Propane autogas making gains in U.S.

Next potential use of 3D printing in trucking: Lightweighting

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Will Phase 2 GHG rules be reconsidered?

With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) poised to roll back ambitious corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards put in place by the Obama administration nearly six years ago – standards automakers claimed would've saddled them with $200 billion in compliance costs over the next 10 years – there's more than a little out-loud musing as to whet

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Earnings Watch: Navistar Losses Nearly Double from Year Earlier

Navistar International Corp. on Tuesday announced its financial losses in the first quarter of 2017 nearly doubled from the same time a year ago due to lower truck volume and softer Class 8 truck sales.

The truck and engine maker reported a net loss of $62 million, or 76 cents per share, greater than a consensus estimate from a poll of analysts, who were forecasting a 45 cents per share loss. This compares to a first quarter 2016 net loss of $33 million, or 40 cent per share.

Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $1.7 billion, in line with Wall Street expectations, but a decline of 6% compared to $1.8 billion in the first quarter last year. The quarter marked the company's eighth consecutive decline in quarterly revenue, according to Reuters.

First quarter 2017 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $63 million, compared to first quarter 2016 EBITDA of $82 million. This most recent period included favorable net adjustments of $8 million, primarily resulting from a reversal of pre-existing warranty accruals.

"Our results are on track with our plan for the year, and demonstrate our ability to effectively manage costs at a time of persistent Class 8 industry headwinds," said Troy A. Clarke, chairman, president and CEO. "Our order share continues to outpace our market share, which confirms our confidence in the retail share improvement to come."

Truck-segment first quarter 2017 net sales decreased $105 million, or 9%, primarily due to lower core (Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the United States and Canada) truck volumes “as a result of softer industry conditions, the end of CAT-branded units sold to Caterpillar, and the sale of Pure Power Technologies, both of which occurred in the second quarter of 2016.”

During the most recent quarter, Navistar's truck segment loss increased to $69 ...Read the rest of this story

Diesel Prices Continue to Increase

Source: EIA

Diesel prices in the U.S. have continued to move upward with a minor increase last week, according to the latest numbers from the Energy Department.

The average price of on-highway diesel fuel in the U.S. rose by a barely noticeable 0.2 cents last week thanks to offsetting price decreases in many major regions last week. The average price currently stands at $2.579 per gallon which is nearly 56 cents more expensive than it was in the same week of 2016.

Prices varied up and down when broken down by region with the largest increase hitting the Rocky Mountain area at 4.3 cents per gallon. The region with the largest drop in prices was New England where diesel was 1.2 cents cheaper for the week.

The average price of regular gasoline was up by 2.7 cents during the same period, jumping to $2.341 per gallon at the pump. The price is 50 cents more expensive than it was in the same period a year ago.

Prices varied up and down depending on the region with the largest increase coming to the Midwest at 5.7 cents per gallon. The largest decrease in prices occurred in New England where gas prices dropped 1.4 cents on average.

Crude oil prices were negatively affected by a subdued economic forecast coming out of China that lowered growth expectations for the country, according to a MarketWatch report. Weak global demand, mostly as a result of Chinese economic troubles, played a major role in large oil price drops last year and with the latest economic forecast adding to it, oil prices fell on March 6.

Other factors that may have affected prices include increased oil production domestically and the looming increase in interest rates.

Related: Rising Factory Orders Latest Indicator of Interest Rate Hike

Follow @HDTrucking ...Read the rest of this story

HDT Top 20 Products of 2017

Each year, HDT's editors spend a lot of time going to press conferences and combing through news releases on the latest new products for trucking. At the end of the year, they embark on a process to identify the very best of the past year's introductions to come up with our Top 20 Products.

Editors sifted through all of the new product announcements that appeared in the magazine or on HDT's Truckinginfo.com website over the course of last year to winnow down the list. Products were chosen based on their level of innovation, ability to address significant industry issues, and potential benefit to a truck fleet's bottom line. Then we asked a number of our fleet readers to weigh in on the selections to help us arrive at the final 20.

Please note that our criteria does not include consideration of entire vehicles, and products considered must be commercially available or scheduled to become commercially available within the year. On the following pages you'll find the 2017 Top 20 Products, presented in alphabetical order by company.

1. EverSteel wheel technology is designed to prevent corrosion in steel wheels. EverSteel is applied with a four-phase coating process designed to improve wheel durability and service life. In independent tests, EverSteel demonstrated double the operational life of Accuride's own Steel Armor steel wheels and as much as six times longer than its competitors, according to Accuride. Wheels with EverSteel are suited for trailer applications and fleets operating in ice and snow because of its resistance to corrosion.

2. The ADB22X-LT is the first Bendix air disc brake engineered specifically for trailers and is for axles rated at 23,000 pounds. It's also the lightest air disc brake in Bendix's lineup, 40 pounds per tandem lighter than its companion ADB22X. ...Read the rest of this story

Healthy Fleet to launch app in April