At the 2017 Washington Auto Show, General Motors and the U.S. Army showed off the Colorado ZH2: a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) prototype based on the Chevrolet Colorado mid-sized pickup truck platform that runs on electricity generated by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. It'll undergo battlefield testing at Fort Carson, CO, this June and at Fort Bragg, NC, in August.
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...Read the rest of this storyPhoto: Jim Park
">Photo: Jim Park
">This probably will not come as a big surprise to most fleets, but emissions-related components are the fastest growing sector of the heavy-duty aftermarket, according to John Blodgett, vice president, sales and marketing for market-research firm MacKay & Co.
Speaking at the recent Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue event in Las Vegas, Blodgett said that since 2010 aftermarket demand for these components has increased 254%. In addition, he and David Kalvelage, manager of IT and database services at MacKay & Co., expect that by 2021 that demand will increase another 42%.
In their presentation “Structure and Trends of the Current Heavy Duty Aftermarket,” the duo recapped what happened in the aftermarket in 2016 and offered some thoughts on what might occur in the future.
Another emissions-related trend they are seeing is the shift from fleets getting diesel particulate filters cleaned on a local level toward switching to factory-remanufactured products.
However, they are also seeing a shift from remanufactured parts to new products for starter and alternator replacement based largely on the price equity of the new parts, which are primarily coming from offshore sources.
Looking back to 2016, the U.S. heavy-duty aftermarket was down 1.5%, mostly as a result of lower utilization and pricing adjustments. The Canadian aftermarket grew 7.4%, but Blodgett was quick to point out that this did not mean unit sales were higher. Rather, exchange rates accounted for most of the increase.
Turning to the service side of the aftermarket, MacKay's data shows 68% of first owners of vehicles are performing their own service, with dealers doing 18% of service and independent garages doing 14%.
However, while subsequent owners still do much of their own work, when they outsource they use dealers less often compared to first owners. Independent garages are the ones getting the additional work from fleets. ...Read the rest of this story
Photo: ATD
">Photo: ATD
">Robert Nuss, president of Minnesota-based Nuss Truck Group, has been named the 2017 Truck Dealer of the Year by the American Truck Dealers, Heavy Duty Trucking magazine and Procede Software.
Nuss received the award on Jan. 27 during the 2017 ATD Convention & Expo,in New Orleans, La. Nuss Truck Group, which is based in Rochester Minn., offers Mack Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Isuzu Commercial Trucks, and Volvo Construction equipment.
Nuss has served on the Mack Dealer Council as its chairman and it was noted that he actively gives back to the community through involvement in local charitable organizations, such as the Rochester Area Foundation, Rochester Boys & Girls Club, Seasons Hospice, and others.
He was one of five nominees for the Truck Dealer of the Year award, which honors excellence in business practices, industry leadership and community service. Faculty members from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business choose the winner.
All nominees were selected by state, metro and national association leaders. The other four nominees for the 2017 Truck Dealer of the Year award were:
James D. Carello, president of Regional International Corp. in Henrietta, N.Y.Katie Hopkins, executive vice president of Truck Centers, Inc., in Troy, Ill.Gary G. Nicholas, president/CEO of Nicholas-Wyoming Valley Truck Sales, Inc., in Luzerne, Pa.Zach Wagner, CEO of Gateway Truck & Refrigeration in Collinsville, Ill.Read what all five nominees have to say about dealer trends affecting fleets in the February issue of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine.
Related: Tom Bertolino Named 2016 Truck Dealer of the Year
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...Read the rest of this story
Atlanta was the hottest place to find spot truckload freight in 2016, according to DAT Solutions which operates the largest on-demand freight exchange for spot market truckload freight.
For the second consecutive year, Atlanta was the market with the most available spot van and refrigerated loads. Little Rock, Ark., repeated as the number-one market for flatbed freight posts.
DAT's rankings are based on an analysis of over 100 million annual freight matches and a database of 33-billion market transactions on the DAT network load boards. Spot freight is seen as a dynamic economic indicator because it is unscheduled freight, according to DAT.
Related: Lessons From Interesting Times in the Spot Market
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...Read the rest of this storyThe Auto Care Association recently commissioned a Heavy Duty Industry Feasibility Study on behalf of its HDDA: Heavy Duty segment to determine the viability of establishing product information standards for the heavy-duty aftermarket supply chain. Findings of the industry-driven study were presented January 25 during Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) in Las Vegas.
“There has been increasing interest in the heavy duty community to find a way to standardize and streamline aftermarket product data to improve accuracy and efficiency and, in turn, boost the bottom line,” said Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the Auto Care Association. “This study is the first step toward the development of a standard that will enhance product management and support processes, increase productivity and decrease costs in the supply chain.”
The three-phase HDDA study, conducted by Pricedex Software Inc., investigated current industry data exchange practices, reviewed reference data tables used in each sector, and determined industry practices for product attributes and product category hierarchies. Input from manufacturers, distributors, ERP vendors and industry associations was sought and an advisory committee of industry executives provided information and oversight.
The Heavy Duty Industry Feasibility Study concluded that:
Developing a heavy duty data practice is feasible through leveraging the work of others and creating a data superset to support all segments.Rich content is beneficial to the heavy duty industry including vehicle vocation, product specifications, interchange data, VMRS coding, and images.Conducting data planning and management, and learning from others, will help ensure that data standards can be useful to all industry participants.Stakeholders must understand that this effort is one of collaboration, not competition, seeking to standardize existing available data, not to divulge proprietary information.“We are very pleased to announce we are moving forward with this important initiative because of the overwhelming support of the industry,” continued Hanvey. “A work group of stakeholders is ...Read the rest of this story
Image: Mexico Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes
">Image: Mexico Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes
">Candidate Donald Trump made scrapping or reworking various free trade agreements the United States is party to a central theme of his presidential campaign last year. Such rhetoric was highly popular with his supporters. And in his first full week in office, President Donald Trump has made reexamination of international trade agreements a top priority for his administration.
But the North American trucking industry has benefited greatly from various free trade agreements – notably the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In the past week, President Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and angered Mexico with his insistence that NAFTA be renegotiated to give the U.S. a stronger commercial hand while creating a funding stream that would have the Mexican government pay for a wall along the southern border to check illegal immigration into the U.S.
So far, the Canadian government has expressed concerns about President's Trump's trade moves, while the Mexican government has signaled it would walk away from all trade agreements with the U.S. and seek new international trading partners if it is treated in a way it perceives as being unfair.
Last summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that cross-border trade generated by NAFTA was worth $89 billion to the trucking industry. So are President Trump's recent actions a positive move for trucking? Or should American fleet executives be concerned?
Bill Sullivan, executive vice president of advocacy for the American Trucking Associations, said that ATA wants to help the Trump administration find a way forward on trade that keeps goods flowing and creating more jobs. "Trade and trucking are synonymous, and the increased movement of freight yields more good paying jobs and growth in American companies,” Sullivan said.
“We want to help the administration and Congress build a trade framework that helps grow our economy, ...Read the rest of this story
