USA Truck Continues to Build New Leadership Team

USA Truck has made another appointment as it continues to build its executive leadership team, naming Allen Lowry as vice president, safety and risk management.

Lowry joins USA Truck with over 25 years of safety, risk management and leadership experience in the transportation industry. He most recently served as vice president of safety and security, OS&D and risk management for Navajo Express.

This is the latest executive hire for Van Buren, Ark.-based USA Truck, which has named a new president and CEO, an executive vice president, a trucking operations president, a vice president, a chief technology officer, and a vice president of revenue operations within the past few months.

“Safety is our number one priority at USA Truck. We are thrilled that Allen chose to help us continue to build a strong safety culture throughout our organization, and to create one of the safest fleets in the transportation industry,” said James Reed, president and CEO of USA Truck. “Allen is the latest addition to the all-star leadership team we have assembled here at USA Truck, and we believe he will be a tremendous asset with his extensive experience in safety and risk management.”

Lowry has an extensive background in safety and risk management in the transportation sector through numerous leadership roles at Swift Transportation, Central Refrigerated Service, and Dick Simon Trucking. Lowry is NATMI certified, studied Law at Weber State University, and was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, JAG.

Related: USA Truck Names Rick Hainlen VP of Revenue Operations

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Mitsubishi Fuso Starts Production of Electric Truck

Marc Llistosella, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., describes production requirements of the new eCanter to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of the Portuguese Republic. Photo: Mitsubishi Fuso

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus has announced the start of small-scale series production of its electric medium-duty truck, the Fuso eCanter.

All eCanter trucks for U.S. and European markets will be produced at the production plant in Tramagal, Portugal, in line with conventional diesel Fuso trucks.

Mitsubishi Fuso introduced the eCanter at the Work Truck Show earlier this year, saying that it would be made available in the U.S., Europe, and Japan as part of a two-year lease. The lease period would allow companies to use the vehicle before trading up to the next generation.

“With today's start of production of the eCanter, we become the first global manufacturer to produce an all-electric truck in series,” Marc Llistosella, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. and head of Daimler Trucks Asia. “Our Portuguese plant not only produces the trucks for Europe and the U.S., but has also benefitted from a close cooperation with the authorities in Portugal and Lisbon, having tested the trucks there since 2014.”

The Class 4 truck has a 100-mile range, 15,995-pound gross vehicle weight rating, and a 9,380-pound payload capacity. The batteries can be quick-charged within an hour at a DC charging station or over the course of eight hours using a 230-volt outlet. The vehicle will also have flexible battery options to allow customers that need less range than 100 miles to opt for fewer batteries and increase payload capacity.

After entering small-scale series production, the natural next step will be large-scale series production in the future, according to Mitsubishi Fuso. Experiences gained from teh customers of this small production run will be used to ...Read the rest of this story

Yokohama to Increase Prices On Commercial Tires

Photo: Yokohama Tire

Yokohama Tire Corp. announced a price increase of up to 4% on all of its commercial and off-the-road tires sold in the U.S., effective Sept. 1.

The company already increased tire prices in April by up to 7% due to increases in the cost of raw materials and freight expenses, according to the company.

“We reluctantly took a first-step price increase in early 2017 in response to the escalation in operating and material costs that peaked in late 2016,” said Jeff Barna, Yokohama Tire COO. “That modest increase left us under-recovered, hence requiring us to take further action.”

Yokohama Tire Corp. is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., a global manufacturing and sales company of tires.

Related: Six Months In - Q&A with Yokohama COO, Jeff Barna

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