Time To Pull The Volvo Brand Out Of The American Market?

[GearheadGrrrl]

GM has shut down Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and Oldsmobile. They sold off Saab and EMD locomotives. And they're selling more cars and making more money!

What GM did was concentrate on their more valuable brands and dump the duplicative and weaker brands. Daimler has done something similar- they give away Chrysler and killed Sterling. And Daimler new better than to brand their american market heavy trucks with even the priceless Mercedes-Benz brand... Even the Freightliner brand was worth more with truckers. And Western Star? And up and coming legend and comeuppance to Autocar, which Volvo had the stupidity to kill.

And Volvo? Volvo is a powerful brand in cars, but they got a late start in the american truck market. Before most truckers had even seen a Volvo N12 they bought White and slowly rebranded it a Volvo. By the 1990s it was entirely possible to buy a Volvo branded truck with a White cab, Cummins engine, and Eaton transmission and axles. About the only Volvo parts on this mongrel would be the Volvo badges. In business this is called "exploiting the brand image" or in less charitable discussion "diluting the brand". I call it "whoring out the brand"!

So Volvo's brand in america has been badly sullied. There's little chance the Volvo car brand will rehabilite the truck image, having been sold off to asian interests. But the Mack brand in america has always been more familiar and highly valued than Mack. And unlike the Volvo brand, Volvo has only had less than a decade to ruin Mack. One can see the obvious results in new truck sales as the economy pulls out of the recession, with Mack sales accelerating while Volvo sales are stuck in low gear.

So it's time to send the Volvo brand back to europe and bring Mack back to it's former glory. It's time to promote the thoroughbred Mack powertrain and make "mDrive" and other such vendor components available by special request only, with appropriately shortened warranty coverage. Might even want to make the mDrive buyer sign a waiver... No way will that contraption last a million kilometers or miles!

That's just the beginning- the next conventional cab design should be Mack exclusive rather than Volvo's bastardized cabover. Underneath the cab will be a "balanced design" for the 21st century. How about the Maxitorque 400 transmission for a start, a fully automated manual. But the shift lever and clutch pedal are still there, so shift for yourself if you like or kick back and let the computers do the job. The gear ratios? How about a wide ratio six speed with a splitter, just like the original Maxitorque. And that's just the start... how about 3 and 4 axle Balanced Bogies, with air ride AND maximum articulation!

Your opinions, please?

[Register c]

Im all for the idea.. we can pull the Mack Brand out of Australia then to concentrate on Volvo here..

And yep lets develope a cab for one brand only.. we need to proportion the development budget based on Nth American Volumes only..

I think its not a very good idea.. if you reduce volumes you reduce potential revenue return to the company.. and there is no way to be sure that the current Volvo buyers will turn to a Mack.. so it could be a disaster...

[bullhusk]

The only thing that worries me ?? What if Mack starts out selling Volvo BIG TIME, will Volvo do to Mack what Mack did to Brockway??? History sometimes repeats itself. I hope I'm wrong but it wouldn't take much for Volvo to pull the Bulldog off the hood an change the grill with ther famous / with the V just like they did to Autocar. It started out White then Volvo White GMC, then White an GMC vanished into thin air!!!! Then came A-car they started out by putting Volvo under the door, then they started with the grill..... then all of a sudden!!! Autocar? any body see Autocar??? hello Autocar are you out there????? Again I hope I am dead wrong on this one!! but we must keep a close eye on Volvo, an if we see the above start happening? Then we know the end is near.

BULLHUSK PS I know Autocar is being built by someone else, only in a C.O. what A shame

[Lmackattack]

Did Auto car go completly under or is it still a part of volvo? I know they had a website that said they built low entry garbage trucks (kinda like the Mack LE).. have never seen any on the road tho?

[hatcity]

Did Auto car go completly under or is it still a part of volvo? I know they had a website that said they built low entry garbage trucks (kinda like the Mack LE).. have never seen any on the road tho?

I believe Fort Meyers, FL now has a fleet of them. LNG powered. Republic Services is the contractor over there.

[MackMann85]

One problem with that theory: Over the last 6 months Volvo is unfortunately outselling Mack not the opposite which your assumptions are based on.

Autocar has nothin to do with Volvo anymore and is pretty popular out west and I think they have somethin like 20-25% of the trash market.

[bullhusk]

Well then thats a good thing, but if it were to go the other way?....Then maybe my theory??????

[cgallamore]

park a titan next to what ever the big valva is, (i dont know the models of valva)

i think you will see it has already happend.

one of the valvas parked next to me in saltlake last fall, i couldn't get over how much it looked like a titan.....

[james j neiweem]

Bring the Superliner, Trident and mid range over from Austailia. Keep the Granite. New cab for MR and LE. Put the Trident hood on the CH axle forward. Keep the pinnacle axle back. Offer Cummins engines across the board. Simplify and bullet proof the electronics. Keep the Mack transmissions, axles and suspensions. Get as versatille as Paccar, Navistar and shaker.

[David]

park a titan next to what ever the big valva is, (i dont know the models of valva)

i think you will see it has already happend.

one of the valvas parked next to me in saltlake last fall, i couldn't get over how much it looked like a titan.....

Welcome back.

[hatcity]

Welcome back.

Yeah, where ya been?

[vision386]

The "new" Autocar is based on the old White expediter LCF,the company that makes them now has NOTHING to do with Volvo. They are really pushing the LNG powered trucks with all the EPA crap going on now. Mack still has the refuse/recycling market pretty much cornered,but when i was a kid the were THOUSANDS of these Whites hauling trash in NJ!................Mark

[David]

The "new" Autocar is based on the old White expediter LCF,the company that makes them now has NOTHING to do with Volvo. They are really pushing the LNG powered trucks with all the EPA crap going on now. Mack still has the refuse/recycling market pretty much cornered,but when i was a kid the were THOUSANDS of these Whites hauling trash in NJ!................Mark

When Volvo took over Mack, part of the approval for the deal was to loose the White Expediter because the Expediter and the MR combined would give Volvo/Mack about a 98% market share. So they "gave" away the Autocar name and Expediter line. There are probably still some strings attached somewhere.

[cgallamore]

Yeah, where ya been?

been outcast for a couple weeks login problems.......

[cgallamore]

i have heard talk of a common cab for mack and valva. when that hapens it gona be like the difference in a chevy and gmc pickup.

[Lmackattack]

found the auto car site lastnight.

I see they build YArd and refuse trucks.

I thought all the ones I see out west were just old White GMC? and they last in the nice warm CA weather?

Is vulva outselling mack again? last I saw they were falling behind? Only ask because I see more OTR vulvas than Vocational macks? see very few vulva vocational trucks here in Chicago.

Mack owners around here went to paccar in the last 10 years.Mainly after the R-RD was noted that it was ending soon.just a few recently came back.

What I thoght was odd was that many of the old 100% mack fleets always bought R models and wanted more.It would be intresting to see the sales numbers for the last 5-10 years of R-RD. I know a few fleets bought large orders of them to get in before they ended the model. over that same time frame Dealers seamed to push the CH hard but fewer CH showed up and older Rs kept working.

Yea the Macks from Down under look alot better than what we get over here. Wonder how mack sales are over there. the superliner and trident look more like a mack then the vison and titans. Not trying to step on anyones trucks and put them down just my .02 on what IMO looks better.

[cxn613]

I agree with everybodys opinions and suggestions, i'm one to look at both sides of the stories. I'm not taking up for volvo by any means, but if you have never driven a pinnacle model you do not know what your missing. I'm sure there are some out there that has that will maybe dissagree with me. From my experience we have a 04 vision with 427 and a 08 pinnacle with 485 and there like night and day difference. Don't get me wrong our 04 vision is a very nice truck, but that pinnacle with 485 is alot nicer. The powerleash on the mp-8's are awsome. I too like some older stuff, but this new stuff is very nice in my opinion. I don't care what you buy anymore, your gonna have issues with electrical stuff. We get decent service from our Mack dealer, but often find ourselfs frustrated with our Mack truck when theres a electrical issue and there giving us the run around on the extended warranty we bought, but then I think "theres gonna be problems with anything you buy, how frustrated you get often depends on how your dealer gets the problem resolved" So in a nut shell, your Mack truck takes the blame that the dealer should get.

Saw a newer model Pete the other day at truckstop, id say 08 or 09 model with the hood up. Driver had a hose held to his ear the other end to a big red cummins that was running with a tapping sound coming out of it. Everybody can draw there own conclusion.

[mackdaddy1911a1]

I didn't know that another company was building AUTOCAR. Good deal. I recently was looking around on the web for pictures of an old 50 something model "Needlenose" KW for a friend who became a life member of O.O.I.D.A. and got a nice life member jacket and wanted a picture of an old needle nose to put on the back of it. While looking around I found some great pictures of an Autocar AF 64 highway truck..very nice. Looked like a cross between a pete, a kenworth, and a western star. It was an old brochure and as I read it it said volvo....man what a nice looking truck. What a shame that everything volvo touches turns to mush.

I recently compared the engine warrenty info for my old 01 Vision to the engine warrenty on a new MP8 engine and was shocked. Look it up yourselves, the old E-7 had a comprohensive engine warrenty. The basic warrenty covered block,bearings, cylinders,pistons ..ect for 3-years 100% PARTS AND LABOR. The MP warrenty 12 months..... P.O.S.!!!! I have read a few of the posts on here from guys with the newer trucks and some of them are leaving MACK because of crap like that. If VOVO is so much better WHERE IS THE BEEF???????

Electrical problems...sure I and everyone else on here knows all the new electronic engines have there problems. However I have heard on here and out on the road of wiring harness problems including having to replace the instument panel in some of the vomacks.. I have 1 million miles on my 2001 MACK Vision and have had 0 electrical, injector,or sensor problems with the truck. I want to believe that vovo is going to be good for MACK but everytime I hear about crap like that I just want to find an old R model Superliner or pre vovo CH and forget about a new truck.

[EM6285]

Well the MACK-VOLVO joint venture is much off a bittersweet tale. Where the MACK brand will be today if it wasn't for VOLVO???? Could the aging R-RD-RB-DM series along with the aged E-SERIES engines kept up to date with all the technological changes and enviromental reglamentations?????

What they need to do is consolidate the 2 brands apart from each other intervention, this means no VOLVO executives and engineers messing up the work of MACK executives and engineers. But we know this will be imposible because the 2 entities are merged together.

MACK future buyers and costumers should spec a COMPLETE MACK POWERTRAIN (well what is left of it) MACK TRANSMISSION, MACK SUSPENSION, MACK AXLES AND CARRIERS. Skip the M-DRIVE so it would hurt VOLVO, keep requesting the MAXITORQUE. ditch SPICER, EATON, FULLER and MERITOR in favor of MACK COMPONENTS.

But what would hapen if VOLVO left MACK??? Will VOLVO go away with its propietary CHASSIS AND ENGINE platforms and leave the MACK brand with no CHASSIS or ENGINE???? Will the remanent of MACK ENGINEERS, FACILITIES or NETWORK be able to design a BRAND NEW MACK ENGINE and CHASSIS to keep the brand in the MARKET????

How will VOLVO people feel if someone specs a VOLVO TRUCK with MACK DRIVETRAIN COMPONENTS?????

The job here is to strenghten the MACK BREED by ditching vendor components as option for a MACK.

As you know the MACK-VOLVO thing is a BITTERSWEET situation.

[rhasler]

Could the aging R-RD-RB-DM series along with the aged E-SERIES engines kept up to date with all the technological changes and enviromental reglamentations?????

While the ASET engines were still pretty new I heard from a reliable source that the E-Tech engine, with only the addition of a Urea injection system (this was before it was even being referred to as SCR here), would have met the US 2010 emissions levels. I'm pretty sure the new Paccar engines are using the same fuel system as on the E-Techs.

[theakerstwo]

I didn't know that another company was building AUTOCAR. Good deal. I recently was looking around on the web for pictures of an old 50 something model "Needlenose" KW for a friend who became a life member of O.O.I.D.A. and got a nice life member jacket and wanted a picture of an old needle nose to put on the back of it. While looking around I found some great pictures of an Autocar AF 64 highway truck..very nice. Looked like a cross between a pete, a kenworth, and a western star. It was an old brochure and as I read it it said volvo....man what a nice looking truck. What a shame that everything volvo touches turns to mush.

I recently compared the engine warrenty info for my old 01 Vision to the engine warrenty on a new MP8 engine and was shocked. Look it up yourselves, the old E-7 had a comprohensive engine warrenty. The basic warrenty covered block,bearings, cylinders,pistons ..ect for 3-years 100% PARTS AND LABOR. The MP warrenty 12 months..... P.O.S.!!!! I have read a few of the posts on here from guys with the newer trucks and some of them are leaving MACK because of crap like that. If VOVO is so much better WHERE IS THE BEEF???????

Electrical problems...sure I and everyone else on here knows all the new electronic engines have there problems. However I have heard on here and out on the road of wiring harness problems including having to replace the instument panel in some of the vomacks.. I have 1 million miles on my 2001 MACK Vision and have had 0 electrical, injector,or sensor problems with the truck. I want to believe that vovo is going to be good for MACK but everytime I hear about crap like that I just want to find an old R model Superliner or pre vovo CH and forget about a new truck. Other manufactors of trucks have their problems with electrical problems to.Some of them have to have the complete dash cluster replaced for a gauge failure.