Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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INBRIEF received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board certification for its 2013 model year engines greater than 25 horsepower. The new engines will be introduced in the Precedent plat- form in January 2013. HDL Eco Plus ContiTread was verified by EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership for low rolling resistance in the drive axle position, while its HTL Eco Plus ContiTread was verified for both drive and trailer axles. announced that two Bandag retread products, B710 FuelTech and B197 FuelTech, were added to EPA SmartWay' rolling-resistance retreads. Daimler remains 'cautiously optimistic' about 2013 DTNA revises 2012 forecasts t a press briefing during last month's 2012 American Trucking Associations' Management Conference & Exhibition, Daimler Trucks North America said it had revised its overall NAFTA 2012 Class 6-8 truck sales forecast downward from 378,000 units to 332,000 units, but noted that figure still represents a 9 percent growth from 2011. Martin Daum, DTNA president and chief executive officer, said A s list of verified low said it was ending production of U.S.- bound UD Trucks because demand in the cab-over-engine segment has declined and regulatory costs have increased over the last few years. now offers the option of a free five- year/250,000-mile Cummins PP1 extended engine war- ranty on its model-year 2012 and 2013 Business Class M2 106 trucks with Cummins ISB engines. now offers an enhanced extended warranty for many components on all 2013 Isuzu N-Series diesel trucks sold on or after Oct. 1 for 60 months/150,000 miles or 60 months/200,000 miles. "Rev It Up" sales event offers 1.7 percent APR financing for 36 months on all new 2012-13 Canter FE Series trucks sold to qualified U.S. buyers. The program ends Dec. 31. partnered with Morgan Corp. on a quick-de- livery 24- to 26-foot dry van body program for its conven- tional trucks. , a retailer of heavy-duty truck and trailer parts, was acquired from Investcorp by global private investment firm TPG ; terms were not disclosed. ranked highest in customer satisfaction within the conventional truck segment, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study. 22 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2012 year-to-date the company had achieved a 33.4 percent market share, up 1.6 percent from 2011. "[2012] could have been a tremendous year for us, but it's still too good to complain," said Daum, referring to earlier forecast numbers. "The good thing is DTNA's growth is outpacing the market's [growth] – our sales went up by almost a third compared to last year," said Andreas Renschler, member of the Daimler AG Board of Management. Renschler said the company will conduct a limited number of shutdown days at DTNA sites in October to adjust production sched- ules to recent market developments, including "unstable demand due to volatile freight trends in the U.S., higher diesel prices and a slower over- all economy. " Looking long-term, DTNA expects NAFTA Class 6-8 truck sales to average 375,000 units per year from 2010 through 2019, which would represent a 3.5 percent increase from the previous decade and an 8.3 percent increase from 1990 through 1999. "The good news is the good years of the next decade are ahead of us – the question is when will they come?" said Daum. "We have a cautiously optimistic view of 2013, and then at some point, demand should pick up. We don't know when the next peak starts – we only know that it will happen one day overnight." DTNA revised its earlier U.S. Class 8 truck market forecast down- ward from 219,000 units to 185,000 units, which still represents an 8.2 percent increase from 2011 and a 73 percent increase from the 107,000 units sold in 2010. Year to date, Daum said, DTNA has overtaken rival Navistar in the U.S. Class 6-7 truck market with a 37.1 percent market share, up 2.1 percent from yearend 2011. – Jeff Crissey