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Engineering News / December 9, 2016 Volvo Trucks should this year sell around 250 new trucks in Southern African markets outside South Africa, says Volvo Group Southern Africa president Torbjörn Christensson. Three years from now, in 2019, the company wants sales in these Southern African markets to grow to 1,000 trucks a year. Volvo Group Southern Africa is responsible for 16 markets south of, and including, Ethiopia and Angola. Christensson says used truck sales should reach around 1,000 units in South Africa this year, of which 150 will find their way to Southern African markets outside South Africa. Africa should not be viewed as a marketplace for used vehicles, or for Indian or Chinese products only, he adds. There is a distinct appetite for premium trucks. “South African transporters are moving into Africa, for example, and they demand reliable trucks.” The Volvo truck on sale in the rest of Africa may differ from the one in Sweden, however, as it is likely to be a Euro 3 truck with drum brakes – in other words, more suitably specced for demanding African conditions, says Christensson. “We believe in Africa,” notes Volvo Trucks International senior VP Helene Mellquist. “It is a question of when, not if the market will grow, even if there are some fluctuations now.” “We see signs that the commodity cycle is turning up,” adds Christensson. “We think we have seen the worst of the downturn.” A low oil price and slumping commodities market have caused economic hardship in a number of African countries, particularly the oil-exporting States. While Mellquist refused to talk specific investment numbers into Africa, she says Volvo is busy rolling out its network – through importers – in Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya. Volvo trucks are sold separately from UD Trucks’ stock in Africa. Volvo owns the Japanese-based UD Trucks. In South Africa, Volvo Trucks has invested in a new Alrode workshop, with Durban’s truck centre the next focus point. Volvo Trucks in South Africa has expanded from 13 service points in 2013 to 19 service points in 2016. South Africa is “a very important market” for Volvo Trucks, says Mellquist. (Mack brand trucks ???) The group has learned to adapt to the demands of the market, including black economic empowerment, which “is a natural thing for South Africa”. Christensson believes a more stable political situation could lead to a more stable currency. Volvo Group Southern Africa should see 2016 Volvo truck sales in South Africa improve on last year. Volvo trucks are sold in 192 countries worldwide (The Mack brand is only sold in 19 overseas countries). South Africa is ranked third in terms of sales in Mellquist’s area of responsibility, which includes Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

French Defense Minister Seeks to Reassure RTD Employees of Job Security Defense News / December 8, 2016 French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has told Renault Trucks Defense (RTD) employees that there is little to be concerned about following the announced sale of the military vehicle builder, which is seen as a strategic industrial capability. Le Drian also announced RTD deals with Kuwait and the French Army worth a reported total of €770 million (US $826 million). “I have to tell you that I will be extremely vigilant that … this strategic asset remains under our control, as this is a key element in our sovereignty,” he said Thursday in prepared remarks during a visit to an RTD plant at Fourchambault, central France. “I can reassure you, with all my vigilance on the process underway, that I am not worried about your future,” he added. France, meanwhile, has selected RTD to supply 3,700 light vehicles to the Army, he said. That deal was worth more than €500 million, Agence France-Presse reported. The Direction Générale de l’Armemment procurement office declined to comment, as a contract has yet to be signed. Kuwait is due to order 300 Sherpa light vehicles in a deal worth close to €270 million, Le Drian said. The French minister backed the RTD offer when he visited Kuwait in August, and his Kuwaiti counterpart called him two days ago to tell him of the selection. “All you have to do now is sign the contract,” he said. The RTD plant at Saint Nazaire, western France, will assemble the 3,700 vehicles over four years, while Fourchambault will provide service support. RTD will convert a station wagon-type civilian vehicle by strengthening the chassis and suspension and fitting military equipment, the company said in a statement. The first delivery is expected for 2017. The vehicle will have a 150-horsepower engine, weigh 3.5 tons and carry 900 kilograms. Volvo said in November that RTD, the largest unit of its military vehicles business, would be sold off. RTD accounts for some 1.5 percent of total sales of the Swedish truck maker. Renault Trucks Defense Group (Volvo Group Governmental Sales) - http://www.renault-trucks-defense-group.eu/ .

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Scania Group Press Release / December 8, 2016 Since its launch earlier this autumn, the new generation Scania has been out on roads being put to the test by Europe’s leading truck trade media. Scania promised lower fuel consumption – and Scania has delivered. France Routes subjected the new truck to rigorous tests along its comparative 419-kilometre route in the hilly Rhöne-Alpes in southeastern France. Over the five hours of testing, the new generation Scania R 500 recorded an average fuel consumption of 28.4 litres/100 km. It thereby outshone the previous Scania champion, a Scania R 450 which was tested in 2014 at 30.19 litres/100 km. Although the new generation travelled at a higher average speed, it beat its elder sibling by six percent. Scania fared equally well in the German trade magazine KFZ-Anzeiger’s test. The Scania S 500 is “sensationally economical”, according to the magazine. In fact, it is the first truck to register under 30 litres/100 km on their test route. Definitely value for money, is their verdict. “These are just the first in a series of demanding impartial tests that will be published in the coming months,” says Örjan Åslund, Head of Product Affairs at Scania. “We are confident the also these tests will confirm the outstanding fuel consumption of our new generation trucks.” . .

“Electric buses – part of the switch to fossil-free transport” Scania Group Press Release / December 8, 2016 More public transport and more efficient forms of it are key factors for reducing emissions in cities. And electrified buses will play a decisive role in making the transition to becoming a fossil-free community. These were the thoughts of the Swedish Minister for the Environment, Karolina Skog, at the inauguration of the Nordic region’s first wirelessly charged electric-bus line last Wednesday. The ceremony took place, fittingly enough, at the Tom Tits Experiment science museum in Södertälje where the new 755 bus line has its terminus. Scania’s newly developed electric hybrid bus will operate in regular city traffic as a part of the company’s efforts to drive new and more sustainable public transport solutions for use in urban environments. The bus is rapidly charged using wireless inductive charging at its terminus. The process takes just seven minutes and the bus then has sufficient energy to complete its 10-kilometre route. This marks the first time that wireless induction technology has been tested in the Nordic region. Both the bus and the bus stop charging-solution are part of a research project in which Scania, Stockholm Public Transport (SL), energy company Vattenfall, Södertälje Municipality, and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology are working together to develop quiet and sustainable public transport. The project is financed in part through the Swedish Energy Agency. “Electrification is a decisive part of creating a fossil-free community and in reducing emissions and noise to provide a better quality of life in cities,” said Karolina Skog. “Engaging forms of public transport will play a key role in this. Public transport will handle the growth in traffic that we are seeing in the world’s cities.” The Minister for the Environment was one of several dignitaries who pressed a button at the bus charging station to mark the start of the project, as journalists and guests from the realms of politics, academia and business looked on. Other partners in the project were also present when the bus almost silently glided away on its first circuit. These included Anders Grundströmer, Head of Scania Sustainable City Solutions, Magnus Hall, CEO of Vattenfall, Göran Finnveden, Vice President at KTH, Kristoffer Tamsons, Traffic Commissioner for Stockholm county, and Boel Godner, the Mayor of Södertälje. Magnus Henke from the Swedish Energy Agency was also involved. ”We are today demonstrating the power of good cooperation between the public, research and business sectors,” said Skog. “It is this kind of systematic work that will enable us to make the transition to becoming fossil free. It’s a great feeling to be here today.” Kristoffer Tamsons och Boel Godner used the inauguration ceremony to emphasise that they had high expectations of the new technology. “Stockholm county wants to be at the forefront in terms of environmentally friendly and engaging public transport, and we know that environmental factors are important for our citizens,” Tamsons said. “We have long been a pioneer when it comes to renewable fuels. Ten years ago two out of ten buses in Stockholm were operated on renewable fuel. Today, it’s nine out of ten. And my goal is to have 100 percent operating on renewable fuel within two years.” Godner believes the wirelessly charged electric bus will have great significance for Södertälje as a municipality. “We want to be a sustainable municipality and this is an important part of achieving that goal,” she said. “I hope that this helps us to entice even more people to use public transport.” Scania hosted the event and Anders Grundströmer says there were good discussions between the various partners. “This type of arrangement, where the business, political and academic sectors work together, is what is required to drive the coming shifts. Scania is pushing the boundaries within sustainable solutions for urban environments and the project that we are now implementing together here in Södertälje will be an important demonstrator for cities around the world to follow.” .

DAF Trucks Press Release / December 8, 2016 .

Commercial Carrier Journal / December 8, 2016 Navistar recently christened its Used Truck Reconditioning Center in Melrose Park, Ill., where the company also plans to relocate its nearby International Used Truck Sales Center in the new year. The Reconditioning Center examines International’s certified used truck reconditioning process to ensure a consistent product is available to all International Dealers and Navistar’s own 15 Used Truck Sales Centers. With the closure and sale of the Indianapolis Center, Navistar co-located the Melrose Park prototype and testing facility near Chicago. “One of the greatest advantages of a centralized Reconditioning Center is the ability to work hand-in-hand with the on-site product engineering and prototype team in order to fully understand product durability and use this knowledge to provide the highest level of service to our customers.” says Jeff Heichel, vice president, Used Truck Operations, Navistar. Navistar says the Reconditioning Center in Melrose Park is fully scalable and includes a wash bay, detailing and paint booth, welding room and a parts storage area. .

“Trump doesn't take kindly to anyone criticizing him -- not journalists (whom he refers to as "dishonest," "disgusting" and "scum" when they take him on), not corporate executives, not entertainers who satirize him, not local labor leaders, no one. The President-elect's tendency to go after people who criticize him by sending false and provocative statements to his 17 million twitter followers not only imperils those people and their organizations, it also poses a clear and present danger to our democracy. Democracy depends on the freedom to criticize those in power without fear of retribution. Presidents and President-elects throughout history have refrained from publicly condemning individual citizens for criticizing them. That occurs in two-bit dictatorships intent on stamping out dissent. No President or President-elect has ever before bypassed the media and spoken directly to large numbers of his followers to disparage individual citizens who criticize him. That occurred in the fascist rallies of the 1930s. America came closest to this in the 1950s when Sen. Joseph McCarthy wrecked the lives of thousands of American citizens whom he arbitrarily and carelessly claimed were communists. McCarthy's reign of terror ended when a single man asked him publicly, during the televised hearings McCarthy was conducting, "Have you no decency, sir?" In that moment, Americans began to see McCarthy for the tyrant he was. McCarthy's assistant was Roy Cohn, an attorney who perfected the art of character assassination. Roy Cohn was also one of Donald Trump's mentors. Trump's capricious use of power to denigrate and even endanger his critics must end. He is not yet our President. When he becomes so, and has far greater power, our freedom and our democracy could be gravely jeopardized. We must join together to condemn these acts. We must ask: Has Trump no decency?” Robert Reich, former secretary of labor .

Marine Le Pen: Illegal migrants' children 'should not get free schooling' CNN / December 8, 2016 France's far-right party leader, Marine Le Pen, said children of illegal immigrants should be refused a free education. Le Pen, who ran for the presidency in 2012 on an anti-immigration platform and plans to run again next year, said the hardline move -- which flouts French law and the European Convention on Human Rights, would discourage immigration. "I think free and compulsory schooling for the children of illegal parents encourages more immigration, which must be stopped," Le Pen told reporters on Thursday in Paris. Le Pen said that if elected president, she would also consider implementing a waiting period for foreigners to access certain public services or social benefits. "I think this is fair, as our social protection system and our public services are now overloaded, overwhelmed." Le Pen celebrated the surprise victory of US President-elect Donald Trump as a boost to her own cause, saying it showed people were "taking their future back." She said that if she were in power, the country [France] would be "nothing like you have seen in the last 30 years." "I am opposed to a multicultural France. I think that those who have a different culture and who arrive in France have to submit themselves to French culture. Like the old saying, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.' I think that in France we should do like the French people," she said. Le Pen has said she wants to follow Britain's lead and take France out of the 28-member European Union.

Daimler grows market share in Mexico Truck News / December 8, 2016 Daimler continues to grow its share of the Mexican truck market, in large part due to a strengthening of the dealer network. The company now controls 36.2% of the Class 8 market in Mexico, up about 7.8% compared to last year, according to Stefan Kurschner, president of Daimler Trucks Mexico, who gave a business update here today. Daimler set out to become the industry leader in Mexico and has achieved its goal. “We feel that above 36%, we can claim market leadership,” Kurschner said. “I don’t want to be arrogant about those numbers. It is a lot of confidence a lot of new customers have put in us. It’s a journey. We are on a road to leadership and that’s what we are going to continue.” There is plenty of room for growth in the Mexican market, according to Kurschner. Today the Class 8 market represents about 30,000 trucks a year and is growing at a pace of about 18% annually. But that’s not enough, Kurschner said, given the size of the country and the age of the fleet. The average Class 8 truck in Mexico is 17.8 years old and there are 150,000 trucks in the country 20 years or older. “I think an economy of this size should have a market of at least 60,000 and not 30,000, as it is represented today,” Kurschner said. A scrapping program that provides incentives for replacing older trucks has been reasonably successful, Kurschner said, and needs to continue and expand. Daimler has sold about 1,000 new trucks through the program, which benefits the environment. One key differentiator for Daimler in Mexico is its strategy of peso pricing. Traditionally, all OEMs in Mexico priced their vehicles in US dollars, complicating the sales process and putting customers at the mercy of unpredictable swings in currency. Trucks are now priced in pesos and prices are guaranteed for six months. “It takes uncertainties from our customers away and we are going to continue that,” Kurschner said. “This is not an incentive program or a marketing gag.” Dealers representing Daimler’s dealer council said at the briefing that peso pricing has been well received by customers since its implementation last year. “Our customers can truly forget about the exchange rate and have certainty and standardization,” said Fernando Zapata, president of dealer Zapata Camiones. “The dealer network said we need to do something, uncertainty really hinders our customers to do business. So, we did a lot of customer interviews and after realizing a lot of our customers have their revenues in pesos, it was a clear decision if they bill in pesos, they want to pay in pesos,” Kurschner said. Zapata said other OEMs have attempted to copy the idea, but without success. Daimler has financial instruments at its disposal and the ability to hedge – tools that a fleet itself is unable to utilize. The Mexican dealer network has modernized its processes and now works together as a cohesive unit across the country to better service customers. A key element to this is the so-called Mutual Promise, which all dealers commit to. “It’s a document the dealer network and the OEM has signed that has a description on what we are going to deliver as a service experience to our customers,” Kurschner explained. “It’s a customer bill of rights, a promise of what we are going to do for the customer.” Traditionally, according to Zapata, dealers were focused on serving only their own customers. Now a customer can expect the same service levels at any dealer in the country. “The same service and same quality and same conditions negotiated with every single dealer, wherever he goes in the country,” Zapata said. “That is amazing.” Alejandro Rivera, president of the dealer council and head of Camiones Rivera, said dealers have implemented new platforms so they enjoy better communication between dealerships and with the OEM. An Evolucion Elite program has also been implemented, recognizing dealers that have taken steps to improve processes. Repair times was an issue in Mexico, with the average repair as recently as 2013 taking nine days to complete. Jaime Tamez, president and CEO of dealership Difrenosa, said that has been driven down to less than three days and in most months this year, his dealerships have completed repairs on average in about a day. “Our objective as a dealer network is to keep clients’ trucks on the road. We have done a lot of work behind the scenes to achieve this,” said Tamez. One enabler has been 24/7 parts delivery. In 2014, Tamez said, the parts distribution center would send out one shipment per week. That increased to three a week in 2015 and now, deliveries are made daily. “It means in many cases a huge difference for customers and also for dealers, because we have an opportunity to keep our inventories rotating and our customers much more satisfied,” Tamez said. “For every specialized part, we have a delivery 24 hours later. I can say this is a big accomplishment in the last few years.”

House passes bill directing future of 34-hour restart Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / December 8, 2016 The House has passed the bill referenced in this story. For the bill to become law and the 34-hour restart issue to be resolved, the Senate must still pass the bill and President Obama must sign it. Below is the original story. A year after inadvertently putting the 34-hour restart at risk of being removed from federal hours of service regulations, Congress has unveiled legislation to fix the issue. Lawmakers in the House and Senate will this week take up the bill to clarify the future of truckers’ use of the 34-hour restart, likely putting the issue to rest. For the time being, truckers can continue to operate as they have since December 2014, meaning 34-hour restarts do not need to include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the 34-hour restart option can be used as often as truck operators like. However, should a pending study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration find rules in place between July 1, 2013, and December 2014 promote better rest for truck operators, those rules would go back into effect. Those provisions include the requirement that a 34-hour restart contain two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and a once-per-week limit to the restart’s use. If the study does not conclusively determine the July 1, 2013-effective rules to be safer, then no changes will be made and truckers can use the restart as they do now: No 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and no limit on the use of a restart. Congress included the hours of service clarifications in a 2017 Continuing Resolution appropriations bill that funds the government through April. The hours of service language appears to be the only trucking-related measure in the legislation. The bill will likely pass both chambers of Congress this week. The reenactment of 2013 hours of service rules hinges on whether FMCSA’s restart study finds that truckers abiding by those regs “demonstrate statistically significant improvement in all outcomes related to safety, operator fatigue, driver health and longevity, and work schedules, in comparison to…drivers who operated under the restart provisions in effect on June 30, 2013,” according to the bill, which was released late Tuesday. Simply, Congress calls for the statistically safer rules — as determined by a study to be conducted of hundreds of drivers operating under various work schedules — to be the rules that become permanent. This was the intent of Congress in December 2014 when lawmakers rolled back the 2013-implemented changes to hours of service rules. Congress in that bill also required FMCSA to study drivers operating under both sets of rules to determine which were safer. However, lawmakers failed to clarify which rules would go back into effect based on the study’s results. In an attempt to fix this issue, Congress accidentally included language in a December 2015-passed bill that could have cut the 34-hour restart option from the books, based on the study’s outcome. This week’s legislation clarifies Congress’ original 2014 intent and cancels out 2015’s mix-up. Both chambers of Congress this year floated separate plans to fix the issue, but Congress ultimately settled on the language unveiled late Tuesday. FMCSA announced earlier this year it had completed the data gathering phase of its 34-hour restart study. It has not said when it plans to release the results of its findings.

Rollback of truck safety rules may be just the beginning Associated Press / December 8, 2016 The trucking industry scored a victory this week when Republican lawmakers effectively blocked Obama administration safety rules aimed at keeping tired truckers off the highway. But there's more coming down the road. The American Trucking Associations is pledging to come back next month, when Republicans will control the White House and Congress, and try to block state laws that require additional rest breaks for truckers beyond what federal rules require. The group says there should be one uniform national rule on work hours for interstate truckers and that the extra breaks aren't necessary for safety. The trucking industry's latest triumph has caused concern among safety advocates that it may signal the start of a broad rollback of transportation safety regulations once there's no longer a Democratic president to check the tendency of Republican lawmakers to side with industry. "Unfortunately, it's going to be an open season on safety in this coming Congress," said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board during the Clinton administration. Shippers and some segments of the trucking industry probably will also push for long-sought goals of increasing the weight limit on trucks to more than 90,000 pounds and increasing the length of individual trailers in double-trailer combinations from 28 feet to 33 feet, safety advocates said. The trailers in single-trailer trucks can be up to 53 feet, but trailers in trucks with two trailers currently can't be more than 28 feet. "It's going to be very tough because the companies really care about the cost. They don't care about the safety no matter what they say," said safety advocate Joan Claybrook. The provision Republicans added to a must-pass government spending bill this week suspends regulations issued by the Obama administration requiring truckers to take two nights off to rest if they take only the minimum break before starting a new work week. Drivers for companies that operate on a seven-day schedule can work as many as 80 hours in a work week through a combination of driving and other work, like loading and unloading. Truckers are required to take at least a minimum 34-hour break before starting a new work week. But the trucking industry objected to requirements that the 34 hours include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sleep scientists say rest during the early morning hours is critical for people to feel refreshed. The suspension means truckers can head out on the road again during those hours if the 34-hour break has elapsed. Another regulation that prevents truckers from using the 34-hour break to start a new work week twice within a seven-day period was also suspended. Truck driver Bill Varnado, 66, of Dallas, Georgia, said he likes the sleep requirement because it ensures that drivers are well-rested. He said it's hard to find places to sleep in one's rig on the road, so drivers sometimes keep going. "Sometimes you're forced to drive fatigued because you can't find anywhere to park," said Varnado, who drives for Pro Trucking Inc. of Acworth, Georgia, during a truck-stop break along Interstate 81. But self-employed trucker George Lafferty, 61, of Henry, Illinois, said Congress should repeal the rule. "I don't see how the government can tell you when to sleep and when not to," Lafferty said during a truck-stop interview along Interstate 81 after dropping off a load of yeast at a livestock-feed plant. "A driver should know when he's fatigued or not," he said. "If you're fatigued, take a half-hour, hour nap." Besides truck safety, Congress is also likely to be asked to deal with a wide range of other transportation safety concerns. The auto and technology industries, for example, are telling Congress that they fear a "patchwork" of state safety laws will hinder the deployment of self-driving cars. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials have developed voluntary guidelines for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of self-driving cars that they want automakers to follow. But California's Department of Motor Vehicles wants to make the guidelines mandatory. Some industry officials have complained the guidelines go too far and may stifle innovation. Safety advocates say they don't go far enough. "We think it would be completely inappropriate for Congress to pre-empt the states without strong federal safety standards in place for automated vehicles," said William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports. "States are the ones that make the final call on whether automated vehicles should be allowed on the roads," he said. "We think citizens of those states have the right to take action to keep their roads safe."

Fleet Owner / December 7, 2016 The American Trucking Assns. is lauding a congressional “fix” to the 34-hour restart rule. The hours-of-service issue is one of a number of items included in a Continuing Resolution that would keep the federal government operating past Friday, when current funding expires. “ATA thanks Congress for including what should be a permanent fix to the hours-of-service restart in this Continuing Resolution, and we look forward to its final passage into law to resolve this issue,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a statement. “Reverting back to the pre-July 2013 restart shifts the emphasis back to safety by removing flawed data from the rulemaking process. The entire industry will now be able to comply with this rule thanks to a common sense approach championed by a bipartisan group of legislators.” “While ATA sought the same for preempting states that have added redundant rest break requirements on top of the existing federal standard, ATA will continue to push hard for federal preemption of specific state laws when the 115th Congress convenes next month,” Spear added. According to a report in The Hill, the House Appropriations Committee released the CR Tuesday evening, which funds the government through April 28. According to the report, last year’s omnibus spending bill suspended President Obama’s proposed changes to the hours-of-service rule until the DOT can prove the regulation would actually improve driver health and safety. Back in April, the Senate Appropriations committee approved a Dept. of Transportation budget bill that includes language to correct a potential problem with the 34-hour restart. In an appropriations package two years ago, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) included language that initially rolled back the restart provisions on hours of service limits, pending further study of 2013 changes by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. But the current budget appropriation, passed by Congress in the previous government funding bill, contains an apparent legislative error in a clause meant to preserve the restart status quo until the study is complete. So, the funding bill for the 2017 fiscal year contains a correction. Specifically, if the study shows that the 2013 restart changes have resulted in “demonstrated statistically significant improvement” in highway safety and driver health, then those changes—which included two consecutive overnight off-duty periods—would be reinstated. However, if the study does not support the 2013 restart changes, then the previous restart rules would be restored with this addition: “A driver who uses that restart rule may not drive after being on duty more than 73 hours in any period of 7 consecutive days.”

Mexico truck market keeps growing Fleet Owner / December 8, 2016 Showing double-digit growth for the third year in a row, heavy-duty sales up 20% For the third year in a row, the Mexican Class 8 truck market will show double digit growth, beating 2015 sales by 20% if it hits the projected 26,000 units, according to Stefan Kurschner, president and CEO of Daimler Commercial Vehicles Mexico. Overall Class 4-8 truck sales are expected to near 33,000 units for an 18% increase over last year. Forecasting similar growth in 2017, Kurschner said the domestic market here is strong enough to continue growing well beyond 30,000 trucks even following annual sales growth of 12% to 14% over the last three years. “The [truck]market is not as big as it should be for the size of the overall domestic market,” he said at a press briefing for U.S. and Mexican journalists. Renewal of the Mexican truck fleet, which currently has an average age of 17.2 years and more than 150,000 units over 20 years old, along with continued steady GDP growth and a strengthening of oil prices should support a normal annual Class 4 to 8 sales of around 60,000, according to Kurschner. “We’ve seen three years of good growth and see the same to come. No matter what, we will see growth.” Questioned about possible trade disruptions between Mexico and the U.S. under the new Trump Administration, a Daimler Trucks North America spokesperson declined comment, saying “it is not our policy to comment on political speculation.” He added that DTNA “as any good corporate citizen, will continue to engage in constructive dialog with governments in all countries in which it operates.” A second company spokesperson pointed out that Daimler has deep roots in both countries, operating in Mexico for 30 years and in the U.S. for 75 years, where it currently has over 22,000 employees. Daimler has two truck plants in Mexico including a 6-year-old facility in Saltillo building the current Freightliner Cascadia for both domestic and international markets. In other Mexican truck market news, Kurschner welcomed the release of draft emissions regulations just three weeks ago. Known as Regulation 044, it calls for new trucks to meet U.S EPA 2013 emissions levels by 2018 with a two-year transition period that would allow OEMs to also sell trucks meeting EPA 2007 levels. Currently new trucks sold in Mexico must meet EPA 2004 emissions standards. With local Mexican states and municipalities often creating their own emissions standards, “the lack of clear definition makes it a bit difficult, but at least we have a draft on the table and a timeline to work with,” Kurschner said. Daimler is also actively expanding its Select Truck dealership network in Mexico, seeing it as part of the solution to bringing down the national fleet’s average age. While 2014 and 2015 saw a spike in illegally imported trucks that did not meet Mexico’s emissions standards for used equipment, that problem is now largely under control, and Kurschner believes there is an annual market for 15,000 to 20,000 newer used trucks. A current effort offering incentives to scrap older trucks “has had some success” in modernizing the Mexican fleet, he added, pointing to about 1,000 Daimler sales through the program. “It has some limitation, but we believe we still need the incentive program to help renew the fleet,” Kurschner said.

Today’s Trucking / December 8, 2016 In a year when dealers in Canada and the U.S. face a dramatic downturn in truck sales, Mexico is a world apart. As of November the market for Class 4-8 vehicles was up 18.5%, and Daimler Trucks North America accounted for 36% of it -- up 7.8% over last year. But Stefan Kurschner, president and Chief Executive Officer of Daimler Vehiculos Comerciales Mexico, says there’s room for more. “It’s a country which has its problems, but it is a land of opportunity as well,” he said today in a briefing to media from across North America. The year-to-date sales of 30,190 Class 4-8 trucks – 26,890 of which were Class 8 models – is still a fraction of what the country should require, he said, suggesting the market could handle double those volumes. The average age for a truck in Mexico is also 17.8 years; more than 150,000 vehicles on the road today are still over 20 years old. There are undeniable economic challenges, though. The Gross Domestic Product will grow by just over 2% this year. And the peso continues to struggle in the face of low oil prices. The national currency is worth about 6.5 cents against its Canadian counterpart, and has fluctuated wildly. Daimler is offsetting the currency challenge by setting prices in pesos, unlike other manufacturers in the market, and guaranteeing the prices for six months at a time. Prices had been set in U.S. dollars until as recently as 2015, leaving dealers to account for shifting exchange rates in quotes and when filing taxes. “It was very, very complicated,” said Fernando Zapata of Zapata Camiones, a dealership group with 558 employees. But the peso pricing has simplified the issue, and is playing a role in Daimler’s growing market share, he added. Many customers collect their revenue in pesos, Kurschner says. “If they earn pesos, they want to pay in pesos.” Daimler, meanwhile, has access to financial instruments that can help to hedge against currency shifts. But there are other challenges ahead. Mexico is also preparing to move from EPA 04 emissions standards to EPA 13 technology. The draft rules were unveiled only weeks ago, but could take hold as early as 2018. And there is still work to do before that happens. Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, widely available in Canada and the U.S., is not available everywhere in Mexico. Local governments also set up their own emission-related rules, Kurschner said. Some larger cities have restricted truck access in a bid to tackle pollution. Drivers and mechanics alike will need to be educated about the new standards, Kurschner said. The change could also lead to a “pre-buy” if fleets rush to buy EPA 04 equipment to delay the higher costs associated with the newer generation of equipment. “That’s obvious with every emission change,” he said. Mexico does have an incentive program for those who want to scrap old trucks, but it is very bureaucratic, Kurschner added, noting how Daimler has applied it to about 1,000 vehicles. Refined systems The country’s dealers are clearly taking steps to eliminate red tape on their own, adopting programs that streamline processes and establish best practices. The recently adopted Promesa Mutua – essentially a customer bill of rights – commits to optimizing operations, simplifying processes, effectively communicating, and establishing the same level of service from one dealer to the next. A new Dealer Management System more seamlessly shares data between dealers and the Original Equipment Manufacturer, said dealer council president Alejandro Rivera, offering the example of one change that has emerged. His own dealership, Camiones Rivera, was also one of the first to be certified through the Evolucion Elite program, which commits to measures such as better service times. “We are measuring the time the customer spends in the workshops, trying to make it shorter every day,” he said. And gains are being realized. The country’s 56 Freightliner shops completed about 65,000 service orders last year, but saw 110,000 of them in 2016. Where service and repairs took an average of 9.8 days in 2013, they now average 2.7 days. Spare parts, which were delivered just once a week in 2014, now arrive every single day. Jose Luis Gonzales of Euro Centro Camionero refers to a Joint Action Development Group that has helped reduce warranty-related paperwork by about 70%. “Everyone in the headquarters gets the chance to work a couple of days with the dealer,” Kurschner said. It’s where finance teams have the chance to see issues like invoice-related challenges first hand. “Turning a table has created a much easier conversation with the dealer network … Everybody sells in our company.”

Carrier consensus on speed limiter mandate: 65 mph and retroactive; truckers remain ‘vehemently’ opposed Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / December 8, 2016 Though the majority of commenters who filed formal feedback with the U.S. DOT on its proposal to mandate speed governor use in the trucking industry adamantly oppose such a rule, most comments from fleets — albeit large ones — offer support for the mandate and provided regulators constructive guidance on what a final rule should look like. The 90-day public comment period on the September-issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking closed late Wednesday. The proposed rule was developed and published jointly by the DOT agencies the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. See CCJ’s coverage of the rule and its contents at this link. Several prominent commenters said the DOT’s September-issued proposal was too incomplete and requires another iteration before being made a final rule. But most commenters, as noted above, stated strong opposition to any form of speed limiter mandate. The American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association and the newer Trucking Alliance — trade groups that represent fleets large and small — all proposed a 65 mph speed limit for the rule. ATA, however, says it can’t support the DOT’s proposed rule until regulators produce more data. “ATA cannot support the proposed rulemaking, absent additional data and research demonstrating that it would not create new safety hazards that might outweigh any safety benefits anticipated by the agencies. In addition, the agencies failed to adequately explore alternative emerging technologies that may soon render speed limiters obsolete, by addressing the same concerns without creating the potential risks of the proposed rule,” ATA wrote in its comments. “In short, the NPRM leaves too many important questions unanswered—questions that the agencies cannot simply shrug their collective shoulders at.” TCA says its also advocates for a 65 mph limit. “We recognize that traveling too fast for conditions is one of the most prominent reasons for accidents/safety events on our roads today. However, we would be remiss if we did not recognize that over ninety five percent of the hours driven are on our nation’s highways, thus concluding that the majority of our industry is operating at speeds consistent with highway/interstate travel,” the group said. “In recognizing that, we must conclude that we, as an industry, have a safety obligation to responsibly operate our vehicles at speeds in which we can effectively control and limit the opportunity for accidents.” Most carriers who commented agreed the DOT should adopt a 65 mph speed limit, and the mandate should retroactively apply to trucks already in use, not just new trucks rolling out of factories, they said. “It is unfortunate that there is not more science to support a specific speed recommendation contained within the NPRM. As a result, CTG recommends a maximum speed of 65 mph,” wrote Covenant Transportation Group (No. 41 in the CCJ Top 250). “Theoretically, consistent speeds of 65 mph may reduce congestion caused by one truck passing another with a minimal speed difference of just a few miles per hour, or less.” “We truly believe the benefits achieved in saving lives and reducing injuries by controlling the maximum speed of commercial motor vehicles far outweigh any argument against the rule,” wrote J.B. Hunt (No. 6 in the CCJ Top 250). Werner Enterprises (No. 11) says while it supports an industry-wide mandate for maximum truck speeds, the proposed rule presents several “deficiencies,” the carrier says, that need to be addressed before a permanent rule is issued. “Beyond the consideration of interactions between cars and speed-limited trucks, the proposed rule only applies to newly manufactured trucks and therefore, neglects to calculate the safety risk between non-limited trucks and newly manufactured speed-limited trucks driving on our roadways,” the carrier said in its comment. “If the rule moves forward, the agencies will need to consider all aspects to achieve compliance of the final rule speed standard with the significant majority of operating trucks to reduce the safety risk of speed differentials.” C.R. England, meanwhile, urged NHTSA and FMCSA to adopt the rule as quickly as it can. It also wrote that since most trucks built since the early 1990s are manufacturer-equipped with the ability to have their speeds electronically limited, the mandate should cover all vehicles, says C.R. England (No. 19) in its comment. “C.R. England urges FMCSA and NHTSA to impose the rule on all existing heavy vehicles either through activation of ECM technology already available on most vehicles or through the installation of approved retrofitted speed limiting devices,” the Salt Lake City-based carrier said. “There is a strong correlation between speed and crash severity in truck accidents; the higher the speed of the truck, the more severe the injuries of those involved. Instituting the speed limiter rule will not only save lives and prevent catastrophic injury; it will also make significant contributions to safer driving and reduce collisions.” Many commenters posed questions for the two agencies responsible for the rule, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Such comments pressed the agencies on the scant nature of the proposal, which failed to not only specify a mandated speed but to propose a concrete scope for the rule. The enforcer community’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, for instance, called for the agency to flesh out the rule further and publish a so-called Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to give the industry a look at a more complete rule proposal and to provide feedback. “This will allow stakeholders to fully evaluate the proposal and provide constructive input, ensuring more effective deployment and enforcement of speed limiters,” CVSA writes. The group said it supports a speed limiter mandate overall. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), a vocal and staunch critic of the speed limiter mandate from the onset, filed a 41-page comment tearing down the rule and regulators’ intentions. OOIDA “vehemently” opposes the rule, it says, calling it damaging to owner-operators’ and independents’ ability to compete in the marketplace against larger carriers. The group also says the rule’s initiation is illegal, given new stipulations passed last year by Congress in the FAST Act highway bill. Rules classified as “major rules,” as the limiter mandate is, have to be initiated as an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or a Negotiated Rulemaking, says OOIDA. OOIDA contends a speed limiter mandate would also damage highway safety efforts, rather than bolster them. As noted in prior CCJ coverage, OOIDA says the speed differential created between trucks and other vehicles on the highway poses a much greater safety risk than higher truck speeds. “Instead of relying upon concrete evidence and data about actual motor carrier and driver experience associated with speed limiters, the agencies have resorted to postulating a theoretical reduction in crash severity and environmental benefits.” The Western States Trucking Association also said neither NHTSA nor FMCSA have the legal authority to promulgate a rule to mandate speed limiters. “Contrary to the statements made in the preamble, the joint proposed rules are not based on any safety need but, rather, on a misguided effort to use federal traffic safety laws to govern emissions of greenhouse gases from trucks. Neither NHTSA nor FMCSA has the legal authority to misuse federal law in that manner. Accordingly, the commenters believe the joint proposed rules are misguided, counterproductive, illegal and dangerous,” writes the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who developed and filed comments on behalf of Western States, a Texas-based trucker and a Texas-based carrier. Comments from hundreds, if not thousands, of truckers show they agree with OOIDA’s and WSTA’s assertions. The docket, which contains nearly 4,500 comments total, is brimming with comments from truck operators framing the rule as unsafe, overly intrusive and unnecessary. CCJ sister site Overdrive has published a roundup of comments from owner-operator and truck driver commenters. See that story at this link. Purported safety groups like Advocates for Auto and Highway Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition both asked the DOT to limit speeds to 60 mph and make the mandate industry-wide.

Trump meets with Mulally The Detroit News / December 8, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump met with former Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally on Thursday as he builds the cabinet for his incoming administration. Mulally is a candidate for secretary of state. After serving as head of the commercial aircraft business at Boeing Co., Mulally earned adulation for his time as Ford’s CEO from 2006-2014. He steered the company through the 2008 and 2009 collapse of new vehicle sales without a government bailout or a Chapter 11 reorganization, as was needed by General Motors and then-Chrysler. He oversaw a massive restructuring of Ford to reinvigorate the automaker in part through better-aligned global operations and a crystallized focus on Ford and Lincoln cars and trucks, positioning the company to reap heady profits during the industry’s recovery. Trump spokesman Jason Miller refused to describe the nature of the meeting, but said “Mr. Mulally is certainly someone who knows a lot about trade issues and the economy and what we need to do get our manufacturing sector going again.” The pool of potential candidates for secretary of state includes 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman [superb individual], former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker and former CIA Director David Petraeus. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-Ford boss Mulally in mix for secretary of state Bloomberg / December 9, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump’s short list for secretary of state has grown, with former Ford CEO Alan Mulally now under consideration for the job as the nation’s top diplomat, a top adviser said today. Mulally, 71, met with Trump Thursday in New York to discuss the position, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said. Mulally helped engineer a turnaround at the automaker while avoiding the bankruptcies that befell its crosstown rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. He previously served as head of Boeing Co.’s commercial airline business division. “This is an important process,” Conway said. Trump “is welcoming in a number of men and women who have very diverse backgrounds.” Conway said Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former CIA Director David Petraeus, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, were also among the names under consideration. Trump’s vision Conway has publicly warned that the selection of Romney could upset Trump voters who see the former Massachusetts governor as too aligned with the political establishment. She said today that whoever was selected would need to hew to the president-elect’s foreign policy vision. “You have to be able to adhere to what will be the Trump doctrine worldwide and be able to execute it,” she said. While Conway didn’t indicate who was Trump’s leading contender, she did praise some of the candidates. She said Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, would likely “face easy confirmation” by his colleagues. And she praised Giuliani as “a very close and loyal adviser throughout the campaign” who remains “still in the mix.” She acknowledged that Mulally would be an interesting choice considering that Trump has targeted two firms he helped lead. Earlier this week, Trump tweeted that Boeing’s contract to build the next Air Force One plane was too expensive. He has said he wants to keep Ford from moving manufacturing plants from the U.S. to Mexico. Staved off bankruptcy Mulally, who retired as CEO of Ford in 2014, earned bipartisan praise for his efforts at the iconic automaker, staving off bankruptcy by globalizing new models, cutting costs, boosting technology and overhauling the lineup with fuel-efficient vehicles such as the aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup. After leaving Ford, Mulally joined the board of Google just as the tech giant was stepping up research into self-driving cars. Before leaving Ford, Mulally had been considered for the top job at Microsoft Corp. that ultimately went to Satya Nadella. There was also speculation that he could join the Obama administration because he sat on Barack Obama’s Export Council, formed in 2010 to advise the president on trade.

2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel Car & Driver / December 8, 2016 Chevrolet did a pretty poor job keeping the 2017 Cruze diesel a secret. Details surrounding the second edition of a diesel-powered Cruze have been trickling into the public sphere for a couple of months. First it was the news about the six-speed manual and nine-speed automatic transmissions; then came word that the diesel engine would be offered in both sedan and hatchback body styles. Now Chevrolet has started the make-it-official process by announcing a key element: the pricing. The sedan with a manual transmission starts at $24,670, and the sedan with a nine-speed automatic is $26,270. The base diesel comes standard with the LT trim and the Convenience package, typically an $850 add-on that includes an eight-way power driver’s seat, push-button ignition, keyless entry, and heated front seats. The Leather package is an option on both models for an extra $1125. A combination of that package and the Sun, Sound, and Confidence package is available for $3680 on sedans but only with the nine-speed. Prices for the hatchback have not been released yet. The price undercuts the previous-generation Cruze diesel, which started at $25,695 when it was introduced for 2014. For 2017, the diesel will start at $4056 more than the gasoline-powered automatic Cruze LT with the Convenience package and $3345 more than the six-speed manual Cruze LT with the Convenience package and the $695 RS package. Every 2017 Cruze diesel include Chevy’s 24/7 Promise: two years of SiriusXM satellite radio and OnStar plus two years or 24 GB of 4G LTE data. The next big pieces of news we’ll be waiting for on the 2017 Cruze diesel are the 1.6-liter turbo-diesel’s engine output figures and, even more critically, its fuel-economy numbers.

VW’s Lost, Destroyed Phones Are 'a Bright Red Flag,' FTC Says Bloomberg / December 8, 2016 The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to further question Volkswagen AG’s U.S. officials about whether evidence including mobile phones was destroyed amid the probe of diesel vehicles rigged to cheat emissions tests. “In the context of the massive scandal at the center of this case, 23 lost or bricked phones is a bright red flag, especially when they include phones that belonged to important individuals,’’ FTC attorneys said in a court filing Thursday. The agency “should not have to accept VW’s assurance that there is nothing to see and that we should just move along.’’ The FTC asked the San Francisco judge overseeing most of the consumer and government claims against the carmaker to order further questioning of a company witness. While Volkswagen Group of America contends its “designated corporate witness” has already answered thousands of questions during a deposition, the FTC said the person provided “nonsensical or evasive responses” when questioned about whether the company intentionally destroyed evidence. The witness, Manuel Sanchez, “was either unprepared or otherwise unable to provide responsive information,’’ the FTC said. Sanchez “answered ‘I don’t know’ or some variation thereof over 250 times, including in response to questions he should have been able to answer,’’ the FTC said. This included questions about the 23 phones that had been lost or had been “wiped,” the FTC said. The FTC request comes amid criminal investigations of the company in the U.S. and Germany spurred by VW’s admission last year to systematically rigging cars to evade environmental laws. VW has repeatedly alleged its top management was unaware of the decision to install software, so called defeat devices, to cheat emissions tests. (A lie......there’s little doubt that board chairman Ferdinand Piech have final approval)

Heroin deaths surpass gun homicides for the first time The Wall Street Journal / December 8, 2016 Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday. That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015. Heroin deaths spiked too, rising by more than 2,000 cases. For the first time since at least the late 1990s, there were more deaths due to heroin than to traditional opioid painkillers, like hydrocodone and oxycodone. "The epidemic of deaths involving opioids continues to worsen," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement. "Prescription opioid misuse and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are intertwined and deeply troubling problems." In the CDC's opioid death data, deaths may involve more than one individual drug category, so numbers in the chart above aren't mutually exclusive. Many opioid fatalities involve a combination of drugs, often multiple types of opioids, or opioids in conjunction with other sedative substances like alcohol. In a grim milestone, more people died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides in 2015. As recently as 2007, gun homicides outnumbered heroin deaths by more than 5 to 1. These increases come amid a year-over-year increase in mortality across the board, resulting in the first decline in American life expectancy since 1993. Congress recently passed a spending bill containing $1 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, including money for addiction treatment and prevention. "The prescription opioid and heroin epidemic continues to devastate communities and families across the country—in large part because too many people still do not get effective substance use disorder treatment,” said Michael Botticelli, Director of National Drug Control Policy, in a statement. "That is why the President has called since February for $1 billion in new funding to expand access to treatment." Much of the current opioid predicament stems from the explosion of prescription painkiller use in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Widespread painkiller use led to many Americans developing dependencies on the drugs. When various authorities at the state and federal levels began issuing tighter restrictions on painkillers in the late 2000s, much of that demand shifted over to the illicit market, feeding the heroin boom of the past several years. Drug policy reformers say the criminalization of illicit and off-label drug use is a barrier to reversing the growing epidemic. “Criminalization drives people to the margins and dissuades them from getting help,” said Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. “It drives a wedge between people who need help and the services they need. Because of criminalization and stigma, people hide their addictions from others.” .

Trump puts new spotlight on Long Island gang killings Associated Press / December 8, 2016 As he sat down for an interview with Time magazine for his "person of the year" profile, Donald Trump explained his tough view on illegal immigration by retrieving a copy of the Long Island newspaper Newsday and pointing to a blaring headline: "Extremely Violent Gang Faction." The article focused on the killings of five teenagers from the same New York City suburb and suspicions that the slayings were the work of a street gang, MS-13, that has roots in El Salvador and has been linked to at least 30 killings on Long Island since 2010. "They come from Central America. They're tougher than any people you've ever met," Trump said. "They're killing and raping everybody out there. They're illegal. And they are finished." That tough talk was welcomed — and created new worries — in the suburban community plagued by the gang violence. Just months ago, advocates for immigrants were lamenting publicly that a string of disappearances of Hispanic high school students in Brentwood, New York, hadn't gotten enough attention from authorities while they were happening. Now, they are worried that the president-elect's attention will mean a crackdown that goes far beyond gangs. "It's not a good thing," said Maryann Sinclair Slutsky, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Long Island Wins. "I don't know why he's picking Long Island. The entire immigrant community is terrified. All immigrants in that community feel uncomfortable. There's profiling going on and whether they are totally upstanding citizens, they are going to feel targeted in some way." Gang-related violence in Brentwood got renewed attention in September when best friends Nisa Mickens, 15, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, were found beaten to death in a residential neighborhood near an elementary school. Within a few weeks, the skeletal remains of three other Brentwood teens were found hidden in secluded areas of the hamlet. Miguel Garcia-Moran, 15, disappeared in February. Oscar Acosta, 19, was reported missing in May. Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18, vanished in June. Police suspect all the killings were committed by members of local offshoots of the MS-13 street gang, which has already left a trail of corpses on Long Island. Some of the people accused in those crimes were in the U.S. illegally. In one of the most heinous killings, in 2010, three teenage MS-13 members shot a 19-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son in the woods over an imagined slight of the gang's honor. Two were El Salvadoran citizens who were illegally in the U.S. at the time they killed the pair, as was Heriberto Martinez, the MS-13 leader convicted of authorizing the murders. Another of the killers was a U.S. citizen. In July, four MS-13 members were charged with killing four men in Brentwood and neighboring Central Islip between 2013 and 2015. Two of them were citizens of El Salvador. One had illegally re-entered the U.S. after previously being departed. A second was in proceedings to be deported. Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, whose office is involved in the probe of this year's killings in Brentwood, said there is "no question" that gangs were recruiting young [illegal] immigrants who had crossed into the U.S. without authorization. Brentwood, he said, "is becoming a border town." "I don't think anyone would argue with the president-elect and Homeland Security removing criminal alien gang members from the streets of Brentwood. I think the residents of Brentwood deserve it," DeMarco said. Trump has called for increased border security and deportations of undocumented [illegal] immigrants with criminal records. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini said as part of a local law enforcement crackdown on the gang, six MS-13 members have been taken into federal custody and are expected to be charged under racketeering statutes. More than 50 others have been charged in state courts. Sini refused to identify any of the more than four dozen suspects, or say what they did.

Andrew Puzder Post: Secretary of Labor Previous government experience in labor: None Age: 66 (Born July 11, 1950) Schooling: Puzder has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cleveland State University, and a Juris Doctor from Washington University. Background: Puzder was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Puzder is a vocal critic of government regulation and opposes a $15 minimum wage, broader overtime pay and the Affordable Care Act. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed in March, Puzder said a $15 minimum wage, mandatory paid sick leave laws and the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, raise costs for employers and force them to rely more on automated technology. "While the technology is becoming much cheaper, government mandates have been making labor much more expensive," he wrote. Puzder told the Los Angeles Times in March that he's not opposed to raising the federal minimum wage above $7.25 or pegging it to inflation, though he said a jump to $15 an hour will cost workers their jobs. Puzder has also been one of the harshest critics of an Obama administration rule that would require workers who make less than $47,500 and work 40 hours per week be paid overtime. The rule was put on hold by a federal judge in November. "The real world is far different than the Labor Department's Excel spreadsheet," Puzder wrote in a Forbes guest column in May. "This new rule will simply add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers, forcing many to offset increased labor expense by cutting costs elsewhere." In 2004, CKE agreed to pay $9 million to settle three class-action lawsuits involving overtime pay. Puzder told the Orange County Register in 2014 that CKE had spent $20 million on overtime lawsuits in California over the previous eight years, and that the company had reclassified managers as hourly workers as a result. Puzder is anti-abortion. While practicing law in St. Louis, Puzder authored a Missouri abortion law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services in 1989. Following the Webster decision, Puzder was a founding member of the Common Ground Network for Life and Choice. In 1984, Pudzer and another lawyer had written an article for the Stetson Law Journal proposing a Missouri law that would define life as beginning at conception in the broad context of contract or property law. Puzder reasoned that if fetuses were recognized as having rights in other contexts, it would establish a foundation for challenging Roe v. Wade later on. In St. Louis, Puzder met Carl Karcher, the founder of the Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant chain. Karcher was embroiled in serious financial difficulties and asked Puzder to move to California as his personal attorney. In 1991, Puzder relocated to Orange County, California. Puzder has been credited with resolving Karcher’s financial dilemma, allowing Karcher to avoid bankruptcy and retain a significant ownership interest in the company he founded, CKE Restaurants, Inc. Puzder solved Karcher’s financial problems by putting together a transaction with William P. Foley, the Chairman and CEO of Fidelity National Financial. In 1994, Foley became Chairman and CEO of CKE and Karcher became Chairman Emeritus. In 1995, Puzder went on to become Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Fidelity, managing one of the largest corporate legal departments in the country. Puzder also worked with Foley to create the Santa Barbara Restaurant Group, and served as the company’s CEO. In 1997, Puzder was also named Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CKE. Also in 1997, CKE purchased Hardee’s Food Systems, Inc.. Hardee's was a distressed brand and CKE was burdened by over $700 million in debt following the acquisition. The company underperformed and its market capitalization dropped to about $200,000. Faced with serious financial and operational issues, CKE’s Board of Directors named Puzder as president and CEO of Hardee’s Food Systems in June 2000 and named him president and CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc. in September of that year. Puzder is credited with turning around both Hardee’s and CKE. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Financial Times / December 8, 2016 Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary, a fast-food company CEO who is an outspoken opponent of raising the minimum wage, setting the stage for a fight with US unions. Andrew Puzder, head of CKE, the California-based owner of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr chains, has been a longtime campaigner against efforts to raise the minimum wage and the reach of government into business. Trump says the ex-lawyer will “save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages”. “Andy Puzder has created and boosted the careers of thousands of Americans,” he said. The move fits the Republican’s pledge to help create a business-friendly environment and help the economy through a combination of tax cuts and deregulation. The decision marks another major departure from the Obama administration, which has been advocating an increase in the minimum wage despite opposition from many business groups. This year the Obama administration also introduced new overtime rules meant to secure better pay for middle-managers and other salaried workers often forced to work long hours without extra pay. Earlier this year, Puzder said his first move, were he president, would be to cut 10% of all government regulations and force departments to justify why they needed to keep others. “I think our country has really gone in a very bad direction over the past seven years,” he said. “We’ve been a country traditionally where consumers drive the economy [but] we’ve now become one where the government is more and more involved in driving the economy and taking the power away from consumers.” Puzder has expressed other more provocative views related to work and business. In one interview this year, Puzder spoke of replacing workers with robots in his company’s fast-food stores. “They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” he said. News of Mr Trump’s pick immediately drew outrage from Democrats and labour groups. “The Labor secretary should be someone who wakes up every day thinking about how they can raise American wages and fight for American workers. Mr Puzder’s career has shown exactly the opposite,” said Charles Schumer, the Democrats’ incoming leader in the Senate. Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a union-affiliated think-tank that Trump often cited on the campaign trail, said: “Donald Trump ran a campaign that was long on rhetoric about helping working people. But will his actual policies enrich business at the expense of workers? “There is nothing in his record or his public statements to indicate that he would lead in developing policies and enforcement strategies to generate higher wages and better quality jobs for America’s workers.”

Associated Press / December 8, 2016 Did anyone see it coming, the apparent new rapport between President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump? Just a few months ago they were regularly flinging insults back and forth. Today they're trading phone calls and pleasantries. Apparently, membership in one of the world's most exclusive clubs, the club of U.S. presidents, has a way of changing things. On Wednesday, Trump talked about letting bygones be bygones. "I've now gotten to know President Obama. I really like him," Trump said on NBC's "Today". "We have, I think I can say, at least for myself, I can't speak for him, but we have a really good chemistry together. We talk." Trump continued: "He loves the country. He wants to do right by the country and for the country, and I will tell you, we obviously very much disagree on certain policies and certain things but, you know, I really like him as a president." Obama hasn't been quite as effusive in his comments about Trump since the Nov. 8 election. But he has repeatedly urged the public and world leaders concerned about a Trump presidency to adopt a "wait-and-see" approach. His argument is that campaigning is different than governing, and that the reality of holding office will lead Trump to alter his thinking in some cases. "That's just the way this office works," Obama said. It's not the tone many expected just a few months ago. Obama spent much of the campaign almost gleefully denouncing the showy New York businessman as "temperamentally unfit" and "uniquely unqualified" to lead the world's most powerful nation. Trump wasn't shy about responding, tweeting at one point that Obama "will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States!" Trump also spent years fomenting the "birther" issue and trying to undermine Obama with false claims that he was not a U.S. citizen, and therefore an illegitimate president. White House press secretary Josh Earnest has acknowledged that Obama and Trump have had "at least a handful" of telephone conversations since their 90-minute Oval Office meeting on Nov. 10. Trump had said at the White House that he would likely be calling on Obama for his "counsel." Turns out it wasn't just bluster.

MAZ Trucks Press Release / December 6, 2016 .

KrAZ Trucks / December 2, 2016 KrAZ Trucks intends to boost its market share in the light and medium truck segments with new products. Following the launch of the model 5401, available in both 4x2 and 4x4 configurations and rated at 9, 10 and 12 metric tons, Kraz is now introducing the 6 metric ton-rated model 5401Н2 in a variety of wheelbases. For the first time, KrAZ is offering a four-cylinder engine. The 170 horsepower Euro-5 emissions rated powerplant is paired with a 6-speed model 6J70 manual transmission. The 5401H2’s low-cab-forward design allows for superior maneuverability on congested city street and better load distribution, while making entry and exit safer and easier. .