The No. 28 Cummins Diesel Special

In 1952, the No. 28 Cummins Diesel Special cemented a special legacy at the Indianapolis 500 and also, in many ways, helped reshape the future of the trucking industry. That year, this unique diesel-powered race car captured the pole position - the only diesel-powered racing machine ever to do so - with a one-lap time of 139.104 mph and four-lap time of 138.010 mph. It also helped Cummins validate the use of turbocharging and fuel injection within its diesel engine design.

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Reading Group Adds Instant Online Inventory Access

Work Truck Solutions, an online platform that enables commercial inventory searches by body type and chassis, announced a new partnership with Reading Truck Body, LLC, to provide up-to-date bailment pool inventory online. Now, dealers and distributors have instant access to information about chassis that are available to add to their own inventory from the truck body manufacturer's extensive bailment pool.

When dealers log into their commercial inventory sites through Work Truck Solutions as Truck Professionals, they will be able to quickly view all Reading bailment pool chassis. With just a few clicks, they can select the right chassis for their customer at the most convenient pool location, and easily alert Reading to their interest.

“We felt that it was very important for bailment pool inventory information to be made accessible to the dealers and distributors who need it,” says Kathryn Schifferle, CEO and Founder of Work Truck Solutions. “It's a win-win, because dealers and distributors get really rich information with photos and diagrams to help them sell — and Reading has an automated and seamless way to show their inventory to the dealers who need it, when they need it.”

Reading Body Service Body (PHOTO: The Reading Group)

“We are very excited to partner with Work Truck Solutions,” says William Craig Bonham, Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Reading Truck Body. “Now, dealers will be able to better support their vocational customers who are looking for quality work trucks for their business or fleet, with instant access to valuable information on Reading Truck Body pools.”

For more information about Work Truck Solutions' online inventory management solutions, please visit www.worktrucksolutions.com.

Related: Work Truck Solutions Approved for GM Reimbursement Program

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TomTom Partnership Adds Real-Time Accounting

TomTom Telematics has announced a collaboration with Sage, a cloud accounting software company, to deliver real-time accounting for fleets.

By combining TomTom Webfleet and Sage Live, the partnership will allow users to automatically view fleet data from connected vehicles, including trucks and light vehicles for accounting purposes.

“By partnering with Sage, we are helping to create a more modern and responsive accounting environment, one that capitalizes on cloud technology and the connected car to drive cost savings for our customers,” said Thomas Schmidt, managing director at TomTom Telematics. “The new software integration will offer a vital service for companies that don't necessarily need to track and trace their sales or engineering teams on a map, but are interested in getting other core vehicle data into their financial systems.”

The software integration will be available in the U.S. and United Kingdom first with regionalized version later being released for other European nations.

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Are millennials increasing risk for your business?

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Paccar Profits Up Despite Slower Truck Sales

The parent company of truck manufacturers Kenworth and Peterbilt on Tuesday reported an increase in second quarter earnings despite lower revenue.

Net income for Paccar Inc. (NASDAQ: PCAR) moved 7.6% higher from the same time a year earlier to $481.3 million, or to $1.37 per share from $1.26 per share, as sales and financial services revenue fell 13.2% to $4.41 billion.

Truck sales and revenue for the company fell to $3.3 billion in the most recent quarter from nearly $4 billion a year earlier. Its parts segment revenue dropped to $756.4 million from $776.5 million. In contrast, financial services revenue inched higher to $297.4 million from $293 million.

Paccar's pre-tax truck profit totaled $329.4 million, down from $420.1 million a year earlier. Paccar Parts generated quarterly pre-tax profit of $133.4 million compared to $145.7 million in the second quarter of 2015. Paccar Financial Services reported second quarter pre-tax income of $77.3 million compared to $90.8 million a year earlier.

According to the company, Peterbilt and Kenworth are benefiting from the third best U.S. and Canada Class 8 truck market in the last 10 years, and have achieved 27% market share year-to-date this year.

“The truck market reflects the good economy and high freight tonnage levels,” said Gary Moore, Paccar executive vice president.

The company is forecasting Class 8 truck industry retail sales for the U.S. and Canada in 2016 of 220,000 to 240,000 vehicles. However, Paccar's second quarter new truck deliveries for the U.S. and Canada were down sharply from 26,800 in the second quarter of last year to 19,800 in the most recent quarter.

In Europe, where Paccar sells its DAF brand trucks, it's projecting industry sales in the above-16-tonne truck market to be 280,000-300,000 vehicles this year and describes the market as the strongest there since 2008.

“The European above-16-tonne truck market continues to strengthen due to positive economic growth and increased freight activity,” said Preston Feight, DAF president and Paccar vice president. “DAF achieved market share of 16% in the first half of 2016. DAF's above 16-tonne truck registrations increased 28% year-to-date compared to the same period last year.”

European truck deliveries for Paccar increased to 13,100 from 11,200 a year earlier.

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Sacconi named GM of Fontaine truck modification center

Dan Sacconi has been named general manager of the new Fontaine Modification Vocational Services Truck Modification Center in Avon Lake, OH. According to the company, this facility is dedicated to modifying and upfitting Ford F-650/F-750 medium-duty trucks that are built across the street at the Ford Ohio Assembly Plant.

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Fuel prices keep right on falling

Average retail pump prices for both diesel and gasoline continued declining across every region of the U.S. this week, according to data tracked by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Meanwhile, the agency also noted that overall use of natural gas as a “primary energy source” increased significantly for much of the nation over the past year.

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