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New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009. How then, do they expect to justly deal with murderers? Do the citizens of New Mexico actually want to use their tax money to incarcerate a cold-blooded murderer for life in prison? Really now, what's the point? Until confirmed murderers (indisputable situations) are summarily executed, we will continue see our crime rate soar, and our quality-of-life plummet. Until we put the fear of god into those with criminal will..................... No American should fear for their safety in these United States. However, these are the times we now live in, with an excessively politically correct and thin-skinned society that hasn't the nerve to call a spade a spade, and take an eye for an eye. Look at this man's cocky face (it speaks volumes). He wouldn't hesitate to pull his gun again tomorrow and shoot at another citizen. He and his values belong in Somalia, or one of the drug cartel-run Latin American countries.

Volvo Says Weaker Krona Helped Boost Profit as Orders Fell Bloomberg / October 23, 2015 Truck orders dropped 15%; construction equipment fell 35%Volvo is less than halfway to reaching cost-cutting targetVolvo AB said the krona’s decline on currency markets helped boost third-quarter operating profit even as truck orders, a predictor for future sales, dropped 15 percent. The stock gained to a five-week high. Earnings excluding interest, taxes and costs related to restructuring surged 75 percent to 5.1 billion kronor ($604 million), Gothenburg, Sweden-based Volvo, said Friday in a statement. Advance sales contracts for trucks declined to 42,648 vehicles, while orders for construction equipment dropped even more, falling 34 percent to 7,898 units. Volvo, the world’s second-biggest truckmaker, is restructuring to become more profitable amid pressure from investor Cevian Capital AB while contending with market declines in China and Brazil. The manufacturer remains less than halfway to reaching a goal of cutting 10 billion kronor in annual costs by next year, as savings on a 12-month rolling basis reached 4.2 billion kronor in the quarter. Commercial-vehicle manufacturers including Daimler AG, the world’s biggest truck producer, have been counting on demand in Europe and North America to sustain profit and make up for weakening economic growth in China and a recession in Brazil. While Volvo reiterated a forecast for North America’s truck market to expand 15 percent in 2015, demand in the region is also declining, “albeit from a very high level,” acting Chief Executive Officer Jan Gurander said in the statement. “They’ll struggle to meet their efficiency target,” said David Jacobsson Cederberg, a Stockholm-based analyst at Pareto Securities. “They’ll get there for the most part, but probably not all, because of the change in demand conditions,” he said, citing a mix of a more positive outlook for Europe, the negative guidance on North America and poor prospects for next year for construction equipment. Volvo rose as much as 4.1 percent to 90.75 kronor, the highest intraday price since Sept. 17, and was trading up 2.6 percent as of 9:11 a.m. in Stockholm. The stock has gained 5.7 percent this year. Third-quarter sales jumped 9 percent to 73.3 billion kronor, and the operating margin widened to 6.9 percent of revenue from 4.3 percent. Truck deliveries rose 3 percent, bolstered by growth of 13 percent in Europe and 10 percent in North America. Exchange-rate effects added 831 million kronor to operating profit. Volvo said it’s evaluating selling its Arrow Truck Sales used-vehicle unit in North America, which includes a customer finance portfolio worth about $250 million. Daimler AG said Thursday that its truck deliveries rose 2 percent to 128,4966 vehicles for an operating return on revenue of 8.2 percent, above its target. The Stuttgart, Germany-based company tempered its forecast to a “slight” increase in sales this year, compared with a previous goal of a “significant” gain, as recovery in Brazil remains distant and demand in Indonesia weakened.

Press Release / October 22, 2015 Nextran Corporation, one of the top selling dealers of Mack brand trucks in the nation, broke ground on its state-of-the-art Atlanta regional location adjacent to Highway 85, northeast of Atlanta. "I'm pleased that Duluth was selected for Nextran's flagship location," said Duluth Mayor Nancy Harris. "It's both an economic boost and an opportunity for new jobs. We are proud to welcome Nextran to our community." The new, strategically located Atlanta area location, which will create 80 new jobs, is scheduled to open in mid-2016 and will provide convenient access to the many major highway interchanges in the region. The 55,000 square foot facility will house both sales and service functions, focused on medium and heavy-duty trucks. The service shop, a large space of more than 120 linear feet, will feature an overhead crane spanning 112 feet, and a separate area for repair of vehicles powered by natural gas. "With the opening of our 15th location, we continue to expand our network of Nextran Truck Centers to serve our trucking industry customers who have the important responsibility of delivering essential products for America's businesses and consumers," said Jon W. Pritchett, President and CEO, Nextran Corporation. "Our customers rely on us to keep them moving everyday – to us, it's about more than just selling and servicing trucks – it's about helping our customers fulfill the promises they've made to their customers. We take that responsibility very seriously." "The addition of a new Nextran location to Mack's extensive dealership network will further Mack's ability to offer a low total cost of ownership to customers and help improve uptime support," said Stephen Roy, President of Mack Trucks North America. "Nextran is a recognized leader among truck dealers in terms of service and innovation. This facility will be a flagship dealership for Mack Trucks, and we look forward to our ongoing partnership with Nextran as we continue to provide service and support for our customers." Nextran Truck Centers are strategically located along major transportation corridors in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The company's product offering include some of the world's strongest brands: Mack Trucks; Volvo Trucks; Isuzu; Ford; and Fuso trucks.

Volvo Group Press Release / October 23, 2015 The Volvo Group continued to strengthen its profitability in the third quarter of 2015. Operating income excluding restructuring charges amounted to SEK 5.1 billion. This is an improvement of 75% compared with the corresponding quarter in 2014 and the operating margin improved by 2.6 percentage points to 6.9%. Sales amounted to SEK 73.3 billion, which was an increase of 9%. Adjusted for currency movements, sales increased by 1%. • In the third quarter net sales increased by 9% to SEK 73.3 billion (67.2). Adjusted for currency movements and acquired and divested units sales increased by 1%. • Operating income amounted to SEK 5,087 M (2,908) excluding restructuring charges of SEK 434 M (659). Currency exchange rates had a positive impact of SEK 831 M. • The operating margin excluding restructuring charges amounted to 6.9% (4.3). • Operating cash flow in the Industrial Operations amounted to SEK –3.3 billion (0.9). • Truck order intake decreased by 15% and order intake of construction equipment decreased by 34%. For a PDF version of the report, please click here: Volvo Group Q3 2015 PDF

High expectations for new Volvo Head Goteborgs-Posten / October 22, 2015 Volvo Group must become more profitable. It is the market's expectation of AB Volvo's new CEO Martin Lundstedt. -One is humbled by the task, said Lundstedt, which starts with learning to the organization. Facts: Martin Lundstedt Born in 1967. Coming from: Mariestad, Vastergotland, Sweden. Family: Married, with two children. Education: Master of Engineering from the Chalmers University of Technology. Career: His entire career spent at Scania. Started as a trainee in 1992. After a number of executive positions, including head of engine development, plant manager in France, director of product marketing and management for the truck. Appointed as President and CEO of Scania in 2012. Trivia: He often played classical guitar at Scania staff gatherings. Martin Lundstedt has gone "the long way" in Scania and is said to be a man with great interest for trucks. This spring, Volvo announced it had recruited him to be president. It was a bit surprising, given many saw Martin Lundstedt as strongly associated with competitor Scania, where he has been President since 2012. Now Lundstedt is beginning his new position at Volvo after a six month transitional 'waiting period'. His first day included a meeting with the media. But rather than hold it in an executive building, Lundstedt held the press conference in the workshop of a Volvo truck dealer in Backa, Hisingen. - I think is one of the most important factors for a successful Volvo is to be instrumental in creating a sustainable transport and logistics system, says Martin Lundstedt. He will start out at Volvo getting to know the management, and talking to both employees and customers. Sometimes the opinion that the group is too cumbersome, with a range of different products from trucks and buses to construction equipment and marine engines. Volvo has acquired a number of different companies since 2000, but it has been unable to realize synergies and subsequent additional profitability that the market had hoped for. This was one of the key reasons for Olof Persson’s ouster. “Volvo wasted four years and the Volvo share price was stomped, while the overall stock market was soaring like a spear,” says Albin Rännar at Aktiespararna (the Swedish Shareholders' Association). Rännar have great expectations Lundstedt, calling Scania "one of the most well-managed companies." -Volvo is a spread conglomerate of brands, each of which are strong in their respective markets, but with far too dispersed resources. I expect rationalization and savings, but also focus, development and investments. Scania has been in the forefront technologically and in terms of emissions, says Albin Rännar. On Friday, Volvo presents its earnings report for the third quarter.

Very hard work awaits new Volvo CEO Goteborgs-Posten / October 22, 2015 After six months quarantine is Martin Lundstedt finally there, next to a truck in Bäckebol. - We have much hard work ahead, he says. Behind one of the doors at the Volvo truck dealer is a table with a white tablecloth. Coffee and cinnamon buns. Nearby, technicians are working as usual on trucks and buses. The dealership’s gate raises up and a green Volvo bus rolls in. In connection with the quarterly report just six months ago came the news that the Volvo Group was firing CEO Olof Persson, and that Scania CEO Martin Lundstedt would take his place. Since then, Martin Lundstedt remained in quarantine, with no contact with either the old or the new employer. Over this period, he has been bringing himself up to speed on the “state of the union” at AB Volvo. While he already had firm knowledge of Volvo’s business where Volvo and Scania operated in the same markets, he now has learned more about the other areas of Volvo including the situation in North America. - It is a great matter, and many different issues. There has been a very, very concentrated and focused work on Volvo and the most important message for me now is: this work will continue in a good way, says Martin Lundstedt. The service technicians pause as martin Lundstedt steps through the gate together with CFO Jan Gurander. The media’s interest in this extraordinary press conference is huge, even more so that the quarterly performance announcement on Friday. - It feels both exciting and a little nervous, says Martin Lundstedt. He says he's been waiting months for this day. Now he wants to get started, meet employees and customers. Martin Lundstedt grew up in Mariestad and graduated from the Chalmers University of Technology with a master's degree in engineering. After graduating in the early 1990s, he has spent his entire professional career at truckmaker Scania. What was it that attracted you over to the competitor Volvo? - I knew well when I was asked, I was ready for this step. It is a company that is one of the largest in Sweden, has a global position and a number of business areas that are new to me. I have a personal Gothenburg connection, having studied at Chalmers and having many friends here. What will be the biggest challenge? - To begin with, it is that together with management and employees to get to know the organization. It is a large company with huge market presence, two to three percent of our sales are in Sweden. I want to put myself in it and understand where we're going forward. When it became clear six months ago that Martin Lundstedt would take over, Volvo’s share price took a huge leap upwards. And from ownership elsewhere, expectations are huge. Christer Gardell, a major shareholder through Cevian, said that he believes Mr. Lundstedt can and will make Volvo the world's best and most profitable truck manufacturer. Can you fulfill everyone’s expections? - You can not reply with absolute certainty, but you do not take a job that you do not think you can do good and to help develop. We will have much hard work ahead, but we should also remember that the Volvo Group already has a very strong position in many markets.

An interview with new Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt Dagens Industri / October 22, 2015 Ex-Scania man Martin Lundstedt is expected to take Volvo's shareholders on a journey from industrial conglomerate to a more focused truck manufacturer. But the first day on the new job, he is keeping many of his thoughts to himself. "A statement here and now would be unwise - and disrespectful to the organization I just stepped in. I want to listen to the employees and customers to understand how we can develop Volvo," says Martin Lundstedt. A Volvo truck dealer in an industrial area along the highway in Hisingen acts as the press room where AB Volvo's new CEO Martin Lundstedt begins his first day on the job. It has been a little over seven months since we disclosed that Olof Persson would be fired from Volvo, and Martin Lundstedt was the main candidate to succeed him. After sitting in quarantine for six months, it is time to deliver on the hopes that were born with the change of CEO. Lundstedt is expected to drive the transformation from industrial conglomerate to truck manufacturers. It is not just about the big structural questions surrounding whether Volvo Construction Equipment (VCE) will be under the same roof, but also regarding ownership of listed companies Deutz and Mongolian fire engine manufacturer Mongolia Hauler Joint Stock. "The first thing I will do is to get to know the business, meet people and my next product range," says Martin Lundstedt. You must have thoughts about Volvo's structure? "If I had formed any opinions about Volvo after just three hours on the job, I would not share them with you first. It can be noted that Volvo has strong market positions for its different brands, so it has a structure that has been successful. To begin to speculate structural changes now will not happen, "says Martin Lundstedt. He has been in contact with activist fund Cevian, but says he has no reason to review the owners' vision of Volvo. What to expect as a shareholder in Volvo? "One should expect that we will go for it." We reported yesterday that Martin Lundstedt is going from Scania which sparingly provides sponsorships, to Volvo where money is extravagantly spent on the Volvo Ocean Race, golf tournaments and Gothenburg Horse Show. Do you like sailing, golf and equestrian sports? "I've bought a 31 foot yacht, so I like sailing. I also enjoy golf and equestrian sports, but I seldom get the opportunity." How do you look at Volvo's sponsorship methodology, which differs from Scania? "The companies have different backgrounds and have different decisions. Volvo is visible in a number of contexts, and Scania in others. How we are to appear in the group in the future is something we will discuss," says Martin Lundstedt. He is originally from the city of Mariestad western Sweden’s western province of Vastergotland, and holds a master's degree in engineering degree from the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, where he will settle. A union representative at Scania said they would fly their flag at half mast if you were to leave. How do you feel about this? "Sometimes life presents you with tough decisions, but then you should have a good dialogue and can look each other in the eyes. Half mast was difficult to take in, but I see it as an honor."

Volvo's new CEO SvD Naringsliv / October 22, 2015 Thursday was Martin Lundstedt’s first day at AB Volvo and he speaks warmly of customer focus - not sales activities. A new shiny red Volvo truck dominates the room at Volvo truck dealer on the outskirts of Gothenburg, Sweden. . Martin Lundstedt chosen this location for his first press meeting. It is just a few kilometers down the road from Volvo’s headquarters overlooking Gothenburg, but the distance seems like a trip to the moon. The symbolism of the truck workshop, after the corporate jet scandals of Industrivärden, which owns 22 percent of Volvo, could not be clearer. Three meters from Lundstedt, truck mechanic Patrik Granberg is working on a truck engine in a white Volvo truck. He has worked 28 years at AB Volvo. Lundstedt three hours. If you wake up in the middle of the night - what is the biggest challenge to achieving a profit increase? - Continue to focus on the customers, it is always what ultimately provides a sound position, says Martin Lundstedt. - Some would like to discuss a quick fix - structures and clearance sales, but it is about having a professional organization that serves customers. This leads to long-term profitability, he said. You have margin of nearly 3 percent. What is your goal? - I do not want to formulate a goal after being here just three hours. It would be bordering on frivolous. For the new CEO, it all started last spring. Volvo's Board Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg called him - when Lundstedt was still CEO of Scania. Svanberg asked if he wanted to be chief executive of the largest competitor. Just at that moment, Volkswagen had announced that it was forming a new business unit, Truck & Bus GmbH, to oversee both Scania and MAN. Under that new structurem Martin Lundstedt’s power would be trimmed. What was first thought? - I was overwhelmed. You always put your heart into what you do. He becomes quiet. - But I felt when the question came, that I was ready to have a discussion and take a next step. They met at a hotel in Stockholm. Martin Lundstedt accepted the offer to become CEO at one of Sweden's largest companies with over 100 000 employees, including more than 20,000 in Sweden. Lundstedt would now depart from Scania, a Swedish company focused exclusively on commercial trucks, and has an industry leading profit margin of over 10 percent. He has a tough journey ahead of them to work up the profit margin at much more diverse Volvo, which today is just under 3 percent - and thus differs dramatically from Scania. Since Volvo's car business was sold to Ford in 1999, sales increased from 100 to almost 300 billion through acquisitions. But then-CEO Leif Johansson never got out of the synergies he wanted. Olof Persson, who became CEO in 2010, said he would cut 10 billion Kronor and eliminate 4,400 employees over the 2012-2016 periodm but profit increases have been slow in coming. In the end, Olof Persson was fired. The press has increased since Carl-Henric Svanberg became Board Chairman and activist fund Cevian with Christer Gardell spearheaded increased its stake to almost 15 percent of the votes. This week it became clear that Volvo IT operations will be sold. And it’s no secret that Christer Gardell firmly believes in spinning off more Volvo business units, mainly the problem child movers who account for a fifth of sales. It is a company with many different businesses. To what do you see biggest challenge? - It is not as sprawling as you might think. There are many similarities between the operations. The group is great - it must have respect for, there are different brands and slightly different logic for business between construction equipment and trucks - but above all there are many similarities. Cevian with Christer Gardell at the head is a large shareholder which now has a representative on the board. What is your relationship with Christer Gardell? - I have met Christer and other representatives of Cevian. We have a great relationship. Do you share his view of Volvo? - I do not want to critique our shareholders. We will listen to all shareholders, large and small. Lundstedt’s personality is warm and spontaneous. He speaks with the fast western Swedish Skaraborg dialect, and laughs often. But now he comes to a Volvo, where many issues raised to symbolic issues, including housing. He has moved to Gothenburg - where Volvo thru the Persson era had provided their CEOs with luxury apartments or villas. But now, that policy has been cancelled. - I have rented a private apartment which feels great. A three and a half, which is great. His wife and two children will move over to Sweden's west coast from the east coast city of Stockholm and join him later. During this transitional period, he will retain their house on Stora Essingen in Stockholm. - But I have moved to Gothenburg, it is clear, he says.

Regarding the Mack brand, there's no where to go but up with Martin Lundstedt. Unlike Persson, Martin is a career truck man. And he had the best environment in the business at Scania. He has the full support of Volvo's board chairman to make major changes. He (Carl-Henric Svanberg) is extremely upset about Volvo's present situation, brought on by Persson's poor decisions. He cost Volvo a lot of money. Volvo went downhill from the day Persson took over, and they now realize he was a mistake. Having sold Volvo Aero, Volvo IT is nearly sold, and the now unprofitable Volvo Construction is on the table. I hope (actually expect) to see management changes at Volvo Group Trucks Sales & Marketing Americas, because, particularly over the last 12 months, the morale of the Mack brand people at Volvo's Greensboro HQ is on the floor, and the dealers are frustrated.

Volvo Group Press Release / October 22, 2015 http://www.volvogroup.com/GROUP/GLOBAL/EN-GB/INVESTORS/CORPORATE_GOVERNANCE/CEO_GEM/Pages/MartinLundstedt.aspx .

International’s new vocational truck to debut in February Truck News / October 22, 2015 A new International vocational truck, which will replace the PayStar, will be unveiled in February and will start hitting dealer lots in April. Jeff Sass, senior vice-president, North America truck sales and marketing with Navistar, told Trucknews.com at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition that the new truck will be called the HX series. It will make its debut at World of Concrete and will be available for purchase by April 2016. The new series will include a full line of options and configurations, including: set-forward axle; set-back axle; long hood, short hood, 13-litre power; 15-litre power, front and rear power take-offs, etc. “Everything that’s needed for construction and vocational markets,” Sass said. “It’s been a while since we had a full product line, since we shifted to the SCR system.” The truck has been developed by Navistar, but drawing on “synergies” that existed under its previous alliance with Caterpillar. The truck will feature an aluminum cab and brand new interior. It will replace the PayStar immediately upon its launch. Sass, who was recruited in June from Paccar, where he spent 20 years serving in 11 roles across five divisions, said he’s been travelling extensively since joining the company, meeting with fleets and dealers in the US and Canada. One of the products the company has been pushing is its OnCommand Connection remote diagnostics platform. It’s an open architecture system, allowing fleets to monitor all their vehicles – not just International brand trucks. Sass said the company now has 150,000 trucks covered by OnCommand Connection. “Only half of them are Internationals,” he said. “We have 23 different telematics providers that have integrated with our OnCommand Connection and we are able to therefore monitor Petes, Kenworths, Freightliners, Volvos – whatever the case is. One fleet just told me they have half Internationals and half another brand, but all of them are on OnCommand Connection.” Sass said the ability to monitor an entire mixed fleet through one portal is the biggest benefit to fleets and differentiator from other remote diagnostics systems in the market. Navistar is now looking to bring over-the-air engine reprogramming to its customers, so that engine updates can be done remotely. “Instead of having to bring the truck into the dealership and get hooked up and do an engine re-flash, we can do that through a WiFi connection at a fleet’s terminal,” Sass said. That offering is entering the pilot testing stage with select fleets. The goal is to commercialize it in the first quarter of 2016, but Sass said there’s still some work to be done. “Two things are mission critical with that before we go commercial,” he said. “First is security. We can’t have a 12-year-old in Norfolk, Nebraska on her laptop reprogramming trucks – it has to be secure. Secondly, if you have your truck at a dealership and a software glitch happens, someone is there taking care of it. If we do it over-the-air and it’s in the fleet’s yard, there has to be a 24/7/365 technical support hotline they can call that will have someone on the other end who will know what the fix is, because the last thing we want to have happen is a glitch and not be able to run that truck the next day because no one is there to take care of it.” Navistar is in the process of building the establishing the tech support and security systems that will address reliability and security. Typically, engines require a couple software updates per year, so fleets will immediately benefit from being able to update their engines without taking their trucks to the dealership. Over-the-air programming will also reduce congestion at dealer service bays, which should improve throughput. Further down the road, more spectacular benefits are possible, Sass said. “In the future, a customer driving from L.A. to Green Bay, Wisc., where you go through the desert, through Vegas, up over the Rockies, and into the plains states – what if we can send them before they take off, a fuel map that optimizes based on its GPS coordinates so that it changes as they head into the Rockies? That way, you can optimize your fuel economy not just of that truck, but for that actual route,” Sass said, noting that capability is still some time away. Over-the-air reprogramming will initially be offered only on Navistar engines, with Cummins engines added soon after.

Heavy Duty Trucking / October 22, 2015 The 2016 Mid-America Trucking Show‘s loss of all Class 8 truck manufacturers as exhibitors is “a blow” but “we’ll just have to weather the storm,” said Toby Young, who heads Exhibit Management Associates, the annual event’s owner. Yesterday, Peterbilt Motors became the final Class 8 original equipment manufacturer to say that it will skip next year’s MATS. The announced change from many years of annual participation was begun in May by Daimler Trucks North America, which said it would begin alternating between the IAA Commercial Truck Show in Hannover, Germany, and MATS in Louisville. Volvo, Navistar and Mack followed suit throughout the summer, and this week Kenworth and Peterbilt joined the 2016 desertion. “It’s very unfortunate, both for the show and the industry,” said Young. “We still hope they [the original equipment manufacturers] will still participate, perhaps at the dealer level, to continue their brands in some way. “It’s so important not just for the show and the industry, but for the OEs," he continued. "They can’t connect with their customers and their suppliers, there won’t be any new models on display, and we’re not going to be able to get together as an [entire] industry." He said there’ll probably be other desertions. “There’ll be a few suppliers that will pull out because of the OEs not being there, but they’re not being as public as the OEs have been in announcing it,” Young said. The OEMs were only six of the 1,062 exhibitors at the 2015 show in March. But the heavy-truck builders rented large amounts of space and had a big impact beyond that. Many in the industry attended MATS to see the latest heavy-truck products and talk with factory representatives. “That’s what we’ll miss, a strong draw for the attendance,” Young lamented. Also, the moves were revealed on rather short notice, and Exhibit Management Associates has a long-term contract for use of the Kentucky Expo Center. “Long before we heard about the OEs’ decision, we booked the entire facility,” he said. “That’s what you have to do to secure it all,” including the parking on the expo center grounds and blocks of hotel rooms. “That’s what’s kinda tough to swallow,” he said. “It doesn’t give us enough time to make adjustments. But we’ll adapt.” Over 750 companies have applied to be part of the 2016 show so far, and more will almost certainly follow. With more inside space available, many exhibitors that have been waiting for better “real estate,” including those relegated to space outside, might be able to get inside at the next show, scheduled for March 31 to April 2, 2016. “There’s a silver lining in this, and it’s that they still believe in the show,” Young said of the OEMs, which have all stated that they’ll return the following year. “They want to be here in 2017, and I think they’ll be assessing the damage by not being here in 2016.” Young said his organization is not considering following the OEMs and changing MATS to a semi-annual schedule because “there are too many companies that depend on it being on an annual basis.” They range from truck, trailer and major-component builders to fleet driver recruiters to sellers of boots and belt buckles. Toby Young’s father, Paul Young, founded the show in 1972 as a small regional event in an airplane hanger at nearby Sanderson Field. At that time, the North American industry’s largest gathering was the International Trucking Show in California, which was expensive for most suppliers based in central states to travel and ship exhibits to, and hotel costs were high. The Young family capitalized on Louisville’s closer location and, when MATS had moved to the Kentucky Expo Center, pointed out its abundant and easy-to-get-to parking for tractor-trailers, lower exhibit fees and more reasonable rates for hotel rooms. By the early '90s MATS had eclipsed ITS, which thereafter withered. Most of the Louisville advantages are still there, and observers think the show will remain popular with most exhibitors and therefore remain a large show. How much smaller it will be in the off years, when the truck OEMs aren’t there, remains to be seen.

Historic curiosities turn up at Ram Trucks event Fleet Owner / October 22, 2015 You never know what stories you'll find behind some of the many classic and vintage trucks out there. Fleet Owner stumbled across a truck that may have fueled planes at Chicago's O'Hare Airport back when the Allies were fighting World War II and a 1940s Dodge that perhaps delivered milk, logs and other goods decades ago in Wisconsin. Much as the focus was on the latest capabilities of the 2016 Ram Trucks lineup at the Heavy Hauler demo event Tuesday, some much older timers that made an appearance got lots of attention as well. A group of five vintage Dodge trucks, most dating back to the WWII era or earlier, was at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Chelsea Proving Grounds for the event. That included a 1938 Dodge Airflow tanker, which restoration specialist Dean Reifsnider tells Fleet Owner may be the last actually running example of its kind in the country. It was purchased in very rough shape years ago from an owner in South Carolina, he says. A press release from 2001 when the Walter P. Chrysler Museum unveiled the restored truck stated it was one of only 12 remaining in the world. "You'll see a lot of models of this truck if you're in a truck stop or a fuel station," however, Reifsnider points out, a testament to the truck's classic lines and design. He also notes the possible history of the truck being used at O'Hare, "but we're not 100% certain of that." Check through our gallery photos for a look in and around the tanker's features and equipment as well as the other classic and antique trucks at the event. Though the Airflow was gazes-only, reporters got in and drove the other vintage Dodge hardware: A 1940 half-ton pickup, a 1941 Command Car WC-6 half-ton 4x4 military truck and a sleek 1964 D100 pickup. A 1947 2 1/2-ton heavy truck may have once hauled goods for an old-time trucking entrepreneur — the name painted on its side is John Maldonis, and it shows an address of Dorchester, WI. Some online digging turned up this obituary of John Charles Maldonis, born in 1918 and died in 2004 at age 85. According to the obit, John — who "enjoyed woodworking and was a hardworking man who loved his family" — "also owned and operated his own trucking business, hauling milk, gravel, logs and pulpwood." Photo Gallery – http://fleetowner.com/equipment/chelsea-vintage-dodges-drew-eyes-too#slide-0-field_images-174691 Additional Photos - http://fleetowner.com/fleet-management/historic-curiosities-turn-ram-trucks-event

Transport Topics / October 22, 2015 Daimler AG reported third-quarter earnings before interest and taxes at its global truck division were the highest ever, climbing 34% to about $897 million compared with about $667 million in the year-earlier quarter. The company said the gain primarily was driven by higher unit sales in North America and Europe, positive exchange-rate effects and the realization of further efficiency improvements. Truck sales in North America grew by 19% to a record 52,200 trucks compared with the year-earlier period, said the company, which is the parent of Daimler Trucks North America. DTNA's heavy-duty brands include market-leading Freightliner Trucks and niche product Western Star Trucks. “In the third quarter, we proved once again that we are pursuing the right strategies and are progressing with the right products and technologies,” said Daimler Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber. Uebber said Daimler’s overall revenue compared with the year-ago period increased 13% to about $42 billion.

Jacobs Vehicle Systems Press Release / October 22, 2015 Jacobs Vehicle Systems, the world’s leading manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engine retarding systems and valve actuation mechanisms, announces that it has launched an engine brake for the DAF MX-11 Euro 6 in North America. The new Jacobs engine brake was the result of more than three years of collaboration between Jacobs and Paccar engineers to provide an integrated engine brake solution which minimizes weight and space while providing market leading braking power. The MX-11 engine brake delivers up to 319 kW (427 hp) of braking power at 2100 rpm and 208 kW (278 hp) at 1500 rpm, which is the most fuel efficient engine speed for maximum performance of the vehicle. “This is a very exciting time for Jacobs Vehicle Systems. The successful launch of the new MX-11 engine brake is a terrific demonstration of the benefits resulting from joint engineering between Paccar and Jacobs. This fully integrated design optimizes the brake into the smallest and lightest package while still delivering benchmark performance,” stated Joao Cullen, VP of Engineering. The MX-11 Jacobs engine brake is currently available in the European market on the new DAF Euro 6 CF and XF Series trucks, and will be launched in North America on Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks in January 2016.

Wall Street Journal / October 22, 2015 Trucking companies, struggling to attract enough drivers, may soon be able to put more teenagers behind the wheel. Under federal law, states can grant anyone over 18 a commercial drivers’ license, the main qualification to drive a truck. However, few drivers start that young because they need to be 21 to haul freight across state lines. Trucking executives say the age limit is making it hard to find enough drivers, with the most severe shortage in long-haul trucking, which typically requires drivers to cross state lines. “Drivers today can drive from San Francisco to San Diego, but can’t cross the street in Texarkana,” a city on the Texas-Arkansas border, said Rob Abbott, vice president for safety policy at the American Trucking Associations, an industry group. “That’s an imaginary boundary. It’s illogical.” The highway funding bill working its way through Congress contains language that would weaken those barriers. Both the House and Senate versions of the legislation would create a pilot program allowing groups of states to create “compacts” permitting truckers under 21. The Senate version lowers the minimum age to 18, while the House bill allows drivers older than 19-and-a-half. The prospects for the provision are uncertain. The Senate passed a long-term transportation bill in July with the pilot program included. But the House has yet to vote on its own legislation, and the two bills must then be merged and passed again in both chambers. Congressional aides said this week that because there is so little time before the current highway funding authorization expires Oct. 29, lawmakers are likely to pass another short-term extension, which would leave the trucker age limits intact. Speaking this week at the ATA’s management convention in Philadelphia, Mr. Abbott said getting young people into trucking was near the top of the group’s list of priorities. Trucking companies need an additional 48,000 drivers to keep up with demand for freight transportation, the ATA said in a recent report, and many fleets have raised pay and other benefits aggressively over the last year to recruit drivers. Safety groups, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, oppose the proposal to lower age limits, which they say would make roads more dangerous because younger drivers are more likely to get into accidents. Many of these groups advocate for minimum ages to be raised for in-state trucking as well. “Eighteen, 19 and 20 year old drivers, whether behind the wheel of a car or a truck, are high-risk drivers,” said Jackie Gillan, the group’s president. “This just makes the motoring public into guinea pigs in a very dangerous experiment.” Trucking executives say they need to bring in more young people to counter a wave of retirements – the average trucker is nearly 50 - and to meet rising demand. The problem, they add, is that the job of a driver has a reputation for low pay and long, monotonous hours on the road away from home. Aaron Tennant, president of Colona, Ill.-based Tennant Truck Lines Inc., said his company has 15 of its 250 trucks sitting idle, at a cost of about $75,000 per month, because he can’t find drivers for them. He has raised pay twice in the last year to attract more drivers. Forcing potential drivers to wait three years after high school before becoming long-haul truckers drives young people into other jobs in construction, manufacturing, warehousing and retail, says John Lex, a third-generation trucker who has been driving for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for 13 years. Mr. Lex said he has two sons who showed no interest in trucking. One is currently in college, while the other works in a retail position at a Wal-Mart store. “A young kid who is 18, coming out of high school, he gets a job somewhere else, stays three years, decides he likes it. You can get a job in our warehouse making $18 or $20 an hour and go home every night after work,” he said. “I think we lose a lot of good drivers because of this.”

Wall Street Journal / October 22, 2015 Two of the country’s biggest trucking companies reported stronger-than-expected earnings but said tepid shipping demand would weigh on growth for the rest of the year. Werner Enterprises Inc. and Knight Transportation Inc. both reported better-than 20% year-over-year increases in earnings per diluted share for the third quarter, beating consensus expectations. Shares in both companies tumbled in trading on Thursday after analysts with UBS Securities LLC downgraded both companies and cut its rating for Swift Transportation Co. , which has not reported third-quarter earnings, on the tepid outlook the companies described. Werner’s stock was down nearly 4% in mid-day trading at $26.55 a share and Knight, which has been trading this month near its one-year low, fell nearly 7% to $24.05. Swift Transportation, the largest carrier in the U.S. specializing in full truckload services for shippers, fell about 5% to $14.85, its lowest point since April 2013. Werner reported a $32.1 million net profit in the quarter ending Sept. 30 that was 24% ahead of last year on an 8% gain in trucking revenue, without including surcharges, to $360 million. Knight reported $270 million in revenue for its truckload operations, excluding fuel surcharges, beating the same quarter last year by 18.5%, and earned $30.7 million, that was 21% ahead of the year-ago quarter. The strong earnings came during the run-up to the busy holiday shopping season, just after many trucking companies raised contract rates earlier this year. But both companies said demand was faltering compared to strong growth they saw in last year’s fourth quarter. Trucking capacity also has been relatively easily available, which could push down prices—and earnings—for the carriers, analysts said. Knight Chief Executive Dave Jackson called the freight environment “lukewarm.” Share prices for many trucking companies have fallen sharply in the last three months. Economists have said that some growth in the truckload sector this spring and summer was due to inventory stockpiling in the second quarter as West Coast ports cleared backlogs of imports that had accumulated during a labor dispute. Retailers and manufacturers now appear to be paring down some of that buildup, which will result in softer demand. Both Werner and Knight added to their truck fleets in the past year. Knight acquired Barr-Nunn Transportation in October 2014, and while its revenue jumped after that acquisition, it has remained relatively flat in the quarters since. As of the third quarter of this year, Werner had expanded its fleet by 5.5% year-over-year. Analysts at UBS said in a series of research notes early Thursday that there has been a “meaningful” deceleration in pricing at both Werner and Knight in the third quarter. UBS analysts said a softer freight market and weak spot pricing will make significant growth in earning per share a challenge for truckload companies in 2016.

Wall Street Journal / October 22, 2015 Fuel prices are low enough that truckers are again becoming more competitive with rail, executives at Union Pacific Corp. said Thursday. For years, railroads like Union Pacific have been developing their intermodal businesses of moving containers and trailers, allowing them to compete directly with truckers on their home turf. As fuel prices skyrocketed and trucking companies faced driver and capacity crunches, railroads became a logical, cheaper choice. But diesel prices have fallen by about 30% over the past year to $2.531 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, something that has made trucking prices more competitive again. “I think you look at what’s going on currently in the trucking environment, the lower fuel cost is allowing trucks to be more competitive vis-à-vis rail, just by virtue of that fact,” says Eric Butler, Union Pacific’s executive vice president of marketing and sales. While Union Pacific still expects to be able to grow its domestic intermodal business to record volumes for the seventh consecutive year, it added that its international intermodal business had declined in part due to softness in China. Railroads grew intermodal shipments to a record 13.5 million containers and trailers last year, up 5% from 2013 and comprising about 22% of revenue for major U.S. railroads, according to the Association of American Railroads. Year-to-date, U.S. intermodal traffic is up only 2.4%. Given a similarly priced choice, many shippers will choose trucking over rail, because the shipment can go point-to-point and will likely arrive faster. In addition, after an intermodal container is railed close to its destination, it still typically needs to be trucked the so-called final mile to its destination. Deutsche Bank analysts estimate that truckload rate increases, net of fuel, were only up 3.7% year-over-year in the third quarter, a much slower pace. “Softness coupled with weaker contractual rate increases and a 3% decline in spot pricing all weighed on both used truck volumes as well as pricing,” the analysts added in a recent note. Still, Union Pacific said trucking companies still face the same issues going forward, including a driver shortage and issues with productivity due to sleep regulations and road congestion. The company expects to continue to see shippers switching over, something it demonstrated with a 1% increase in domestic intermodal traffic in its third quarter. “Certainly trucks are great competitors, and there is some competitive impact that we always are cognizant of, but we’re still positive about the position that we are in as a rail and driving conversions from truck to rail,” Mr. Butler added.

Hillary's opening statement is a display of the classic Clinton "distract and deflect/redirect" strategy, refined down to an art over the years. Of Benghazi, a massive black eye for America, Clinton is merely recounting everything we already know, rather coming clean on how she failed in her responsibilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lH4KthFY0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QSEusYduvQ

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/42204-mack-australia-delivers-its-most-luxurious-truck-for-malaysian-royal/

A now we learn the 50 tons of ammunition (112 pallets) we air-dropped to Syrian rebels last last week was actually received by the Kurds. It wasn't an accident, rather an intended deception. What a tangled web we weave (dangerous, given we're no longer good at it in the Middle East). http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-15/u-s-airdrop-in-syria-ends-up-arming-the-kurds

I don't know one single American in my universe that would vote for Hillary Clinton. And you probably don't either. Clinton has only been successful at becoming loathed by one and all. And yet, the news is spinning a tale that polls indicate she is considered the most likely candidate to become president. Can a person that nobody would vote for get elected to the office of president?.............only in America.

New Mexico man murders 4-Year-Old Associated Press / October 22, 2015 A New Mexico man has confessed to the road rage murder of a 4-year-old girl. Tony Torrez, 32, was arrested Wednesday, a day after shooting Lilly Garcia on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque. The child was hit at least once in the head. Alan Garcia had Lilly and son Isaac, 7, in the back seat of his red Dodge Ram pickup after picking them up from school. He was attempting to exit the highway to go to a grocery store, but Torrez's car crossed two lanes of traffic and blocked him. Torrez pulled up alongside the Garcia’s pickup and fired multiple shots. The family did not know the suspect. "There were two children in this truck that this animal decided to open fire on just because he happened to get cut off on the freeway," said Tanner Tixier, a police spokesman. The father pulled over after the shooting and together with a few nurses who stopped to help, gave Lilly first aid as they waited for medics. When they arrived, they rushed her to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. "To have your child in your hands in such circumstances is going to live with the father for the rest of his life," police Chief Gorden Eden said. "This is a complete disrespect of human life. This is something that should not be happening in Albuquerque, New Mexico," said Eden. Torrez is charged with an open count of murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, assault with the intent to commit a violent felony, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, child abuse, child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence. He is being held on a $650,000 cash-only bond. .