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Trucks.com / January 2, 2018 Navistar International Corp. Chief Executive Troy Clarke has a message for tech entrepreneur Elon Musk: There will be more electric trucks on the road by 2025 from Navistar than semi-tractors from Musk’s Tesla Inc. It’s all about familiarity, comfort and established customer base. Navistar’s International brand already holds 11 percent of the market for trucks in the heaviest Class 8 weight segment, according to research firm Statista. Tesla, which introduced its semi in November, has collected hundreds of reservations. But it has yet to build a truck for a customer. It plans to launch production in 2019. “Customers know us, and they know that when we give them a truck it gives them a guarantee that this truck is going to serve their needs, because we understand how our customers make money,” Clarke said in an interview with Trucks.com. Navistar is developing an electric truck with help from its much larger partner, Volkswagen Truck & Bus. The German automaker owns 17 percent of the Lisle, Ill., maker of International trucks, IC buses, defense vehicles and engines. The two companies have a broad agreement to work together on vehicle development, new engines and purchasing to take advantage of volume discounts They expect to have electric-powered medium-duty trucks and buses ready to launch in late 2019 or early 2020. Clarke's comment “is not that outlandish of a claim,” said Brad Delco, transport analyst at Stephens Inc. Navistar, like all major truck manufacturers, has an established network of dealers nationwide “to service the product and, more importantly, the customer who is using that product to earn a wage or put food on the table.” For these customers, Delco said, “time is money.” Tesla sells its passenger cars direct to consumers via its own stores. It will have to build service centers for its truck or contract with a third party to provide maintenance services. There are 110 Tesla stores in the U.S. Freightliner, by comparison, has over 100 dealerships just in the Southeast. With established brands such as International, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Freightliner, Delco said, “if something goes astray, those trucks get pulled into their dealerships to get fixed immediately, particularly when under warranty.” Proximity to a dealership can make a big difference in how much income gets lost during a breakdown. Although it is new technology, there looks to be a crowded market for trucks with electric powertrains. Legacy manufacturers, including Freightliner, Western Star, Kenworth, Toyota and diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc., are all also working on the zero-emission commercial vehicle technology. There’s also a question of where the Tesla electric truck and similar vehicles from competitors fit into the trucking industry. Tesla models will come with two ranges, 300 miles and 500 miles, depending on the size of the battery. Rival trucks are expected to have ranges of as little as 100 miles, depending on the vehicle. The absence of a sleeper berth rules out irregular over-the-road routes, Delco said. In the less-than-truckload sector, he said, line haul routes between hubs run on average just over 500 miles per day. Since drivers are not going to push to the edge of their vehicle’s capacity, any electric vehicle would need to last more than 500 miles to make it a viable option, he said. The other typical less-than-truckload route is local pickup and delivery. However, carriers generally use their older trucks for these routes, Delco said. After new vehicles on longer routes run out of warranty, they rotate to local routes to be closer to terminals in case they break down. So, he argued, the economics of buying new electric vehicles for those routes do not make sense for the industry as it works today. Still, many in the industry are taking Tesla’s truck seriously. The Palo Alto, Calif., electric vehicle builder has trial orders from companies like J.B. Hunt, Sysco, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch, Walmart and UPS. Antti Lindstrom, the trucking industry analyst at IHS Markit, said he is waiting to see if Tesla trucks can deliver on their promised range. “While we’re waiting for that to happen, the most realistic application are those local runs, like from the ports in California to an inland distribution point,” Lindstrom said. More achievable in a shorter timeline, he said, would be a combination of battery electric with hydrogen fuel cell technology. Toyota, for example, is testing a Class 8 fuel cell drayage truck in Southern California. Kenworth is also working on a Class 8 fuel cell drayage truck. Nikola Motor Co. has received over 8,000 reservations for its hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 sleeper and day cab models to be built by 2021, and Wabco Holdings invested $10 million in the Salt Lake City company last month. Lindstrom said that carriers are placing orders with multiple manufacturers for alternative fuel vehicles, like Nikola. “Some of the other players might not make as much noise, but everybody is in the same boat,” he said. “Tesla is basically securing financing right now.” Given the early stage of the technology, he said, “at this point it’s anybody’s guess who will survive or who will be dominant in the future. Companies are hedging their bets, and they want to do their internal comparisons.” Delco also said that UPS has made the largest Tesla order to date with 125 trucks. That’s still just a tiny percentage of the 200,000 new trucks purchased every year industry-wide. Companies such as Navistar regularly sell 1,000 trucks per order. .

The number one selling heavy truck in Brazil is the Volkswagen Constellation, and it's not a European truck. .

1968 International Atkinson 4870 https://www.bigrigs.com.au/news/transformed-into-a-tsunami/3300641/

It's amazing how Australian Western Stars can look so good, but in North America..........

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-koch-25907a97

Frank Warner, The Morning Call (local Allentown, PA newspaper) / December 28, 2017 A Mack Trucks production supervisor was awarded $675,000 in damages after a jury found she was denied promotions as a result of discrimination based on her sex and disability, her lawyers said Thursday. Melissa Koch, 50, a Mack employee since 1997, won her case Dec. 19 after a seven-day trial in federal court in Easton. Lawyers Patrick Reilly and Samuel Cohen, representing Koch, argued that while her supervisor rated her “promotable,” she was passed over for more than 60 promotions that she applied for. Koch worked at several Mack plants, starting in Winnsboro, South Carolina, moving to New River Valley, Virginia, and, in 2010, moving to the Lower Macungie Township facility. She lives in Allentown. Koch’s lawyers made the case that she was treated differently from the men in Mack’s “male-dominated workplace,” and received less assistance than men in completing various tasks. Mack Trucks’ initial in-house investigation of her complaints found she suffered no intentional discrimination and that, when she was treated differently, there was good reason to treat her differently. That finding led to her lawsuit. Her complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission went to Judge Edward G. Smith’s court and the jury that found in her favor.

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / December 27, 2017 Daimler Trucks North America is recalling certain 2018 Freightliner, Western Star and Freightliner Custom Chassis vehicles for an issue with improperly torqued brake caliper mounting bolts. The recall affects 3,007 vehicles, including certain 2018 Freightliner 108SD, 114SD, Cascadia, M2 Business Class vehicles, 2018 Western Star 4700, 4900 and 5700 vehicles, and 2018 Freightliner Custom Chassis S2C 106 chassis and S2G Cab/Chassis vehicles. The brake caliper mounting bolts on these vehicles may not have been properly tightened, potentially resulting in the caliper detaching. DTNA was made aware of reports for loose caliper mounting bolts in October and decided to initiate a voluntary safety campaign to recall affected vehicles. DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the bolts, replacing them as needed, free of charge, according to the recall notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

But remember, we're actually speaking of the Rheinmetall-MAN joint venture, and Rheinmetall owns 51 percent of the JV. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinmetall_MAN_Military_Vehicles https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/32063-rheinmetall-man-military-vehicles-and-haulmark-trailers-win-158-billion-adf-contract/?tab=comments#comment-195967

Bob, our government and media continually "drill it in" that China is the key to dealing with the DPRK. But in fact, that's not the true situation. As for trust, it seems that nobody can trust anyone. We now know that our intelligence community was spying on most of the western European leaders (our so-called allies) including French Presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. So I can't see the "we can't trust China" argument, when we ourselves don't practice what we preach. http://www.bbc.com/news/33248484 Everyone looks out for their own. The global political arena is alike football, some plays are good......some bad, some good plays are executed well.....and some badly. You need to have sound plans, clear goals that justify sticking your neck out, the ability to quickly alter the plan due to evolving situations, and darn good judgement.

Foreign companies can indeed own up to 50 percent in joint ventures. The limit allows the country to share in the profit, rather than just the foreign aggressor taking 100% of the proceeds.

At least 50 percent government owned. (The foreign company can own up to 50%)

Foreign companies can not hold more than a 50% stake (not 51%) in a joint venture (in most industries), unless they are producing solely for export (which fewer and fewer do because of the high labor costs there today).

Yes, that's what you'll indeed read in the western media. But it's not true.

Billy, believe it or not, we believe it has more to do with concern for the country's well-being (including its citizens), than it does global image (though being able to project a positive global image is always good for any country).

Geely is not privately owned.

China's Geely buying stake in Mack Trucks' parent company The Morning Call [local Allentown, PA newspaper] / December 27, 2017 The Chinese owner of Sweden's Volvo Cars is buying a stake in truck manufacturer AB Volvo. Geely Holding Group said Wednesday the acquisition of shares from Cevian Capital, a fund manager, would give it 8.2 percent of Volvo's share capital and 15.6 percent of voting rights. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Analysts estimated the value of the deal at around 27 billion kronor ($3.3 billion). AB Volvo is the parent company of Mack Trucks, the North Carolina-based truck maker that assembles its heavy-duty vehicles at a massive plant in Lower Macungie Township. Mack spokesman Christopher Heffner did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on Wednesday’s news.

Yes.....8.2 percent.

Reuters / December 27, 2017 China’s Geely Holding, owner of the Volvo car brand, is buying an 8.2 percent stake in Swedish truckmaker AB Volvo from activist investor Cevian Capital, worth around $3.3 billion at current market prices. The value of the investment amounted to around 27.2 billion Swedish crowns ($3.26 billion), a Reuters calculation showed. Geely paid 3.25 billion euro ($3.86 billion) for the stake. The deal makes [China's] Geely the biggest individual shareholder in Volvo Group and second ranked in terms of voting rights behind Swedish investment firm Industrivarden. “Given our experience with Volvo Car Group, we recognize and value the proud Scandinavian history and culture, leading market positions, breakthrough technologies and environmental capabilities of AB Volvo,” Geely Holding Chairman [and Communist Party Secretary] Li Shufu said in a statement on Wednesday.

BMC was known of years ago..... British Motor Corporation

Billy, it's not about global image. Rather, it's about realistically dealing with their pollution problems. India and Pakistan are ten times worse.....I wish they would also seriously deal with their environmental issues. The Buick Envision SUV is the same quality level as a unit built in North America.