Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS, AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS BY JACK ROBERTS Every contender entered in this year's Truck of the Year event is – in one way or another – a major step forward. Back-to-back-to-back I Truck of the Year judging lets you stare the future in the face spent a day last month in Las Vegas at an auction site on the northern edge of the city as one of a handful of Truck of the Year judges. This is the fifth year of the event sponsored by the American Truck Dealers, and the judges were given some interesting choices to consider throughout the long day. The event was divided into two distinct classifications – medium- and heavy-duty. The medium-duty entries were: Things were equally interesting on the heavy-duty side, where the judges drove: generation tractor (see CCJ OEMs today are serious about innovation and technology. tractor with an emphasis on fuel effi- and A sleek modern look from a company known for its blend of heightened refinement and bare-knuckle-brawler toughness. - ries. The final scoring will be an aggregation of all the judges' scores – and there's simply no way to predict how that will shake out. The interesting thing to me this year, however, was the realization that ev- TRUCK OF THE YEAR: The judges in Las Vegas were given some innovative choices. NO PREDICTIONS: I honestly don't know which two trucks will win their respective categories. NOT JUST A NEW FENDER: The days of "new" truck models with only minor revisions are long gone. ery single truck entered is – in one way or another – a major step forward in terms of either technology, ergonomics, efficien- cy, driver comfort, vehicle optimization or a whole host of other attributes. The days when a truck manufacturer simply could rework the fenders and grillwork and call a truck "new" are long gone. Today's trucking industry demands innovation and revolutionary thinking – and every truck entered in the Truck of the Year program reflected those forward-thinking con- cepts in one way or another. OEMs are serious about innovation and technology – good news for fleets that accept new concepts and ideas and put them to work. JACK ROBERTS is Executive Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jroberts@ccjmagazine.com or call (205) 248-1358. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2012 21