Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter where FreightWaves adds context, commentary and color to industry news and trends.
On this episode of Midday Market Update, Kevin Hill and Michael Vincent look at downstream effects from California’s port crisis.
The first Mack medium-duty trucks in nearly 20 years are finding favor with customers.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter where FreightWaves adds context, commentary and color to industry news and trends.
Welcome to FreightWaves Truck Talk, your Friday look at industry news with context, perspective and a bit of commentary. You can get Truck Talk delivered via email by subscribing at https://www.freightwaves.com/truck-talk.
Weathering the COVID pandemic drove Volvo Group sales lower in 2020, but market share was stable and new orders are pouring in.
FreightWaves Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter adding perspective, context and commentary to industry news and trends.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, TFI International will acquire UPS Freight. Plus, the West Coast has supplanted Chicago as the king of the freight world, and outbound tender volumes keep falling.
Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks are making parts easier to find and order by integrating a truck’s vehicle ID with its fleet unit number.
FreightWaves Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter adding perspective, context and commentary to industry news and trends.
Volvo Group Q3 sales and earnings trailed last year. But a recovery in heavy-duty truck orders and market share gains in North America improved a bleak picture.
Denny Slagle retired as Volvo Group executive vice president and Mack Trucks president in 2018.
After testing its battery-powered LR Electric refuse truck in New York City and with Republic Services, Mack Trucks will take orders in Q4 for deliveries in 2021. Republic, however, committed in August to startup Nikola for 2,500 cabover Tre models beginning in 2022.
Katharina Rath will be tasked with driving German logistics giant’s “global transformation process.”
The OEMs and IoT provider will explore telematics solutions aimed at improving fleet safety and efficiency.
Makeup orders for tractors and trailers lead to rehiring of some laid-off workers and rebuilding shrunken backlogs from March and April coronavirus shutdowns. But how long will it last?
Diesel engine leader locks up engine supply agreement with Navistar through 2026.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, opposition to the federal excise tax ramps up efforts to suspend the tax, CSCMP honors Matthew Waller and drivers sound off on their employers.
Early units of new Mack MD Series medium-duty trucks are coming together in a former comic book publishing factory near Roanoke, Virginia.
In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, experts discuss how trucking will get to an electric future, Mack Trucks lays off 450, and a trucker allegedly kidnaps his wife, leading police on a wild chase.
Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America are cutting 450 salaried jobs as part of parent Volvo Group’s slashing of 4,100 whiite-collar positions. But Mack is holding the line for now against additional reductions in
production workers in Pennsylvania.
Daimler Trucks looked at the mileage data of 130,000 trucks it monitors and predicts mileage driven could reach pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of June.
Major truck manufacturers are using digital tools for ordering parts, repairing equipment faster and transporting trucks for service because of staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heavy-duty truck maker AB Volvo saw business seize up in mid-March but exited the quarter with lower but still positive sales and profits.
The largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks puts worker protections in place as it tries to make up for production lost to the coronavirus pandemic.
Major truck manufacturers extend production suspensions as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. J.P. Morgan upgrades PACCAR and holds a neutral rating on Navistar.
Engine maker Cummins Inc. joined Volvo and Mack Trucks in suspending production because of the coronavirus pandemic . Cummins and trailer maker Wabash National also pulled their earnings guidance for the year.
ACT Research cannot model downturn scenarios fast enough for Class 8 trucks, but high inventory levels make the coronavirus crisis a good time to take a production break as demand is practically nonexistent.
Class 8 truck manufacturers so far are staving off production cuts and layoffs, but they are watching their supply chains carefully for disruptions from the coronavirus that could further reduce already tepid demand for new equipment.
Steering advances, integrated steps over DEF tank among enhancements truck makers are bringing to market amid a continuing slowdown in new equipment orders
Orders for Mack Trucks new MD Series Class 6-7 trucks are starting off strong, company officials said, during the first public unveiling of the trucks at the Work Truck Show
Mack Trucks is adding Command Steer, a dynamic steering option to its Anthem tractors. The technology reduces driver effort to steer the truck by as much as 85%, the company said, reducing fatigue and muscle strain.
Volvo Trucks North America and its sibling Mack Trucks later this year will allow individual truck drivers to schedule over-the-air updates typically handled by fleet managers.
Too much data leads to fueling issues for WEX. This and other stories you may have missed this week.
Despite the first labor strike in 35 years and volatile orders for new trucks, Martin Weissburg says his current role as president of Mack Trucks is the favorite of his 15-year Volvo Group career.
Mack likes the stability of the medium-duty truck market, where it can sell small trucks to current customers without the dizzying ups and downs of the Class 8 market.
As more of its drivetrain business moves to electrification, Meritor focuses on integrating recent acquisitions TransPower and AxleTech.
Mack is back in medium-duty trucks with its first offering in two decades coming this summer from a new plant near Roanoke, Virginia.
Mack Trucks has entered the electric vehicle space with its LR Electric refuse truck, but it may not be done. The engine, with modifications, may work well in other applications as well.
The New York City Department of Sanitation will begin testing the first Mack LR Electric refuse truck, hoping to gain valuable insight into the viability of electric refuse vehicles.
New Class 8 truck orders dipped to their lowest level in a decade in 2019, payback for an ordering frenzy a year earlier.
Mack Trucks is recalling TerraPro models from 2019 and 2020 because the headlamps were not properly aimed during production.
Volvo Trucks North America will lay off about 700 workers in January, extending an industry pullback in production to match slowing orders of new Class 8 trucks.
Navistar will book a $140 million hit to fourth-quarter revenue because of the six-week United Auto Workers’ strike at General Motors.
The United Auto Workers voted 79% in favor of a new four-year contract at Mack Trucks following a 12-day strike that idled six facilities in three states and halted production at Volvo Trucks’ only assembly plant in North America.
With diesel fuel powering 97% of all heavy-duty trucks, it seems silly to predict its industry dominance will end. But don’t tell that to California where the good can be the enemy of the great.
The color of the Mack Trucks bulldog carries special meaning. Gold means all of the key components were homemade. Chrome says others’ parts are on board. Now, it comes in black.
Mack Trucks is well on its way to making up lost production from a 12-day United Auto Workers’ strike and sees state-level infrastructure spending buoying its off-highway vocational truck business in 2020.
The United Auto Workers is ending its strike against Mack Trucks after 12 days. The first walkout in 35 years idled six facilities in three states and forced the layoff of 3,000 workers at Volvo Trucks only North American assembly plant.
Swedish truck maker AB Volvo reported higher third-quarter profits and sales on Friday, October 18. But it warned that orders for new trucks in North America and Europe continue to decline and a strike at its Mack Trucks unit could pinch profits depending on how long it lasts.
The impact of a United Auto Workers’ strike at Mack Trucks will nearly double next week when Volvo Trucks North America lays off about 3,000 employees because of a lack of engines and transmissions that come from a Maryland plant the companies share.
A United Auto Workers strike against Mack Trucks could soon impact its sibling Volvo Trucks because both get engines and transmissions from the same plant in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The United Auto Workers plans its first strike against Mack Trucks in 35 years for Sunday, Oct. 13. A total of 3,500 union-represented workers at plants in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida would be affected.
Preliminary Class 8 retail sales for September set an all-time record, but large fleet deliveries likely inflated the results that erased the previous record set in December 2006. Meanwhile, the backlog of trucks waiting to be built is falling, which is leading to layoffs..
Volvo Trucks North America and its Mack Trucks sibling are partnering with connected transportation company Geotab to send electronic logging device data to the cloud and back for interference-free reporting.
Mack Trucks thinks it will weather the trucking industry’s expected downturn in 2020 by focusing on its off-highway models.
Four of six major truck makers are reducing production line speed and/or laying off manufacturing workers. Market leader Daimler Trucks North America will cut 900 jobs in North Carolina on Oct. 14.
Preliminary September orders for Class 8 trucks improved over August but remained stagnant as fleets delayed booking new equipment in the face of ongoing trade tensions slowing swaths of the manufacturing economy.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing is no longer a fad in truck making. Companies are making greater use of the technology to save time and money although the technology itself is still expensive.
Preliminary used Class 8 truck sales fell for the 10th consecutive month in August as used trucks hit the market in bigger numbers because of new truck deliveries from record orders placed in the latter half of 2018.
Class 8 truck manufacturers are beginning to pare production as the backlog of record orders from 2018 shrinks and new orders continue to be slow.
Understanding all of your options when it comes to improving driver comfort
The U.S. Army is conducting live-fire testing on an armored heavy-duty dump truck from Mack Defense, the first of up to 683 trucks included in a $296 million contract.
When Mack Trucks set out to design the Anthem, it turned to drivers for input. The result is a Class 8 tractor that is both comfortable and functional, providing all the benefits of an aerodynamic over-the-road tractor in a Classic Mack.
Mack Trucks has built its 100,000th truck equipped with the GuardDog Connect integrated telematics system since first launching the product in 2014.
The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will put into operation a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) built by Mack Trucks in 2020. The vehicle is an LR model refuse truck. The announcement was made on May 8, 2019, at Waste Expo in Las Vegas. The Mack LR BEV is powered by Mack’s integrated electric powertrain […]
International and Mack both announced new service offerings designed to improve the customer experience and operational effectiveness of their respective vehicles.
Tri-state Truck Center in Memphis is part of a family-owned dealership chain. The Memphis location has historical significance, as it was built on the site of Martin’s Stadium, home of the Memphis Red Sox Negro League team for decades.
How good is the technology and powertrains on modern tractors? A group of journalists driving similarly spec’d Mack Anthem sleeper models, achieved over 8 mpg – even as high as 10.5 for one day – with the trucks on a three-day run from Asheville, NC, to New Orleans.
For those in the trucking industry, Mack Trucks – with its 111-year heritage – is certainly an iconic brand. For new Mack Trucks President Martin Weissburg, that was reinforced over the past four years as he led Volvo Construction Equipment in Europe.
Mack Trucks’ new endeavor into the world of content marketing has led to an 8-episode docuseries called RoadLife. The series, which runs from June through October 2018, highlights these “modern icons of tough,” most recently shining the spotlight on two women working to change the face of the industry in an episode appropriately titled “Breaking the Mold.”
So much for the summer doldrums. New truck orders, which typically take a dip in the summer months as both carriers and OEMs reset for the fall, hit a new all-time high in July, according to the latest data from ACT Research.
Family owned TEC Equipment operates 26 Mack and Volvo truck dealerships in five states. In June, the company opened a $30 million location in Fontana, CA. Here is a look at that facility.
Mack will now offer the Lytx DriveCam safety program as a pre-wire option on Granite models, joining the TerraPro and LR cabover models offering the option.
To help alleviate the growing technician shortage, Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks are partnering with local colleges to develop training programs.
Mack Trucks said it will have a fully electric Mack LR refuse truck model with an integrated Mack electric drivetrain operating in North America in 2019 and Freightliner introduced the EconicSD low-entry, cab-over-engine waste collection truck.
With truck order forecasts continuing to rise, Mack Truck officials speaking at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville on Thursday reiterated their confidence in a strong economy through the end of this year.
Mack Trucks and Volvo discuss performance of their remote software update systems; Uber Freight is using autonomous trucks in Arizona; air cargo was up 8% in January YOY; the 3,000th Neopanamax container ship transited the Panama Canal; intensifying freight flows are driving oil demand.
Mack Trucks is hoping its Mack Over The Air remote software update program brings as much success to customers going forward as it has for early adopters.
YRC Worldwide CEO James Welch announced he will retire in July 2018. Current YRC Freight President Darren Hawkins is expected to be named to succeed Welch by the Board of Directors at its July 2018 meeting, the company said in a release.
Mack Trucks said that it would renew its commitment to the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) Share the Road campaign and in so doing, would donate a 2018 model Mack Anthem 70-inch stand up sleeper model.
Mack Trucks released its first new on-highway truck since 2005 this week. Here’s a brief look at the Anthem. For more on the truck, read: Mack introduces its Anthem.
There are many things that fleets do to attract drivers, and certainly plenty of options that drivers look for when choosing a fleet. When Mack Trucks was designing its new Anthem highway tractor – it’s first new on-highway model since the introduction of the Pinnacle in 2005 – it turned to drivers.
Mack Trucks has a new Anthem that incorporates all that the Mack Bulldog stands for – strength, loyalty, and American made. Mack introduced the new Anthem model, complete with its own song, at a special unveiling event in Allentown.
