its catalog price ranged from $1,163 to $2,753. A Martha Washington — Sears’ flagship model — sold for more than $1 million in Washington, D.C., in 2016. Its catalog price ranged from $2,688 to $3,727 in 1921. Original owners of the Mountainview Sears homes had to put up a $450 down payment, according to The Morning Call archives. Then they launched into another new territory that Sears, in part, pioneered: a monthly payment plan. The modern mortgage market took shape after a federal government intervention during the Great Depression. Before that, Sears started offering a form of mortgages with their mail order homes beginning in 1915. “They figured out they could make way more money financing mortgages than they could selling houses,” Hunter said. And they did — thousands of them — easily. “Back then, you applied by filling out a half-page form, one question was ‘Are you employed?’ ” Hunter said. “That’s all they wanted to know. And then, ‘OK, we’ll give you money.’ ” A typical five-year plan was $25 to $30 a month. The Mountainview homeowners had payments of $33.80 a month. But during the Great Depression, Sears lost at least $8 million in uncollected mortgages, Hunter said, forcing it to repossess those homes and halt its mortgage program in 1933. That might explain why it’s a lesser-known part of Sears’ home-selling legacy. “I just think it’s neat to have something that no longer exists anymore, and it was just such a strange thing in our past that you actually were able to do it,” DeTurk said recently. “I think that’s so neat, that you could just … pick it.” .

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode.