TeamsterGrrrl

A lot of these losses can be traced to the failure of american management- Too short sighted to make long term investments and wait longer than a quarter for their companies to become profitable. During the recession of the 1980s half of our truck makers were bought up by Daimler and Volvo because while american management was divesting, they moved in and invested and patiently waited for profits. I saw the same thing happen in the bakery biz- While Wall Street "whiz kids" were cutting costs and the consumer be damned at Hostess, Bimbo methodically bought up the best run baking companies and gained the largest share of the american market.

Once companies "go public" and sell stock, there is no way to keep foreign investors from buying and taking control of them. Thus while a company may have an american name, they may in fact be majority owned by foreign shareholders. Bringing this discussion back to Mack, these days a truck maker needs a volume of at least 100,000 vehicles a year to be profitable. That's half the entire market for class 8 in an average year, and a quarter of the U.S. market for classes 6-8. The only way Mack could have reached those volumes would be to undercut competitors on pricing to the point of getting that kind of market share or expand in accessible foreign markets like Europe to the point of having half of sales outside of the U.S. The opportunity to do that passed 3 decades ago, and even in the glory days of the 70s Mack only sold around 30,000 trucks a year, far short of that 100,000 a year viability threshold.

It's significant that this acquisition will make FDX a partially unionized carrier, which is a veritable "sea change" for FDX. This assumes the merger doesn't fail for the same antitrust reasons TNT's acquisition by UPS did...

Got this PR from the CNG tank supplier, it mentions two manufacturers. KW has already been identified as one manufacturer, likely Mack is the other. Quantum Technologies Provides Fuel Systems to UPS for 319 CNG Heavy Duty Trucks Quantum has received an order from UPS for 319 fuel systems for UPS' heavy duty CNG vehicle program. The issuance of purchase orders will be coordinated through two OEMs and their installation partners. The delivery dates under this award are scheduled to begin in mid- 2015 and will include the recently released versions of Quantum's Q-CabLITE and Q-RailLITE storage systems, as well as delivery in the September time-frame of a version of Quantum's soon to be released next-generation, innovative back-of-cab storage system providing the highest storage capacity of any back-of-cab CNG system currently available in the industry. These new systems will offer unparalleled light weight technology which includes Quantum's industry leading Q-Lite® CNG storage tanks. "UPS is a leading force and participant in natural gas vehicle adoption and fleet operation in the United States and Quantum is proud to be able to support them in advancing their natural gas vehicle programs with a lower cost, domestic fuel - natural gas," said Mr. Brian Olson, President and CEO of Quantum. "We are excited to be working alongside and supporting UPS on this exciting program and the unveiling of our next-generation back-of-cab storage system technology," concluded Mr. Olson.

The Maxidynes are still available, but Volvo doesn't promote them. The engine with the broadest power curve, the mislabeled MP7 "Maxicruise" at 395 HP, is the most like the old Maxidynes with a power range from around 1100 to 2000 RPM. Mack still makes a 6 speed Maxitorque with gathered ratios, I've plotted out the gradability and such and it'd work well with this engine. Unfortunately the fleet customers are obsessed with fuel economy and want the governors set to 1800 RPM or so, too low to allow a Maxidyne to work with just 6 speeds. But the reality is that most trucks spend their driving time in the top 2 gears, and the wide ratio Maxitorques have only a 40% split between the top two gears, same as the close ration 9 and 10 speeds. Thus a good driver could keep the revs down for good economy in the top 2 gears while making only half as many shifts in the lower gears, where even Volvo has programmed their AMTs to skip gears for better economy. A Maxidyne + 6 speed Maxitorque combination that saves weight, is easier on the driver, and lasts darn near forever... What's not to like? But it wasn't invented in Goteberg and Volvo has a competing AMT, so Volvo's gonna keep it a secret and hope it goes away...

I got into driving trucks shortly after the Maxidyne came out, and driving one was a real treat. All of the competition, even the 335 Cummins and 8V-71s, were torqueless wonders with a narrow powerband that you always had to stay on top of. In town you could do all your driving with just 2 or 3 gears instead of the at least half dozen the competition required. On the highway you could get over 90+ percent of the hills without even downshifting, while a conventional engine would have you making at least one if not two or three downshifts.

Maxitorque 5 speeds seem t be a dime a dozen, why not just put the proper transmission behind the 237 Maxidyne?

Over the last couple years I've occasionally sighted a red CL700 with a pusher axle and the usual lowbed stuff pulling a 3 axle 12' wide lowbed with military vehicles aboard in southwest Minnesota. Checking the lots of the local Armories I haven't seen it, and it's way too big to stash inside the armory. Only ID on it is a government license plate. Saw it again today with an Armored Personell Carrier on the trailer and took chase, and despite the big and heavy load the Mack got up to road speed quickly... Definitately has plenty of power! Anybody know if this was part of a big military order of Macks? Or perhaps bought through or leased from GSA?

The sad fact is that the good drivers and carriers are going to have to spend thousands for these gadgets that they don't need.

These trucks are seriously undervalued... A new equivalent would cost well over $100k! You could completely rebuild an R model for far less.

Don't knock European trucking- They make more money than we do!

Kind of surprised that Eaton pulled their hydraulic hybrid off the market... If heard that it would smoke all 8 tires on a loaded refuse truck!

Good to see Ford offering a real truck that can carry a ton and then some, while the competition's half tons can only haul a half ton, provided the passenger(s) are on the skinny side!

I wouldn't make fun of VW... They've already got revered truck makers like MAN and Scania in their stable. Navistar is already using MAN's engine designs and neither MAN nor Scania make conventionals anymore and Navistar does, so it'd be a natural fit. For NAV shareholders, as long as VW pays them a bit over current market for their languishing NAV shares, it's a good deal... Why hang onto stock in a company that hasn't turned a profit in years when VW will buy you out? But is NAV a good deal for VW? Current market valuation of around 2.4 billion for a company with 6 billion in assets but 4 billion in debt is kinda iffy...

Navistar's steel cab has been out since around 2004, and wasn't a great design even then. Since then everyone but Mack/Volvo has come out with a new cab, and Mack/Volvo will soon have a new cab too. I don't think a new cab is a necessity myself, the Mack R model is new enough for me, but to most buyers having an "up to date" truck is important.

Navistar has barely survived near death experiences in the last recession and in the recession of the 1980s, to be honest i don't think they've got another recession left in them. While becoming a subsidiary of VW would be a blow to "'merican" pride, It'd be the best move for the future of the company, shareholders, workers, and customers. As an independent company, Navistar won't be able to attract the investment to replace it's dated products- For example, the current cab is about to become the oldest in the mainstream conventional market, and their own diesels are ancient compared to the competition.

Navistar is the only north american market acquisition that wouldn't be blocked for antitrust reasons, and neither Volvo nor Daimler would sell anyway. While Navistar is "damaged goods", buying Navistar and fixing it would be a whole lot cheaper and easier than tooling up a conventional and building a dealership network from scratch.

UPS has been using e-logs for over two decades now and is bigger and more profitable than ever.

When a market is controlled by only 3 or 4 suppliers, they start to act like a monopoly of one supplier. For example, when Hostess had most of the market for bread and snack cake, every few weeks they'd do a small price increase, then see if the other couple of wholesale bakers would follow. If the "competitors" matched Hostess' price increase, it stood; If the competitors didn't match the price increase, Hostess cancelled theirs. Entirely legal, and worked as well as a back room meeting between "competitors" to manipulate the market. Volvo did something similar with a $7500 price increase in 2007 and a further $7500 increase in 2010, reputedly to cover the cost of the tightened emission standards. It probably cost much less to meet the new standards, but it was a great excuse for a price increase.

Back in those days UPS engineered and designed the truck they wanted, then shopped for a manufacturer to build it.

Given that many fleets now operate a relay system or within a set radius of an intermodal facility, programming and speccing a truck for generic Interstate operation often makes no sense. The manufacturers offer customizability, and the users need to take advantage of it!

The DAF cabbed cabover that KW and Pete are selling looks suspiciously like the Volvo FL and it's Renault version, and comes with the ISB engine standard. If Volvo isn't still barred from selling mediums in the North American market due to the GM non-compete agreement, Volvo may be barred from selling the FL here due to terms of the "Club of Four" cab sharing agreement, as amended...

Short trains can be moved by trucks with "high rail" rail wheel conversions. Typically they're Western Star or Peterbuilt trucks converted by Brandt in Canada with a 600 HP engine and automatic transmission. The track is usually narrowed to put the drive tires on the rail, and they're ballasted with a heavy bed and often a big air compressor to the legal weight limit. They can pull up to 10 loaded cars, but not very fast!

I know that, and I'm still hoping to see one that makes it to a million miles without a rebuild.

Good to see some of my Teamster brothers and sister getting work up there!