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Fumoto releases next generation SX-series Fleet Owner / May 242, 2016 Meet the next generation of Fumoto. The new, patent pending Fumoto SX-series comprises two distinct yet fully integrated parts: the through bolt and oil-flow control body. According to the company, the SX can rotate 360° which allows orientation to achieve a smaller profile and protection. “The unique through bolt design can be tightened independent of the valve body, allowing for a simple installation that easily avoids obstructions,” the company said. Also new, the ergonomic control lever makes the valve easier to operate, even in tight spaces. It features the same tried and true secure locking mechanism as our original valves, but now remains parallel to the body in the closed position for a reduced profile. “The versatility of the SX-series valve also allows installation without an adapter on some cars and trucks that may have previously required one, and with the new SX valves larger body, its quad channels allow for better flow rates and an even faster oil change for some models,” according to Fumoto. .

Assuming your Mack brand dealer actually "can't figure it out"............. When you called the Mack brand customer satisfaction at +1 (866) 298-6586 , what did they say?

Volvo Group Press Release / May 23, 2016 Jan Ohlsson has been appointed a member of Volvo’s Group Executive Board and Executive Vice President Group Trucks Operations, Volvo Group’s global truck manufacturing organization. He currently serves as the Acting Head of Group Trucks Operations. Jan Ohlsson, born in 1953, has worked at the Volvo Group since 1979. He has held a number of different roles in the Group’s truck manufacturing operations, with experience from manufacturing in Europe, North and South America and Japan. He has worked as the manager of the Tuve factory in Gothenburg and as the head of Powertrain Production and Global Trucks Manufacturing. Jan Ohlsson will take office on June 1, 2016. .

Commercial Motor / May 23, 2016

Renault Trucks Press Release / May 23, 2016 The City of Madrid has just taken delivery of 22 Renault Trucks firefighting vehicles. These are D 4x4 Forest Fire Tenders from the Fire&rescue range. They will be used for firefighting operations and other missions in challenging environments. The bodywork was produced by the ITURRI Group, Spain’s leading bodybuilder for firefighting vehicles. Madrid’s firefighting brigade has just taken delivery of 22 new vehicles to help them in carrying out their assignments. These are Renault Trucks D 4x4 14 ton forest firefighting tenders, fitted with 280 hp Euro 6 engines. Their bodies were mounted by the ITURRI manufacturing group, in compliance with the technical requirements this type of vehicle demands and with particular attention paid to the safety of the personnel they will be carrying. These all-terrain vehicles are designed for firefighting, assistance and rescue missions of people in dangerous situations or in particularly hard to access locations around the city of Madrid. In particular, the Renault Trucks D vehicles feature protection for the electrical and pneumatic circuits as standard provided by fire resistant sheathing. The tank has a capacity of 3,080 L, 500 L of which are devoted to the vehicle’s own protection. This consists of a system which protects the cab and the tyres by projecting water onto them if the vehicle becomes trapped in the middle of a fire zone. Renault Trucks offers a comprehensive Fire&Rescue range capable of meeting the needs of fire fighters and the specific needs of their profession. This consists of 4x2, 6x4, 8x4 and 6x2 vehicles, as well as 4x4 and 6x6 all-wheel drives specifically designed for firefighting and rescue operations. The Renault Trucks fire-fighting range comprises 4x2, 6x4, 8x4 and 6x2 vehicles as well as 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 all-wheel drive vehicles specially designed for fire-fighting and emergency services. This range offers the following models: Master and Maxity rapid urban intervention vehicles (VPI), urban victim rescue and assistance vehicles (VSAV) and urban road and rail accident intervention and rescue vehicles (VSR) Renault Trucks D12 light fire tender truck (FPTL) Renault Trucks D15 4x2 and 4x4 fire tender truck (FPT) Renault Trucks D14 4x4 off-road rural fire tanker tender (CCR) Renault Trucks D14 4x4 all-terrain forest fire tanker tender (CCF) Les Renault Trucks C, K, D and D WIDE are adapted to large-capacity tanker truck uses, cradle carrier, aerial ladder vehicle and articulated boom elevator (BEA). Photo gallery - http://corporate.renault-trucks.com/en/press-releases/2016_05_23_renault_trucks_livre_22_vehicules_pompiers_a_la_ville_de_madrid.html

At IAA Hanover, the show is full of European truck drivers. The exception is Press Day, which is limited to journalists so they can photograph.

Daimler Trucks North America Supports New 2017 Truck Show Heavy Duty Trucking / May 23, 2016 Daimler Trucks North America has signed a letter of intent to exhibit at the inaugural The North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show, a new bi-annual trucking show to be held September 2017 at the Georgia Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, Ga. The company has agreed to exhibit at the Sept. 18-22, 2017, event, as well as at the 2019 & 2021 NACV Shows. DTNA also joins the NACV Show exhibitor advisory committee. DTNA last year announced it would not exhibit at the Mid-America Trucking Show in 2016 because it preferred an every-other-year format running in odd years opposite the big IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover, Germany, which is held each September in the even numbered years. The NACV Show, first announced in April, fits the bill, DTNA says. “Daimler Trucks North America has diligently reviewed numerous concepts and proposals for the next evolution in shows and exhibitions in the North American commercial vehicle market, and we have chosen the North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show as the one commercial vehicle event that can meet our business goals and needs,” said DTNA President & CEO Martin Daum. “The NACV Show is the perfect platform for Daimler Trucks North America to connect with our suppliers and fleet customers, launch new products and meet with industry press." However, this does not mean that individual DTNA brands, such as Freightliner, Western Star or Detroit, may not still exhibit at MATS. “Our choice to sign a letter of intent for the NACV has no connection to other annual regional shows," noted David Giroux, director of corporate communications and corporate marketing for DTNA. "Attendance at regional shows – such as MATS or GATS – by local dealers or individual brands will be at their discretion. We will not be attending these shows on a collective corporate basis. The NACV will be a showcase for technologies and innovations across all Daimler Truck brands operating in North America." The NACV Show is organized and managed jointly by Newcom Media USA and Hannover Fairs USA. Newcom, a major Canadian B2B publisher, puts on the Truck World and ExpoCam trade shows. Hannover Fairs USA develops and manages marketing programs at Deutsche Messe events in Hannover, Germany, and the United States, as well as in emerging markets such as China, India and Turkey. IAA is hosted by Deutsche Messe and owned by VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie e.V.). Deutsche Messe also organizes China Commercial Vehicle held in Wuhan, China. Unclear at this point is the fate of a second effort to establish a new North American trucking show that will alternate years with IAA. In March, the American Trucking Associations, along with the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association division of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, announced they were working with global event management and trade show firm Messe Frankfurt Inc. to develop a new, biennial North American-based truck and transportation event. However, no additional details, including specific dates or location, have been announced since that time. “We will continue to work with the other truck manufacturers and strategic industry partners over the coming weeks to solidify their commitments with the goal of presenting the full event concept to the industry at large by July 1,” said Joe Glionna, vice president of Newcom, in a statement. The new NACV Show targets North American-based commercial fleet owners, heavy-duty vocational applications, commercial and light commercial vehicle dealers, distributors, original equipment manufacturers, service suppliers, and the commercial vehicle trade media. The first three biennial NACV Shows will be held in Atlanta. Atlanta "has done a good job of setting itself up to handle large trade shows," said Glionna.

New Truck Show to Focus on Technology, Fleet Buyers Heavy Duty Trucking / May 23, 2016 The goal of the new North American Commercial Vehicle Show is not to compete with established regional trucking shows that are popular with owner-operators and families, but to provide a more business-focused event showcasing the latest truck technology for fleets. “The main idea here is that what was missing from North American shows was a real focus on the medium to large fleets and the technology of today and tomorrow,” explained Joe Glionna, vice president of Newcom Media USA, one of the partners putting on the new event, in an interview with HDT. The new show will be held Sept. 18-22, 2017, at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. Daimler Trucks North America is the first truck OEM to announce a commitment to the new show, but other announcements will be forthcoming. The NACV Show is organized and managed jointly by Newcom Media USA and Hannover Fairs USA. Newcom, a major Canadian B2B publisher, puts on the Truck World and ExpoCam trade shows. Hannover Fairs USA develops and manages marketing programs at Deutsche Messe events in Hannover, Germany, and the United States, as well as in emerging markets. The genesis for a new show was the pullout of major truck and engine OEMs from the Mid-America Trucking Show last year. DTNA and others expressed a desire for a show that would run on opposite years to the big IAA commercial vehicle show in Hannover, Germany, and that would have some of the same attributes of the European event, where fleets actually come to place equipment orders. In fact, Glionna said he doesn’t view the NACV show as directly competing against any shows that are currently in the North American market. “We believe there’s a place in this industry for events for truck enthusiasts, for owner-operators, for the family aspect of trucking, and we hope they continue to succeed in various regional markets,” Glionna said. “But what was missing … was an event that brings the buyers together and the latest technologies and the biggest fleets.” He noted there also will be a “robust European technology section of the show.” While owner-operators are certainly welcome, Glionna said, the NACV show will not have some of the types of features that would typically be a draw for this audience, such as a truck beauty competition, driver recruiting booths, concerts, educational programs, and vendors showing off products and services that are not directly related to the business of running a fleet. Quality, not quantity, is the goal when it comes to attendees and exhibitors. “Our expectations are quite low compared to the announced numbers” from some other shows, Glionna said. “We have no interest in having 50,000 people at this show. If we had 10,000 to 15,000 qualified buyers the first year, that would be a big success in our minds. It's not about big numbers, it’s about the right equipment, the right place to do business, and the right people to do business with.” NACV will be a five-day show. While schedules are far from finalized, as plans stand now, only two days are likely to be open to the general public, Glionna said. A third day will be limited to invited guests – customers and prospects of the exhibitors. A fourth day will be for the press, a fifth day for suppliers to meet with OEs. Eventually, Glionna said, NACV can become more of a truck-buying event like IAA. “In the North American market, trade shows are far less about acquisition than European shows, and it’s a mentality that’s not going to change in year one. I think we’re going to see a real attempt to start to create sales cycles where the show becomes a major date in that sales cycle.”

Fleet Owner / May 23, 2016 In an earlier post, I talked some of the issues the trucking industry as a whole should be worrying about at the moment – with slumping freight volumes only the tip of the bad-news iceberg. But what do fleet managers themselves believe are the major issues facing trucking right now? What’s the “view from the trenches” so to speak? I talked to Sandeep Kar, global vice president-mobility research for the transportation practice within global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, about this subject just last week as his team conducts an annual in-depth survey with 100-plus fleet managers at for-hire and private fleets across North America to unearth those concerns. And here are their top seven concerns based on Frost & Sullivan’s poll: The driver and technician shortage/retention issue Regulatory compliance Total cost of ownership (TCO) Declining equipment utilization Fuel price volatility Freight rate fluctuations The economic outlook and profit margin concerns “There’s much nervousness among fleet managers because margins are eroding; there’s also a lot of ‘interconnectedness’ among those issues as well,” Kar explained to me. “And when you look at declining equipment utilization, that is bad news for [truck] OEMs because that means fleets will probably delay more purchases of Class 8 trucks.” He noted that while fleets have benefitted from the low price of diesel over the past year, there is rising uncertainty regarding the “longevity” of this low price environment. Kar added that most of fleet managers in his firm’s poll believe diesel prices may increase unexpectedly causing severe operating cost increase in the short-to-medium term; a trend that’s started gaining strength in recent weeks. He also pointed out that based on the durations of past business cycles it would be “unusual if we did not enter a recession sometime in the next few years.” Not exactly something to cheer about. So how are all of those “worries” shaping – or perhaps “re-shaping” – the truck specification strategies of among fleet managers? More broadly, do they believe certain truck specs and technology selections can help mitigate the negative aspects of the above-mentioned concerns? Here’s what Kar’s research team discerned: While 55% of surveyed fleet managers reported engine displacement as an important “engine purchase decision influencer,” 34% said their preference now is for trucks in same weight class but with smaller sized engines; that spec will drive their purchases over next five years. Semi-automatic and fully automatic transmissions are the fastest growing advanced powertrain technologies. Nearly 50% of fleet managers reported preference for “OEM nameplate engines” while the remainder reported either a preference for third-party independent engine suppliers or using a mixed-sourcing approach. Interestingly, “convenience of servicing” emerged as the top reason for choosing OEM nameplate engines, Frost & Sullivan found. Roughly 57% of the fleet managers polled said they are interested in hybrid powertrain systems if the upfront price premium can be recovered within three years or less from date of purchase. There’s also a “noticeable increase” in the percentage of fleet managers likely to consider OEM nameplate transmissions as well, though 42% of them consider place OEM nameplate and third-party independent transmission suppliers on equal footing. Nearly three in four surveyed fleet managers said natural gas as a truck fuel is “attractive” if – and this is a big “if” – the price difference between a gallon of diesel and a diesel-equivalent gallon (DGE) of natural gas is maintained at $1 or more and it “adequate” natural gas fueling infrastructure is established. On top of that, an 11.6-liter displacement seems to be the most preferred natural gas engine of choice by the fleet managers in Frost & Sullivan’s poll. On another front, the firm dug up some interesting safety insights – particularly in terms of how much fleet managers are willing to pay for technologies such as forward-collision warning and the like: The increased ability to take preventive measures, tangible return on investment (ROI), reducing likelihood of accidents, and improved driver monitoring are the biggest reasons driving purchases of specific safety technology packages. A separate Frost & Sullivan poll found that roughly 60% of fleets have experienced a rollaway/runaway crash over the past 24 months, with 18% of these incidents resulting in fatalities. That data in particular is driving Bendix to develop a new product called “E-Park” that it hopes to make commercially available in 2018. [Read more about that here.] A price tag of $2,750 was found to be the “optimal” dollar amount for automatic collision mitigation systems, implying that if these systems are priced at this level, adoption rates could increase rapidly. In particular, Kar told me that there are too many “disparate” safety systems available today and that fleet managers would prefer one system offering multiple capabilities – driver monitoring, video, automatic emergency braking, etc. – down the road to help them reduce their spend on such technologies. Then we come to telematics in trucking; subject matter Kar is well-versed in but also one that fleet managers seem to view as a way to help solve their many myriad problems; from increasing asset utilization to reducing maintenance costs. Here’s a sampling of Frost & Sullivan’s findings: Separate research by Frost & Sullivan indicates trucks are traveling empty 30% of the time. About 55% of fleets with more than 500 vehicles use a telematics-based transportation management system (TMS) of some sort, the firm noted, which drops to 32% or fleets operating between 50 and 500 trucks and declines to just 4% for fleets running 50 or fewer vehicles. Some 48% of the fleet managers polled by the firm showed interest in smartphone based freight brokering, also colloquially known as “Uber for trucks.” While most fleet managers continue showing preference for in-vehicle installed telematics hardware device, share of portable /handheld devices is growing. Third party telematics providers continue to lead in-vehicle telematics hardware device enabled telematics services market; however, the share of truck OEM-provided systems is now at 41% among surveyed fleets. Monitoring of drivers and vehicle (both mobile resources) now rank as most important and influential factors for fleets when purchasing telematics services and associated hardware. Critical event alert/safety system intervention alert is the most preferred telematics service among surveyed fleet managers, with $5 to $10 per month being incremental service fee range for this feature. Optimal price for this technology was found to be $5.50 per month per truck, based on the firm’s “price sensitivity” measurement analysis. Some 65% of surveyed fleet managers showed interest in a remote calibration and maintenance system – a trend that is more pronounced among medium sized fleets - while 48% them would prefer to pay for such services upfront at time of vehicle purchase rather than as an ongoing monthly fee. Of all the telematics services offer, prognostics is estimated to grow fastest among the fleet managers polled by Frost & Sullivan as rising equipment complexity, the growing technician shortage, and need for downtime reduction are behind the rising interest in prognostics. Some 92% of safety managers and 78% of maintenance managers showed interest in remote diagnostics/prognostics data integration to their organization’s maintenance management systems. Yet what are fleets willing to pay for such telematics-driven services? According to the firm’s poll, $26 per month per truck is the highest monthly subscription fee fleets are willing to pay to adopt telematics “en masse.” For prognostics, the highest fee that fleet managers were willing to pay was $12 per truck per month. However, Frost & Sullivan found that $4 per month per truck is the “optimal price point” for prognostics. Those are definitely a wide range of interesting trends for fleets to ponder as we ride out the (hopefully) short term speed bumps now occurring in the freight world.