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Interpol seeks 5 ex-VW managers over emissions fraud Reuters / June 22, 2017 BERLIN -- The U.S. has issued international arrest warrants for five former Volkswagen managers accused of wrongdoing in connection with the carmaker's diesel emissions-cheating scandal, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. The five ex-managers and developers, including two executives under former CEO Martin Winterkorn, were indicted by U.S. authorities for conspiracy to commit fraud and violation of U.S. environmental rules, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. A spokesman at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters declined comment. A sixth person, former VW manager Oliver Schmidt, was arrested in February in Miami as he was about to fly to Germany. He is awaiting trial in a U.S. prison after being denied bail. German authorities were unlikely to extradite the five accused to the U.S., Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. Under the constitution, German citizens can only be extradited to other European Union countries or to an international court. But leaving Germany could pose the risk of being extradited to the United States from a third country. VW, the world's largest automaker by sales, admitted to U.S. regulators in September 2015 that it had cheated on emissions tests there using software installed in as many as 11 million diesel vehicles sold worldwide.

Isuzu: New Class 6 is right truck at right time Fleet Owner / June 22, 2017 QUEENS, NY. The rapid shift from traditional retail store shopping to the purchase of products over the internet is driving major changes to delivery networks as well – including changes to the capabilities of the trucks tasked with making those deliveries. During a ride and drive event held in the shadow of New York City’s Citi Field, Isuzu Commercial Truck of America and Canada showed off its brand-new Class 6 FTR medium-duty cabover truck model, which the company believes is positioned perfectly to benefit from e-commerce driven growth in the delivery of goods to residential areas. “When you look at where a lot of packaged goods are now being delivered, places of business or home, versus going to retail outlets, this is an outstanding vehicle,” Shaun Skinner, Isuzu’s president, told Fleet Owner. “There’s a couple of things advantageous that it [the FTR] brings to the marketplace,” he stressed. “The first is its cab-forward [cabover] design and really from the outset is for urban delivery. A cab-forward product allows not only for a crowded environment, it allows for great visibility and better maneuverability.” Skinner noted that the FTR’s four-cylinder diesel engine gives it a unique advantage as well, as Freightliner is the only other truck maker in the market offering a four-cylinder diesel engine in a Class 6 product. “We believe that brings with it a number of advantages, number one being fuel economy,” he pointed out. “Our vehicle has outstanding fuel economy … and that drives down the cost of ownership.” The FTR is powered by a turbocharged 4HK1-TC engine four-cylinder diesel engine that offers “B10 life” of 375,000 miles, meaning that 90% of those engines should reach that mileage before requiring an overhaul. “Some people could look at that [a four-cylinder engine] as a perceived weakness,” added Skinner. “We look at it as a strength [because] we’re not looking to put it into highly vocationalized areas where you have this robust use of the vehicle from a standpoint of horsepower and torque requirements. This is going to be more of a delivery and pick-up vehicle. From an ownership standpoint, the four-cylinder engine will really be an advantage.” The New York event at Citi Filed is one of several Isuzu held in recent weeks across the country to help familiarize its fleet customers and dealers with its new Class 6 FTR cabover. “A lot of the design work [for the FTR] was done in the U.S. at the Isuzu Technical Center of America in Plymouth, MI,” Skinner said. “Usually for trucks in this market a great deal of the design [by Isuzu] is done in Japan. It’s assembled at the same campus as our gas truck is, with our partner Spartan Motors in Charlotte, MI.” Isuzu expects to begin shipping the FTR by early July. “There’s still a few things we have to make sure of, but so far zero defects have been found,” Skinner noted. “We’ve been out of the Class 6 product since 2009, so this is the first chance we’ve had to reintroduce it in the U.S. and Canada markets,” he added. “That’s because our original strategy was attached to our alliance with General Motors,” Skinner explained. “When they declared bankruptcy, one of the things that went away was the medium duty, their commercial truck part of the medium duty. So when we lost that alliance we had to reformulate how to get back to the U.S. and Canada markets with a Class 6 product.” But once Isuzu found itself able to re-enter the Class 6 market on its own, “we got very excited, because there are about 40,000 Class 6 cab-forward customers out there with not a lot of options,” Skinner emphasized. “We have a high level of U.I.O’s, units in operation, that haven’t had anything since 2009. It’s exciting for us that we now have a product we can bring to market for these people.” .

Spy Shots: First Look at Navistar/GM Medium-Duty Work Truck Trucks.com / June 22, 2017 Here’s the first look at the medium-duty truck Navistar International Corp. and General Motors Co. are developing together. The companies have an agreement to develop and assemble future conventional cab trucks in the Class 4 and 5 work segments. The deal puts Navistar back in a truck category it exited when production of its International TerraStar model ended earlier this year. It also helps GM to expand its Chevrolet commercial truck portfolio. This spy shots are of a mule, or test vehicle. They show a chassis cub work truck with a fiberglass International-style hood that swings up from the windshield. The photos were taken this week at a Bosch facility near Ann Arbor, Mich., where the truck is undergoing testing. The new truck line is jointly developed using Navistar's expertise in rolling chassis configurations and manufacturing capabilities, and GM‘s commercial components and engines. The vehicles are slated for production in 2018 and will be manufactured at Navistar's facility in Springfield, Ohio. Navistar plans to add 300 jobs and invest more than $12 million in facility upgrades and state-of-the-art equipment to produce the new vehicles. “Our collaboration with GM is another example of our customer-centric, open integration approach – providing our customers with the best technologies available,” Bill Kozek, Navistar’s president of trucks and parts said when the project was announced. The truck is expected to debut at the Work Truck Show in Indianapolis in March. GM has already announced that its version will have a Duramax diesel engine and Allison transmission. .

Tim Kaine: U.S. strikes on Syrian forces ‘completely illegal’ Olivier Knox, Chief Washington Correspondent / Yahoo News / June 22, 2017 WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Wednesday sharply condemned U.S. strikes on Syrian regime forces — like the shoot-down of a military jet over the weekend — as “completely illegal.” “I think the military action that is being taken against Syrian government assets is completely illegal,” Kaine said. There have been four known instances of U.S. forces firing on Syrian government targets in recent weeks, including the early April cruise missile strike in retaliation for the government’s use of chemical weapons. Over the weekend, a U.S. Navy fighter shot down a Syrian warplane. The Pentagon says it has legal authority to act under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), passed after the 9/11 attacks, which effectively permitted the invasion of Afghanistan and global efforts to stamp out al-Qaida. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama cited that legislation as the legal justification for the global war on terrorism. Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, bluntly disagreed with the Trump administration’s position. “The 2001 authorization said we can take action against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. Nobody claims that Syria was a perpetrator. Nobody claims that they are connected to al-Qaida. In fact, they’re battling against al-Qaida in Syria,” Kaine countered. “So I think this is a completely unlawful use of power.” Kaine also blamed “political cowardice” as a factor in congressional resistance to debating and voting to authorize the nearly three-year war on the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS, in places like Syria. “Part of this is, in my view, political cowardice — not wanting to be on the record on a war vote,” Kaine said. Previous attempts to push Congress to debate and authorize the escalating but undeclared war on the terrorist army in Syria and Iraq have fallen short, in large part due to politics. Clinton’s fate in the 2008 Democratic primaries, when her vote in favor of the 2002 AUMF against Iraq became one of Barack Obama’s most potent weapons, haunts Democrats. And Republicans preferred to criticize Obama’s handling of the conflict from the sidelines without taking any steps that might make them co-owners of the strategy. Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake, R.-Ariz., have written a new AUMF to cover ISIS and other extremist groups. Kaine, who has tried since mid-2014 to get Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF, said he thinks the political moment might be right to get lawmakers to act. “This has been enormously frustrating,” Kaine acknowledged. But President Trump’s November victory has revived interest in the discussion. “Any change in administration is kind of an opportunity to look anew at the strategy,” he said. But lawmakers are “starting to get nervous” about Trump’s use of military force, Kaine said. “We haven’t heard the strategy about ISIS. We don’t have a strategy about Afghanistan. We’ve now taken action against the government of Syria and their military without a strategy about that,” Kaine said. “So we’re starting to worry about the 2001 authority just being used carte blanche all over the place by this administration, and I think that provides some additional impetus to get this right. Flake and Kaine’s measure, which repeals both the 2001 AUMF and the 2002 AUMF allowing Bush to use force against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, would explicitly authorize making war on ISIS, al-Qaida and the Taliban, as well as “associated forces,” to be defined by the administration and Congress. The legislation would expire after five years.

Pentagon 'wasted $28 million' on Afghan camouflaged uniforms BBC / June 21, 2017 US taxpayers unnecessarily spent $28m on uniforms for the Afghan National Army, according to the US inspector general tasked with overseeing the war. In a scathing report, John Sopko said that officials bought "forest" pattern uniforms, despite the country's landscape being only 2.1% wooded. The decision was "not based on an evaluation of its appropriateness for the Afghan environment", he wrote. A former Afghan defence minister chose the pattern in 2007, he says. In the 17-page report, Mr Sopko writes that Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak chose the privately owned pattern over a cheaper pattern that the US military already owned. US officials, who had been searching for patterns online with Mr Wardak, authorised the purchase because he "liked what he saw", they wrote at the time. "My concern is what if the minister of defence liked purple, or liked pink?" Mr Sopko told USA Today in an interview. "Are we going to buy pink uniforms for soldiers and not ask questions? That's insane. This is just simply stupid on its face. "We wasted $28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion, because the defence minister thought that that pattern was pretty." For years, Mr Sopko's office has criticised the Pentagon for wastefulness during the United States' longest war. In January, he told a think tank in Washington there was evidence that Taliban leaders had instructed commanders to purchase US fuel, ammunition and weapons from Afghan soldiers, because it is cheaper. Senator Chuck Grassley called the uniform decision "embarrassing and an affront to US taxpayers". "Those who wasted money on the wrong camouflage uniforms seem to have lost sight of their common sense," the Republican senator added. The Pentagon is currently considering raising the level of US troops in Afghanistan, with a formal announcement expected this week.

For thousands of U.S. auto workers, downturn comes fast Automotive News / June 21, 2017 LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- Wall Street is fretting that the U.S. auto industry is heading for a downturn, but for thousands of workers at General Motors factories in the United States, the hard times are already here. Matt Streb, 36, was one of 1,200 workers laid off on Jan. 20 -- inauguration day for President Donald Trump -- when GM canceled the third shift at its Lordstown small-car factory here. Sales of the Chevrolet Cruze sedan, the only vehicle the plant makes, have nosedived as U.S. consumers switch to crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks. Streb is looking for another job, but employers are wary because they assume he will quit whenever GM calls him back. "I get it," said Streb, who has a degree in communications, "but it's frustrating." Layoffs at Lordstown and other auto plants point to a broader challenge for the economy in Midwestern manufacturing states and for the Trump administration. The U.S. auto industry's boom from 2010 through last year was a major driver for manufacturing job creation. The fading of that boom threatens prospects for U.S. industrial output and job creation that were central to President Trump's victory in Ohio and other manufacturing states. "This is about economics, not what Trump says," said Robert Morales, president of UAW Local 1714, which represents workers at GM's stamping plant at Lordstown. "Even if Trump went out and bought 10,000 Cruzes a month, he wouldn't get the third shift back here." Last week the Federal Reserve said U.S. factory output fell 0.4 percent in May, the second decline in three months, due partly to a 2-percent drop in motor vehicles and parts production. Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has compiled data from government sources that show the auto industry punching higher than its weight in job creation in recent years -- accounting for between 60 percent and 80 percent of all U.S. manufacturing jobs added in 2015 and 2016. In the first quarter of this year, the auto industry accounted for less than 2 percent of the 45,000 manufacturing jobs created. "There's no argument with the idea that auto has been pulling the manufacturing sled up the mountain for the last three or four years," Muro said. "If you take auto out, you’re left with a very tepid outlook indeed." Long-term auto layoffs could threaten the economies of communities and states directly affected, although after decades of boom and bust, many communities in the auto manufacturing heartland have diversified. In Ohio's MahoningValley, which was battered by the collapse of the once-dominant steel industry, the boom in drilling for shale gas helps offset job cuts at auto plants. Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill says the town salted away money during the boom to pay down its debts and new businesses are coming in, including a $900-million power plant being built in town that will burn cheap natural gas produced in the region. GM makes up 40 percent of tax receipts versus 85 percent in the early 1990s, he said. "GM is still the brightest star in the MahoningValley, but luckily we have diversified our economy," Hill said. "There is pain for the laid-off workers, but it won't hurt us as bad it used to." Lordstown's workers have taken steps to blunt the impact of layoffs, with help from GM. Matt Streb's wife is due to start work soon after getting a degree, while he hopes to return to a former job as a mailman. In the meantime, GM gave advance notice of job cuts so he saved extra money and has drastically cut his spending. "The auto industry is cyclical and has always had its ups and downs," Streb said. "This is just another Lordstown downturn." Stalling sedan sales The recent decline in U.S. auto sales is still minor compared to the dramatic collapse during the 2007-09 financial crisis, when demand for new vehicles plunged to its lowest levels in decades. However, the days when auto assembly and parts plants throughout the Midwest were running flat-out because of high demand for nearly every type of vehicle are over. Recent sales trends show consumers becoming more selective, shunning older models and especially smaller cars. For much of the boom that ran from 2010 through to a record year in 2016, when 17.55 million new vehicles were sold, the share held by cars has declined versus "light trucks" -- or pickup trucks, SUVs and crossovers. After peaking at 51.32 percent of all sales in 2012, passenger cars fell to 40.4 percent of light-vehicle sales in 2016. That decline equates to the output of seven or eight vehicle assembly plants. Through the first five months of this year, car sales fell 11 percent, even as light-truck volume rose 4.7 percent. To avoid profit-sapping discounts, and reverse a decline in prices of used vehicles, automakers are ordering more and deeper production cuts. GM has laid off more than 5,000 workers so far this year -- including 1,000 at its Fairfax plant in Kansas that makes the Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan. GM has also laid off 1,100 workers at a plant in Lansing because it has ended production of the GMC Acadia crossover there. More GM workers will be hit with temporary layoffs this summer. The Lordstown plant will shut up shop for five weeks this summer, much longer than the usual two-week summer vacation closure. Many laid-off GM workers are finding temporary employment at other sites or taking permanent transfers to plants like its Arlington, Texas, factory where production of large SUVs continues unabated. However, those temporary postings require workers to relocate hundreds of miles from home. Randy Freeman, president of UAW Local 652, which represents workers at GM's Grand River plant in Lansing, Mich., which produces Cadillac sedans and the Chevrolet Camaro, says he has been pleased by GM's efforts to rehire workers and relations with the automaker "are on an upward swing." The threats to U.S. workers building sedans are not likely to ease, barring a spike in the price of gasoline. Ford Motor Co. signaled its long-term pessimism about small-car demand in the United States by announcing plans on Tuesday to shift production of the Focus compact car model to China. The Michigan plant that builds the Focus currently is expected to switch to building pickup trucks and SUVs in 2018. At GM's Lordstown and Lansing Grand River plants, UAW representatives say they are focused on improving quality in the hope that GM will pick their plant when it's time to find a location for producing a new truck or SUV. At Lordstown, for instance, union officials tout the fact the plant has just won a quality award for local innovation on a part that helps the Cruze run better. "We're working hard to make the best product we can," said Glenn Johnson, president of UAW Local 1112 at Lordstown, "so we can raise our hands and say to GM 'look at what we can do.'"

No deadline for NAFTA renegotiation, says U.S. trade representative Reuters / June 21, 2017 WASHINGTON -- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday there was no deadline for completing NAFTA trade talks between the U.S., Canada and Mexico even as lawmakers warned that U.S. business would be hurt by prolonged negotiations. "There is no deadline. My hope is that we can get it done by the end of the year, but there are a lot of people who think that is completely unrealistic," Lighthizer told a Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss the USTR's budget. He said reaching a NAFTA deal by year-end was a "very, very quick timeframe (and) we're not going to have a bad agreement to save time." Under U.S. law, Lighthizer, a veteran trade lawyer, will be the principal U.S. negotiator on NAFTA, although U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will have a major role. The renegotiation of the 23-year-old NAFTA was a key campaign promise of U.S. President Donald Trump, who pledged to shrink trade deficits with other countries. While the talks are expected to begin in mid-August, Lighthizer said discussions were underway with Canada and Mexico to firm up a start date. "We are in the process right now talking to our negotiating partners about when the first day of the meeting will be," he added. A number of senators urged Lighthizer to avoid lengthy negotiations, which they warned would hurt sales by American businesses and farmers. Lighthizer was also pressed on the Trump administration's investigation into whether foreign steel and aluminum imports threaten U.S. national security. Findings of the investigations are expected by the end of June. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., expressed concern that possible sweeping tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum would impact American manufacturers. "I've got businesses in Missouri who use raw materials which aren't made in the United States and they are very worried about the impact a decision in this area will have on their costs of producing goods, but they are also worried about any other national security blockades," she said. Lighthizer said while steps were needed to crack down on foreign steel and aluminum flooding the American market, it was likely that an "exclusion process" would be introduced whereby U.S. businesses could apply to import products not made in the United States. "Situations where there are legitimate cases of a manufacturer who needs a steel product or aluminum product not made in the United States should go in and I think they will be accommodated. In most of those cases, it will be accommodated with an exclusion," he added.

House Bill Would Repeal Heavy-Truck Federal Excise Tax David Cullen, Heavy Duty Trucking / June 21, 2017 A new effort to ax the 12% federal excise tax on most heavy-duty trucks, tractors, and trailers has been mounted on Capitol Hill by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA). He introduced the Heavy Truck, Tractor and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2017 (H.R. 2946) on June 20, a bill that would repeal the FET on the retail sale of trucking equipment. “The excessive 12% federal excise tax on heavy trucks adds tens of thousands of dollars to truck purchases and directly impacts the cost of food, consumer goods and other products Americans need,” Rep. LaMalfa said in a statement. “Even worse, truck owners large and small pay this tax whether a truck is driven 100,000 miles or never driven at all, forcing them to pay taxes on an investment that may not be generating any revenue. “Repealing the truck tax will help small businesses invest in new equipment while jump-starting domestic manufacturing.” He added that removing the truck FET should be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee when it drafts legislation to reform the overall tax code. The FET was originally imposed in 1917 to help defray the cost of World War I. The tax has grown from 3%, when it was incorporated into the Highway Trust Fund in 1955, to 12% now. The American Truck Dealers, a division of the National Automobile Dealers Association, applauded LaMalfa’s bill. “The 12% federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks is the highest percentage rate of any federal excise tax that Congress levies, and it adds $12,000 to $22,000 to the price of a new heavy-duty truck,” said ATD Chairman Steve Parker, who is president of Maryland-based Baltimore Potomac Truck Centers. “The FET depresses new heavy-duty truck sales and delays the deployment of cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient trucks.” Parker also called the FET “essentially a tax on American jobs,” stating that the tax “hurts truck sales and inhibits job growth, directly affecting the 7.3 million Americans employed in the U.S. trucking industry. Congress should include H.R. 2946 in the upcoming tax reform bill. A repeal of the FET will spur new-truck sales and get our economy moving.” .

Report touts savings from 33-foot twin trailers, downplays truckload's concerns Fleet Owner / June 21, 2017 Change would mean less congestion and emissions, FTR says. A new report from FTR Transportation Intelligence said allowing twin 33-foot trailers on the nation’s highways could lower costs as much as 10%, while having minimal disruption on the operations of the overall trucking industry. “The productivity gains from allowing 33 foot trailers will reduce the amount of work required in the trucking industry - resulting in fewer trucks on the highways, less damage to the pavement and reduced emissions,” said lead author Noel Perry, FTR partner and transportation economist. Perry previously held research positions at Schneider National, Cummins Engine Co. and CSX Corp. Perry said “the economic case for doubles limits the application to a very small part of the market,” and that the “drawbacks of increased handling and additional shipper dock access will prevent their use in the overwhelming majority of truckload freight.” Size-and-weight rules have long been a contentious issue within the trucking industry. Recent federal efforts to approve the use of twin 33-foot trailers have failed, but some analysts have suggested they could receive approval during the Trump administration. FTR said the additional length provides an 18% increase in cubic capacity over the current 28-foot trailers, and 24.5% gain over 53-foot dry van trailers. By putting more freight on trucks with the longer doubles, the result would be lower costs to carriers, shippers, and end consumers, especially those fueling “the exploding online market place.” Adoption costs would fall mainly on the less-than-truckload and parcel carriers interested in the change, and there would be little, if any, cost to the public, the report said. At the same time there would be a reduction in trucks on the road. FTR’s report breaks down several of the frequently cited reasons public safety groups and truckload carriers tend to oppose the change. Perry noted although individual tractor-trailers would produce additional emissions, he estimated a 10% reduction when factoring in the fewer number of rigs needed. Similarly, he projected drops in fuel use, highway wear, and congestion, as the larger trailers move the same amount of freight in 14% less highway space. Additionally, Perry suggested any potential per-truck safety risk “should be more than offset by the reduction in overall rigs.” FTR projects the total population of doubles could increase from 5% of all trucks today to as much as 8%. While that does represent a significant increase, a common refrain from safety advocates, the argument falls flat when factoring in the overall decline in total trucks on the road, the report said. Perry was also critical of truckload carriers fighting the change, suggesting their economic concerns are overblown. He estimated it would impact less than 2% of the truckload market. “Any pressures on truckload operations will be limited to small, specialized niches,” the report said. As with previous innovations, Perry said truckload executives would be able to efficiently manage these changes through rate alterations or operational adjustments. Earlier this year, the Truckload Carriers Association reiterated its opposition to efforts to gain approval for twin 33s. “While TCA strongly supports a thoughtful, evolutionary pace for the development and deployment of productivity innovations that benefit the entire trucking industry, the revolutionary change of allowing twin 33-foot trailers on federal-aid highways would have only benefited a small minority of the trucking industry, while the nature and pace of such a change would have been detrimental to the trucking industry in general, and to the truckload carrier segment specifically,” the group said. FTR’s report also listed several factors that could limit the use of the longer trailers, if they are approved. Facilities need to be located close enough to approved highways to allow direct pickup and delivery, and provide the needed the maneuvering space and extra docks to handle the longer doubles. Another limitation could be the ability to find backhauls to make them economically viable, the report noted. .

New legislation aims to repeal federal excise tax on trucks Fleet Owner / June 21, 2017 Originally introduced in 1917 to help defray the costs of World War I, the FET now stands at 12%. U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) introduced a bill this week that seeks to eliminate the 12% federal excise tax or “FET” most heavy-duty trucks, tractors and commercial trailers – a levy the American Truck Dealers (ATD) group claims can add anywhere from $12,000 to $22,000 to the sticker prices for such equipment. “The excessive 12% FET on heavy trucks adds tens of thousands of dollars to truck purchases and directly impacts the cost of food, consumer goods and other products Americans need,” Rep. LaMalfa noted in a statement. “Even worse, truck owners large and small pay this tax whether a truck is driven 100,000 miles or never driven at all, forcing them to pay taxes on an investment that may not be generating any revenue,” he stressed. “Repealing the truck tax will help small businesses invest in new equipment while jump-starting domestic manufacturing and Congress should address this issue as we consider how to reform our outdated tax code,” Rep. LaMalfa added. “The 12% FET on heavy-duty trucks in the highest percentage rate of any federal excise tax that Congress levies,” noted ATD’s Chairman Steve Parker in a statement. “The FET depresses new heavy-duty truck sales and delays the deployment of cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient trucks.” Rep. LaMalfa’s bill – H.R. 2946 and dubbed the Heavy Truck, Tractor and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2017 – follows a similar effort to eliminate the FET attempted five years ago. ATD noted that the FET was originally imposed in 1917 to help defray the cost of World War I. The tax has grown from 3%, when it was incorporated into the Highway Trust Fund in 1955, to its 12% level today.

Jason Cannon, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / June 21, 2017 U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) introduced Tuesday a bill that seeks to repeal the federal excise tax (FET) on the retail sale of most heavy-duty trucks, tractors and trailers. Bills similar to H.R. 2946, “Heavy Truck, Tractor and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2017,” have been introduced over the past several years, with none gaining enough traction to get the 12-percent tax removed from the sticker price of the truck. LaMalfa’s bill now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee. “The excessive 12-percent federal excise tax on heavy trucks adds tens of thousands of dollars to truck purchases and directly impacts the cost of food, consumer goods and other products Americans need,” LaMalfa says. “Even worse, truck owners large and small pay this tax whether a truck is driven 100,000 miles or never driven at all, forcing them to pay taxes on an investment that may not be generating any revenue. “The 12-percent federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks in the highest percentage rate of any federal excise tax that Congress levies, and it adds $12,000 to $22,000 to the price of a new heavy-duty truck,” adds American Truck Dealers (ATD) Chairman Steve Parker, who is also the president of Baltimore Potomac Truck Centers. “The FET depresses new heavy-duty truck sales and delays the deployment of cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient trucks.” Rep. LaMalfa’s bill has the support of ATD, which represents more than 1,800 U.S. commercial truck dealers. The group is hosting its annual legislative fly-in to Washington, D.C., this week to rally congressional support for the legislation. LaMalfa says repealing the truck tax will help small businesses invest in new equipment and jump-start domestic manufacturing, while also reforming an outdated tax code. The FET was originally imposed in 1917 to help defray the cost of World War I. The tax has grown from 3 percent, when it was incorporated into the Highway Trust Fund in 1955, to 12 percent today. Parker called on Congress to include H.R. 2946 in the upcoming tax reform bill.

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Big Rigs / June 20, 2017 It’s good news for Central and North Queensland beef producers and processors with the Department of transport announcing type 1 road trains will be allowed to travel through Rockhampton from July 1. Previously type-one road trains, which are made up of two 40-foot trailers, have had to downsize at the CQLX before heading into town and onto the Teys Lakes Creek or JBS Rocky Plant. By law they are required to drop one trailer before heading into town, meaning two single trips had to be made to the meatworks, or cross-load stock onto B-doubles, which is considered one of the most dangerous activities in the cattle transport industry. Not being able to travel through town in a type-one road train means added costs to processors and producers arriving from western selling centres. It also means an additional two hours per load in labour to move cattle from one vehicle to another. A report released by The Department of Transport reported with 500,000 cattle on average transported through Rockhampton and onto the meatworks in a year, the restriction on type-one road trains means thousands of cattle freight movements. The latest announcement does not affect cattle travelling north or south along the Bruce Hwy but it will improve animal welfare and product outcome on cattle drawn from central, west and northern Queensland. Not to mention the improvement in efficiency and the decrease in overall transport movements. The approval also reduces the need for cross-loading during trips to the meatworks, which involves operators positioning trailers together and with the use of sliding gates, push cattle from one trailer deck to another. Central Queensland Regional Manager for AgForce Sharon Howard says this means producers will enjoy lower producers will enjoy lower transport costs, safer livestock transport and better meat quality in their herd. "Drivers will see less trucks on the roads because we have the ability to transport more cattle per truck," she said. Ms Howard said it was good to see cross loading would no longer be needed. "Trucks will be able to travel from Western Queensland direct to the meat works without cross loading, saving freight costs," she said. .

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The talk of the Mack brand still having a presence in Africa have been greatly exaggerated. Apparently, Volvo only views Africa as a key market for the Volvo and UD brands.

Engineering News / June 20, 2017 Volvo Group Southern Africa, in partnership with Titanium Motors, has opened a new dealer facility in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in a R130-million investment. The dealership will provide services to Volvo Trucks and UD Trucks customers operating in the region. “Zambia is a key African market for Volvo Group. Apart from its very central location in Southern Africa, it also has exciting potential as a developing market with a growing economy and emerging infrastructure,” says Volvo Group Southern Africa president Torbjörn Christensson. “We are proud to partner with Titanium Motors in Zambia, and we are looking forward to effectively support our local customers, and to grow our overall market share in the region.” Christensson says transport, and especially trucks, are essential to the region’s growth, and to drive development and progress. For this reason, Volvo also has a representative office in Lusaka, to harness this potential and to provide support from head office. The 7 500 m² dealership consists of a showroom and a training facility. It also hosts six work bays, trained and accredited technicians, mobile service units, a parts warehouse, as well as dedicated sales teams for each of the brands. Volvo Trucks and UD Trucks are both owned by the Volvo group. .

FTR: The Economics of 33' Trailers Only Benefit a Few Markets Heavy Duty Trucking / June 20, 2017 FTR released a new report detailing the economics of using twin 33-foot trailers compared to twin 28-foot trailers and standard 53-foot trailers, showing that in only specific cases would the extra capacity lead to a benefit. The change from 28-foot to 33-foot double trailers has primarily been based on safety concerns, but newer technologies have allowed for the safe operation of larger trucks since the last expansion of length limits in the early 1990s, according to FTR. Regulators have been debating a proposal to increase the federal maximum length, which would lead to an overall increase of 10 feet for the entire rig. The thinking behind such an increase is that it would increase capacity per truck. But in reviewing the economics of the change, FTR found that adoption of double 33-foot trailers would likely be limited. It would benefit primarily less-than-truckload and parcel carriers and more niche operations such as the movement of caskets or insulation. Based on its own research, FTR expects load conversion in just the 1-2% range. While double trailers present increased capacity in space and weight over a single trailer, for shippers of low-density freight the gain in loading capacity is only 4%. The main reason that carriers choose twin trailers over a single trailer is what the industry calls "unit" loading, a common practice in LTL and parcel operations. Since the cube advantage over 53-foot trailers is relatively small, the main reason for a carriers’ preference for doubles is to avoid the re-sorting required to consolidate many customer shipments as the freight moves across the hub-and-spoke terminal networks. FTR found that for the segments most directly affected by increasing the allowable trailer length, they would see as much as a 10% increase in cost savings. It also expects the longer trailers to decrease the number of trucks on the road by 18% in the affected segments of trucking, which would lead to lower overall emissions. Trucking costs don’t increase in proportion to the length of a trailer, which means that 33-foot trailers would be cheaper to operate than 28-foot trailers on a per-ton basis, according to FTR. A drawback to using longer trailers in the increased handling and need for additional loading space, with FTR calling the change a niche play only. The limited scope of fleets that would be interested in longer double trailers is actually one of the advantages that FTR wants lawmakers to consider while pushing for the increased maximum length. This could downplay public fears about significant amounts of larger vehicles on the road because the change would not be as obvious. FTR also believes the because the change is simple and requires no new technology and no need for costly changes to infrastructure, longer trailers would also be an easy sell. Lastly, the tradeoffs for the fleets that would use them are obvious and significant. .

The Fageol 1950 TC CargoLiner – A Trailer Without A Tractor The Old Motor / February 6, 2015 William B. Fageol and his brother Frank R. Fageol started the Fageol Motors Company during 1916 in Oakland, California. The first vehicle was the amazing 1917 130 h.p. Fageol Supercar that was an unfortunate causality of World War I. Later on the Company focused on the impressive Fageol Safety Coach and a line of Fageol trucks all of which you can learn about here on The Old Motor. Louis J. Fageol was Frank R. Fageol’s son who ended up running the Twin Coach Company after his brother Oren died in 1943. In addition to overseeing the business, Louis was a well-known speedboat racer who won the Gold Cup in 1951 with his hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun V. He also built Indianapolis racing cars and bought the ex. Joe Thorne owed, Art Sparks built coupe and finished it up with one of his own motors and named it the Fageol Super Sonic. Sales of buses at Twin Coach and all the other bus builders other than GM dropped in the late forties. Needing a new product to build, the firm in October of 1950 introduced a new concept vehicle that it named the Fageol Super Freighter. The unique unit was a self-propelled trailer minus the tractor, with the drivers compartment located up front and the engine mounted in the middle of the unit under the floor. Exactly who designed this new truck is not known, but Louis J. Fageol filed the patent application for the renamed Fageol TC CargoLiner on November 30, 1950. It used an under-floor diesel engine (seen in the last photo below) that drove through a rear drive axle, and were both apparently built by International Harvester. This demonstrator was built in 1950 as part of the effort to land an Army contract for 1,650 vehicles. The prototype stainless body was constructed by the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, and the front of it was mounted on a steerable bogey axle that was hydraulically controlled. This front axle assembly can be seen in the third photo below. It appears the effort only resulted in one Cargoliner being built, but Twin Coach went on to build over 1500 F-32-F Convertible Buses for the Army. Later on it was followed up in 1952 by the production of the Twin Coach Fageoliner, a civilian bus. You can learn all about the Fageol Twin Coach Bus here. The photos are courtesy of the W.B. Fageol Collection. .

The Fageol Cruise Liner was an idea that “came and went” in 1950. The “trailer” was produced by the Twin Coach Company (Kent, Ohio). This vehicle appeared in an advertisement that claimed it to be up to 8,000 lbs. lighter and 10 ft. shorter than a conventional tractor and semi-trailer. International Nickel Company supplied the 18-8 austenitic chromium stainless steel used in the body. A diesel engine was mounted under the “cab.” (From the book, Truck by Trailer: The History of the Truck Trailer Manufacturing Industry) .

Trailer-Body Builders / June 20, 2017 If you’re a Trailer-Body Builders reader, then the chances are good you’ll be interested in a new book by a long-time veteran of the business. Truck by Trailer: The History of the Truck Trailer Manufacturing Industry is being billed as the first book to recognize the truck trailer as a unique transportation vehicle. Written by John L. Conley—who spent 40 years with the trucking industry, including as editor of Modern Bulk Transporter magazine and with the trade association National Tank Truck Carriers Inc.—the book highlights the importance of the truck trailer as part of the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Truck Trailer Manufacturer’s Association. After all, as the book details, the introduction of the truck trailer in the early 1900s revolutionized materials distribution much as had the first steamboats, railroad cars, airplanes, trucks, and intermodal shipping containers. And some of the same type of operational and regulatory challenges that faced trailer builders a century ago remain today. But trailers proved their value during two world wars and those wartime experiences led to engineering and manufacturing advancements that long benefited commercial users. While methods and materials of trailer construction to serve expanding markets have changed over the years, the principle of providing the economy with a versatile and dependable tool for moving materials has remained unchanged. Catch up on the complete history of the truck trailer industry by ordering Conley's book from the TTMA Online Store. .

"If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax." Donald Trump / January 17, 2017 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- “We want to have new plants built in Michigan, and new plants built in Ohio, and new plants in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and so many other locations.” “We’re going to make thousands and thousands and thousands of additional cars. And we’re going to make them in the United States.” “We want to be the car capital of the world again. We will be, and it won’t be long, believe me.” President Donald Trump / March 15, 2017