Maxidyne

Volvo does offer the same powertrain, but the older Mack cab is more aerodynamic than Volvo's! The two drivers and trucks that are getting the most PR specced their Anthems with every efficiency trick in the book- full fairings including belly fairing, MP8 engine with turbo compounding, single drive axle, and long gearing that has them running at 1000-1200 RPM most of the time. Both trucks run sleeper cabs and they use sophisticated idea reduction technology so they only idie engines overnight under the worst conditions. Extreme measures and some compromises, but in an OTR operation the result is another $10,000 to $20,000 a year in profit!

There's been something of a "shakeout" of the excess capacity and the traditional carriers are offering expedited services, but the expeditors trade trucks often and buy enough trucks to justify a sleeper cab option on medium duty trucks. There are also markets like tow truck drivers who need a back seat to carry passengers or to log sleeper time on a long haul, Postal Service contractors who run straight trucks and lay over between runs, etc..

There's already a couple extended cabs developed, a same width version for the Australian market and wider sleeper cabs for the North American market. Offer this truck with a sleeper and it'd be a hit with the "expeditors"!

Building a mediocre truck is actually pretty simple and cheap- Just go with the standard since the 1930s SAE 34" frame rail spacing, add vendor drivetrain, and build a shack on top with windows and a couple doors to cover the engine and give the driver some protection from the weather. That formula worked just fine for KW, Pete, and Freightliner for decades until the market got a chance to try trucks like Macks that had actually seen the inside of a wind tunnel and spent time on the shake table. So now at least enough aerodynamic development to keep the windows clean, a driving position that won't produce worker's comp claims, and enough insulation to keep the driver comfortable are expected. Wind tunnel and shake table time is expensive, and don't expect your competitors to offer there's at any price. Then figure in the cost of buying vendor components in small quantities- International isn't exactly a small customer and they're saving double digit percentages by buying with VW Group/Traton. So yes, you can slap together a truck with vendor components, worked fine a half century ago. But don't expect to make any money doing it.

Plus the advantage that Cummins has more service points than any competitor- For example, I live 60 miles from a Mack dealer but Daimler and International dealers that service Cummins are only 20 miles away.

Capital is international, as are most market sectors today- Investors look for opportunities everywhere, and why build a truck for just 5% of the world?

I suspect Daimler is offering Cummins as an option because they have the largest market share and would be vulnerable to an anti-trust lawsuit if they didn't. And from a strictly business point of view, why chase away customers who prefer Cummins power?

Amazing how much life the 1980s born Cargo still has in it!

Could be that the cab is cheaper to buy as the tooling was long ago paid for.

Doubt we'll see any in the U.S., UPS wants a bigger van here.

Looks to be the best possible home for a B series Cummins and an Allison, if the price is competitive it'll sell well.

Continental Baking bought a couple hundred in the late 60s, reputedly at least one was still on the job in the late 80s.

Given the downward sales trend in the heavy truck market, this is probably the best NAV shareholders will get.

EPA regs and the higher price of diesel fuel are killing diesels in the market. There isn't a single 2020 model year diesel car available in the U.S. and even the light trucks offerings are getting slim- Ford isn't offering the 3 liter diesel in the F150 and while they announced a 2 liter diesel to replace the 3.2 liter In the Transit, it doesn't look like they've actually built any. Looking at it from the consumer side though, this looks like 1986 when the bottom dropped out of the diesel market and my family stocked up on diesels at a discount- I bought my 2nd VW diesel, mom & dad bought a power stroke powered E350, and the grandparents got one of the last of the Olds diesels. Prices on the leftover 2019 and earlier new diesels seems to be falling, so I may pick up another bargain...

I agree- There's a grocery chain around here that specializes in buying out small grocery stores in towns that are at least 25 miles from a Walmart. They invest little in the business, until recently they couldn't even handle credit cards, and charge about twice Costco or Walmart prices. I make the Costco runs at least once a month, they're only a bit over an hours drive away and the savings are well worth 3 gallons of diesel fuel, especially if I stop at Fleet Farm too. I was at the Billings Costco a few times and was impressed with the numbers of farm trucks in the parking lot- Folks would bring their livestock to market then load up a "backhaul" of what looked like a couple month's supplies at Costco!

The common thread in a lot of these bankruptcies is Walmart- They were a major Hostess customer, had their hands in Hostess business, demanded special treatment and kickbacks, and were months late in paying Hostess when they filed for bankruptcy liquidation. Walmart recently opened their own dairy plant in the midwest which may have caused the Dean and Borden bankruptcies. And Celedon trucking, which recently went bankrupt too, was hauling dairy products out of Walmart's dairy.

Looks like CNH has a higher valuation, might take $15 billion to buy that. Iveco (the truck operation) could probably be bought for less than $5 billion, for that you get conventional and cabover trucks, engines, and some plants to build them. Sounds like a lot, but probably less than it would cost Ford to replicate the whole operation.

And here we thought Nissan and Renault we're boring automakers...

The 1.9 liter VW TDIs are infamous for this, the EGR causes the intake manifold to get plugged, that causes boost to rise, and the computer thinks the engine is about to suicide and goes into limp mode.

1. None of the 3 democrats pictured were president or in the administration when Volvo bought Mack and they couldn't have stopped the deal. 2. Volvo having bought Mack long before he became president, Trump can't do anything about it either.

Perhaps CNH will have a low enough value that Ford could buy it and get back in that segment? I've noted that Ford zealously guards their trademarks to the point of requiring toy tractor makers license models they haven't built in decades, perhaps Ford has future plans for those brands?

Probably needed to get the deal done in '19 for tax reasons, though I don't think it absolutely has to be delivered in '19.

After all that runaround in bad weather they should have paid for your dinner and put you up in a motel for the night.

I need to pay more attention to auctions in the Dakotas...

Just noticed this in a construction company's yard, IIRC it was on an auction site a few months back. Looks to be an early Mack Western FL700LS with a water tank, air ride rears, and 1/2" aluminum frame that came out of fire service in South Dakota. Looks pretty rust free, hope they're not going to cut it up for parts!