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Cummins Press Release / November 2, 2018 Cummins showcases its new structural engine in Italy for the first time at EIMA 2018. Displayed in Hall 15 on Stand A/5, visitors will see the Cummins Stage V B6.7 engine integrated into a structural driveline designed for agricultural tractor use. Fabio Vaiani, Regional Sales Manager, Off-Highway at Cummins, said: “Cummins has been a successful supplier to the agriculture sector since 1919 when our first single cylinder engine was manufactured for farm pumps. However, it has been some years since we have had a structural engine in our power portfolio. Italy is an important market for our business, so EIMA is an ideal location to showcase the engine in the country for the first time.” The structural capability has been designed into the B6.7 engine, the latest version of the renowned Cummins B Series engine. With over 13 million B Series units sold around the world it is proven to deliver high availability in challenging duty cycles. For Stage V it moves up to 326 hp (243 kW) with a peak torque of 1375 Nm - a 30 percent increase over that of Stage IV. Cummins has the capability to tailor engine performance for farm work, with the power bulge and torque back up available ideal for agricultural tractor operation. For Stage V, Cummins has integrated key in-house technologies into the engine to achieve the operational benefits. The B6.7 uses proven variable-geometry turbocharger technology, with the single Holset VGT® achieving exceptional power density and responsiveness with fuel-efficient performance. The B6.7 uses Cummins latest Single ModuleTM aftertreatment technology, which is smaller and lighter than its predecessor at Stage IV. The savings are up to 40% in envelope size and up to 20% in weight. The higher NOx conversion efficiency enables the required level to be met without the use of EGR. The system also removes 99.9% of all PM by weight and count. For an agricultural tractor this technology will be adapted to suit the space requirements without impacting lines of visibility from the cab. The Stage V engines including the B6.7 are designed as global platforms, with a shared installation for domestic and export business. Manufacturers can have increased production flexibility, with common hook-up points wherever the equipment will be sold. The exhaust aftertreatment would be the only key difference between specifications. .

Rebuild Jost. Replace Fontaine and Holland with Jost.

Matt Cole, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ) / November 5, 2018 More than 5,500 Freightliner and Western Star tractors are being recalled by Daimler Trucks North America for a brake caliper issue, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Daimler’s recall affects 5,534 model year 2018-2019 Freightliner Custom Chassis, Freightliner and Western Star trucks that have brake caliper mounting bolts that may have been insufficiently tightened at the factory, which could cause reduced brake effectiveness. Affected Freightliner Custom Chassis units include: S2C 106CAB, S2G, XBS, XCL, XCM, XCP and XCR. Other trucks included in the recall are: 2018-2019 Freightliner 108SD 2018-2019 Freightliner 114SD 2018-2019 Freightliner Business Class M2 2018-2019 Freightliner Cascadia 2018-2019 Western Star 4700 2018-2019 Western Star 4900 2018-2019 Western Star 5700 DTNA will notify affected truck owners beginning Dec. 3, and dealers will check and tighten brake caliper mounting bolts for free. Owners can contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712 with recall number FL-794. NHTSA’s recall number is 18V-703.

Jim Park, Today's Trucking / November 5, 2018 .

Today's Trucking / November 5, 2018 .

Nikola "Tre" website - https://nikolamotor.com/tre

Nikola to Expand Into Europe With Hydrogen-Electric “Tre” Transport Topics / November 5, 2018 “Tre” Slated for Production in 2022 to 2023; Will Be Previewed in April in Phoenix Nikola Motor Co. announced it would begin production within five years in Europe of a heavy-duty, hydrogen-electric truck designed to be compatible with full autonomy as it expands its business beyond North America. The Phoenix-based company has begun taking reservations for the vehicle — to be called the Tre, which is Norwegian for three. Tre is slated for production in 2022 to 2023. Nikola will preview the truck April 16-17 in Phoenix alongside its Nikola Two model, which is scheduled for fleet tests in 2019. Tre will be the first European zero-emissions commercial truck to be delivered with redundant braking, redundant steering, redundant 800V DC batteries and a redundant 120 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell — “all necessary for true Level 5 autonomy,” Nikola founder and CEO Trevor Milton said in a statement. “Redundant means the truck has been designed from the ground up to allow for failure in any one of the systems and still operate safely,” Milton told Transport Topics. “This is especially important with autonomy compatibility.” Level 5 typically is defined as full automation capable of handling any road with no driver needed — or as Milton said, “No driver. Completely autonomous-compatible.” He added: “For instance, the power steering could go out, and the truck would be able to pull itself over, steer itself to the side of the road and safely exit the freeway. It is the only truck ever built that we know of that has the ability to have any one of the main systems or subsystems fail and still continue safely until it can pull over and be serviced,” he said. Model Two will feature the same level of redundancy, according to the company. The Tre will come with 500 to 1,000 horsepower, 6×4 or 6×2 configurations and a range of 500 to 1,200 kilometers (310 to 745 miles) depending on options. The Tre will fit within the current size and length restrictions for Europe. European testing is projected to begin in Norway around 2020. Nikola also is in the preliminary planning stages to identify the proper location for its European manufacturing facility, according to the company. Nikola is working with Oslo, Norway-based Nel Hydrogen to provide hydrogen stations in the United States. “We will work with Nel to secure resources for our European growth strategy. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but with the right partners, we can accomplish it,” Nikola Chief Financial Officer Kim Brady said. By 2028, Nikola plans to have more than 700 hydrogen stations across the United States and Canada. Each station is capable of 2,000 to 8,000 kilograms of daily hydrogen production. Nikola’s European stations are planned to come online around 2022 and projected to cover most of the European market by 2030. Meanwhile, at the Nikola World event in Phoenix, attendees will witness the Nikola Two model pulling loaded trailers, along with a prototype display of the Nikola Tre. Hydrogen filling also will be shown at the event at 700 bar or 10,000 pounds per square inch. Nikola’s power sports division will provide customer rides throughout the day and show off pre-production units of the Nikola Nzt off-road 4×4.

Nikola Plans Electric Road Tractor for Europe Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / November 5, 2018 Nikola Motor Company announced it is developing the Nikola Tre, a fully electric hydrogen-powered day cab tractor aimed at markets in Europe. The Tre (“tre” is Norwegian for “three”) was designed “in response to widespread interest from European customers,” but the truck maker noted that this high-cabover model will also be made available in Asia and Australia. “This truck is a real stunner and long overdue for Europe,” said Nikola Motor Company CEO Trevor Milton. “It will be the first European zero-emission commercial truck to be delivered with redundant braking, redundant steering, redundant 800Vdc batteries, and a redundant 120 kW hydrogen fuel cell, all necessary for true Level 5 autonomy. “Expect our production to begin around the same time as our U.S.A version in 2022-2023,” he added. According to the company, the Nikola Tre will offer 500 to 1,000 hp, a 6x4 or 6x2 configuration, and a range of 500 to 1,200 kilometers, depending on options. The Tre will fit within current size and length restrictions for Europe. European testing is projected to begin in Norway around 2020. Nikola also said it is in the preliminary planning stages to identify the “proper” location for its European manufacturing facility. The company said attendees of its Nikola World event, to be held April 16 to 17 in Phoenix, will get to view a prototype display of the Nikola Tre, along with other new zero-emission products from Nikola, “including the production intent Nikola Two.” And just as with the already introduced North American-oriented Nikola One sleeper and Nikola Two day cab tractors, order reservations can be made online for the Nikola Tre. In addition, Nikola said it is currently working with Nel Hydrogen of Oslo to provide hydrogen stations for the United States market. “Nel has been good to work with for our U.S.A. station design and rollout, said Kim Brady, Nikola Motor Company CFO. “We will work with Nel to secure resources for our European growth strategy,” Brady added. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but with the right partners, we can accomplish it.” By 2028, Nikola said it is planning on having more than 700 hydrogen stations across the U.S. and Canada. The company said each station will be capable of 2,000 to 8,000 kgs of daily hydrogen production. Nikola’s European stations are planned to come online around 2022 and are projected to cover most of the European market by 2030. Registration for next spring’s Nikola World event in Phoenix will open on December 3 at www.nikolamotor.com. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / November 5, 2018 Peterbilt announced a new warranty option for Red Oval Certified Pre-Owned truck customers. The new warranty option provides customers the ability to extend Peterbilt’s factory-backed comprehensive pre-owned warranty to two years/250,000 miles. This warranty is offered and administered through Peterbilt’s more than 370 dealers and Paccar Financial Used Truck Centers. Peterbilt currently provides a standard one-year/125,000 mile Paccar Engine Pre-Owned Warranty for the MX engine and aftertreatment system with the purchase of a Peterbilt Red Oval Certified vehicle. Peterbilt Red Oval Certified vehicles pass a 150-point factory certified inspection performed by factory-trained service technicians. All Red Oval certified trucks are reconditioned and serviced, including DPF cleaning and an oil and filter change. Additionally, every Red Oval truck is DOT certified. All Peterbilt Red Oval certified vehicles come with a 90-day buyer assurance plan covering major chassis components.

VW wants more U.S. production capacity; could trade platforms with Ford Larry Vellequette, Automotive News / November 5, 2018 HERNDON, Va. — The global head of Volkswagen Group says the German automaker is actively looking to add U.S. manufacturing capacity — by enlarging its sole U.S. assembly plant in Tennessee or building new — to make electric vehicles and otherwise expand its offerings to American consumers. In an expansive, hourlong exclusive interview, Herbert Diess, who took over as CEO of Volkswagen Group in April, also said his company's ongoing discussions with Ford Motor Co. center on small commercial vehicles for Europe. But Diess said the talks between the two on-again, off-again global partners could go much further, including the possible sharing of VW's flexible EV platform and the potential use of Ford's midsize Ranger platform to replace the aging VW Amarok pickup sold outside the U.S. Diess visited Volkswagen Group of America headquarters last week, in part for a town hall meeting with employees to welcome longtime Audi boss Scott Keogh to his new role as VW's North American CEO. Keogh succeeded Hinrich Woebcken on Nov. 1. During the interview, Diess, 60, repeatedly stressed Keogh's autonomy and decision-making power. That authority includes deciding how best to increase VW's U.S. manufacturing footprint, Diess said, as well as how to improve U.S. dealer profitability and expand VW sales in the market, as he did during his 12 years with Audi of America. "We set up the plant in Chattanooga always with the idea to be able to grow it, to mirror it," Diess told Automotive News. "The plant is still too small, and we are considering different options — it might be electric cars, it might be a different derivative of the Atlas — it's still open. Scott will decide. We have opportunities there, and also economies of scale because it is still a bit underutilized as a facility." VW opened its 3.4 million square-foot Tennessee plant in 2011 to initially build the Passat, then expanded it when adding production of the Atlas three-row crossover. The plant has about 3,500 workers today. VW plans to start making a two-row version of the Atlas — the Atlas Cross Sport — there in 2019. Ford talks Diess confirmed discussions with Ford, which has been an occasional partner in past decades, and spoke glowingly of strategies on which the automakers could collaborate, but he dismissed any notion of VW growing bigger through consolidations or mergers. The VW board of supervisors will consider its strategic relationship with Ford on Nov. 16, Reuters reported. "There's nothing signed yet with Ford. We are in talks," Diess said. "Most of the talks have been centered around our light-duty vehicles — our small commercial vehicles business in Europe, where we found huge synergies. We are both relatively small in size against our peers, so what we're talking about is sharing a few platforms and manufacturing sites there, which makes sense. And within the dialogue, we are also touching other options, but this will be the main focus if we come to a conclusion." Ford is "a strong American company," Diess said. "We have been working together already many years, in Europe and Latin America. It was a good experience for both companies when we worked together. We split up afterwards, and now there is another new business case in Europe, which makes sense for both companies. It feels good, and I hope we can conclude a case." Former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne, convinced that industry consolidation was necessary to make more efficient use of capital, had aggressively pursued a tie-up with VW well into 2017, only to be rebuffed. Ford officials have made clear that they are not looking at any alliance with VW that would involve equity stakes. "I wouldn't agree with Marchionne that the right step forward is to have the biggest company," Diess said, "because in such kind of uncertainty, you have to be profitable, you have to be fast, and the new scales are different from the old scales. It doesn't help you if you have as many as possible gearboxes, etc. ... It doesn't help you." The former BMW executive, who joined VW in 2015, said VW is "open" to licensing its modular EV platform, known as MEB, to other global automakers, including Ford. Diess said VW plans to build 50 million EVs globally across its brands, beginning in 2020, and has battery sourcing agreements for them. He said licensing MEB to other automakers would lead to further economies of scale. "Today we have hundreds of different drivetrains in our industry, and there's a lot of differentiation in the drivetrain. I think this will become less, because the battery cells will become very similar on the basis of the same chemistry inside," Diess said. "It will be more about the economies of scale. Still, the battery pack, for the foreseeable future, will be more expensive than a combustion powertrain, so I think it makes a lot of sense to make more volume and generate economies of scale." Coming pickup Diess said Ford could provide VW with a global successor to its Amarok pickup, the only body-on-frame light vehicle left among the German automaker's 300-plus nameplates. But he said it would be up to Keogh to decide whether to give U.S. dealerships a small body-on-frame pickup based on the Ford Ranger or a unibody pickup that would closely follow the Tanoak concept VW unveiled in March at the New York auto show. "It's up to Scott," Diess said. "If the Ford relationship works out well, we would have an Amarok successor, which would be then appropriate for sales worldwide — potentially as well for the United States. The other option is a unibody pickup, which is something for America, which is probably still a bit risky. On the other hand, you have to see that most of the SUVs have been transitioned in the last 20 years" to unibody construction. "I think, at some stage in the [midsize] pickups, the same thing will happen. ... I think unibody might make sense." .

Beautiful mezzanine parts department in the video. Bob, I'm not sure what percentage of Iveco stores are factory-owned.

Bharat-Benz Press Release / November 1, 2018

"No matter what challenges we face, we are accountable for how we run our business, both in the day-to-day and in anticipating the road ahead." Is Hackett listening?

GM sounds the alarm, in advance Michael Wayland, Automotive News / November 4, 2018 DETROIT — Is it the best of times or the worst of times? General Motors is broadcasting a seemingly bipolar message, reporting a $2.5 billion third-quarter profit and a 25 percent rise in pretax earnings last week, and then following up with news of voluntary buyouts, an inkling of layoffs and a warning about the need to control costs before they overwhelm the company. But the underlying message to Wall Street and the rest of the industry is more cohesive: The "new" GM, tempered by a brush with death nearly a decade ago, is determined to keep investing in strategic, but costly, programs such as electrification and autonomous driving technology. And it's determined to ensure it has enough money to sustain those investments during an "eventual downturn" in the economy. "To achieve what this company is truly capable of — and to win — we need to be even more agile and faster to market," GM CEO Mary Barra wrote in an email to employees last week addressing the buyouts and cost cuts. "We need to get ahead of headwinds, rather than let them happen to us." The headwinds, Barra and Wall Street analysts note, already are swirling. GM's global sales are weakening, especially in China and the U.S., the company's remaining strongholds. In her message, obtained by Automotive News, Barra detailed internal and external factors, such as trade policy and global economic conditions, that the company cannot control but must be prepared to address. She said the company needs to increase free cash flow by cutting structural costs and nonessential investments, such as building renovations that were expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. 'A different company' The actions and tone were typical of a time of operational and financial chaos for the 110-year-old automaker. This time, though, they are being framed as proactive steps for GM to be able to weather a downturn without shortchanging its future. Barra and her executive team know well how financial strains can threaten forward thinking. One of GM's technological breakthroughs, the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, emerged in production form amid an internal financial crunch and a global credit crisis that put the project's viability in question ahead of GM's 2009 bankruptcy. "We're working hard to prove every day that we're a different company," Barra said last week during a televised interview. She was comparing present-day GM with its past. But she may as well have been speaking of rival Ford Motor Co., which in October announced the outlines of an $11 billion global restructuring that would include unspecified salaried job cuts, even as it committed $740 million for an office campus in Detroit. Bank of America Merrill Lynch research analyst John Murphy wrote in a research note that Ford is "struggling to perform amid a more challenging operating environment." GM, he said in a separate note, "has already taken material actions to get ahead of the curve and is now well positioned to perform amid the storm that is wreaking havoc for others." 'Intense focus on cost' Third-quarter results back up Murphy's assessment. While Ford experienced a 37 percent drop in earnings due to poor results in China and other markets, GM significantly outperformed Wall Street's expectations on strong profits in China and North America, despite lower sales. As Ford pushed back its target of 8 percent global profit margins — currently at 4.4 percent — by 2020, GM reported an 8.8 percent margin for the third quarter. GM's cost cutting isn't over. "We're going to have an intense focus on cost, and we'll find more opportunities to take cost out of the system and maintain a low break-even point," CFO Dhivya Suryadevara said last week. She said GM will achieve its previously announced goal of realizing $6.5 billion in cost efficiencies from 2015 to 2018. Additional goals or cost-cutting measures could come when the company announces its guidance for 2019, she said. Those measures could include layoffs of salaried employees if not enough workers take the buyouts. The buyouts will be available to roughly 18,000 salaried employees in North America and "most" global executives who have 12 years or more of experience. They have until Nov. 19 to make a decision. GM's willingness to cut costs at headquarters could help the company make a more convincing case for trimming production capacity when it negotiates new contracts with the UAW next year. GM's capacity utilization rates in the U.S. are the lowest of all automakers. Of its 12 U.S. assembly plants, five are operating on three shifts; three are on two shifts; and four are on a single shift. __________________________________________________________________________ Bean counting As global sales declined 15 percent, GM's cost discipline paid off in its third-quarter results: Net income: $2.5 billion vs. a nearly $3 billion loss due to sale of its European operations) Pretax profit: $3.2 billion, up 25% Revenue: $35.8 billion, up 6.4% Profit margin: 8.8% globally, 10.2% in North America GM Financial: $498 million, up 61% __________________________________________________________________________ Pointed talking points GM CEO Mary Barra's lengthy message to employees explained the need to cut costs despite solid 3rd-quarter profits. Highlights of the letter: " ... there is still much more to do in transforming General Motors into the automotive company of the future. Our industry is subject to significant technological, economic and regulatory disruption." "No matter what challenges we face, we are accountable for how we run our business, both in the day-to-day and in anticipating the road ahead." " ... those outside our company are skeptical of our ability to manage through an eventual downturn in the economy — skepticism we see in our stock price." "I understand that what I shared today may be difficult news to hear. In keeping with our values, the [senior leadership team] and I commit to provide updates as we move forward in a transparent and respectful way."

Exactly. Sell your truck that lacks the spec's you desire, and purchase another truck that is spec'd out like you want. In modifying your existing engine, you're going to damage it (not if....but when), and repair will not be "cheap". Back in the day, a 300 paired with a 9-speed was perfectly acceptable, with adequate power and impressive fuel savings.......and in my view still is. I assume money-saving fuel economy is important to you, and max GCW remains 80,000lb. If money was no object, you wouldn't be looking for a cheap option.

Volvo Trucks Press Release / October 31, 2018 . . .

Daimler Press Release / October 23, 2018 At the IAA 2016, Mercedes-Benz Trucks was the first manufacturer in the world to show a heavy-duty electric truck. The technology leader has now moved on a step with its comprehensively refined Mercedes-Benz eActros, which celebrated its world premiere in February this year: its deployment with customers began a short while ago. By the end of the year, the customer innovation fleet will comprise ten eActros vehicles. The key features of the eActros are eleven battery packs in the frame area and underneath the vehicle, with a total usable capacity of 240 kWh, and a drive system involving wheel hub-mounted electric motors with a maximum output of 2 x 126 kW. .

IVECO Truck Press Release / October 24, 2018 Nobody more than IVECO can guarantee products, solutions and services tailored to your vehicle and your mission. .

Zach Dorfman & Jenna McLaughlin, Yahoo News / November 2, 2018 In 2013, hundreds of CIA officers — many working nonstop for weeks — scrambled to contain a disaster of global proportions: a compromise of the agency’s internet-based covert communications system used to interact with its informants in dark corners around the world. Teams of CIA experts worked feverishly to take down and reconfigure the websites secretly used for these communications; others managed operations to quickly spirit assets to safety and oversaw other forms of triage. “When this was going on, it was all that mattered,” said one former intelligence community official. The situation was “catastrophic,” said another former senior intelligence official. From around 2009 to 2013, the U.S. intelligence community experienced crippling intelligence failures related to the secret internet-based communications system, a key means for remote messaging between CIA officers and their sources on the ground worldwide. The previously unreported global problem originated in Iran and spiderwebbed to other countries, and was left unrepaired — despite warnings about what was happening — until more than two dozen sources died in China in 2011 and 2012 as a result, according to 11 former intelligence and national security officials. The disaster ensnared every corner of the national security bureaucracy — from multiple intelligence agencies, congressional intelligence committees and independent contractors to internal government watchdogs — forcing a slow-moving, complex government machine to grapple with the deadly dangers of emerging technologies. In a world where dependence on advanced technology may be a necessary evil for modern espionage, particularly in hostile regions where American officials can’t operate freely, such technical failures are an ever present danger and will only become more acute with time. “When these types of compromises happen, it’s so dark and bad,” said one former official. “They can burrow in. It never really ends.” A former senior intelligence official with direct knowledge of the compromise said it had global implications for the CIA. “You start thinking twice about people, from China to Russia to Iran to North Korea,” said the former official. The CIA was worried about its network “totally unwinding worldwide.” Yahoo News’ reporting on this global communications failure is based on conversations with eleven former U.S. intelligence and government officials directly familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive operations. Multiple former intelligence officials said that the damage from the potential global compromise was serious — even catastrophic — and will persist for years. More than just a question of a single failure, the fiasco illustrates a breakdown that was never properly addressed. The government’s inability to address the communication system’s insecurities until after sources were rolled up in China was disastrous. “We’re still dealing with the fallout,” said one former national security official. “Dozens of people around the world were killed because of this.” One of the largest intelligence failures of the past decade started in Iran in 2009, when the Obama administration announced the discovery of a secret Iranian underground enrichment facility — part of Iran’s headlong drive for nuclear weapons. Angered about the breach, the Iranians went on a mole hunt, looking for foreign spies, said one former senior intelligence official. The mole hunt wasn’t hard, in large part, because the communications system the CIA was using to communicate with agents was flawed. Former U.S. officials said the internet-based platform, which was first used in war zones in the Middle East, was not built to withstand the sophisticated counterintelligence efforts of a state actor like China or Iran. “It was never meant to be used long term for people to talk to sources,” said one former official. “The issue was that it was working well for too long, with too many people. But it was an elementary system.” “Everyone was using it far beyond its intention,” said another former official. The risks posed by the system appeared to have been overlooked in part because of it was easy to use, said the former intelligence officials. There is no foolproof way to communicate — especially with expediency and urgency — with sources in hostile environments like Iran and China, noted the former officials. But a sense of confidence in the system kept it in operation far longer than was safe or advisable, said former officials. The CIA’s directorate of science and technology, which is responsible for the secure communications system, “says, ‘our sh*t’s impregnable,’ but it’s obviously not,” said one former official. By 2010, however, it appears that Iran had begun to identify CIA agents. And by 2011, Iranian authorities dismantled a CIA spy network in that country, said seven former U.S. intelligence officials. (Indeed, in May 2011, Iranian intelligence officials announced publicly that they had broken up a ring of 30 CIA spies; U.S. officials later confirmed the breach to ABC News, which also reported on a potential compromise to the communications system.) Iran executed some of the CIA informants and imprisoned others in an intelligence setback that one of the former officials described as “incredibly damaging.” The CIA successfully exfiltrated some of its Iranian sources, said former officials. The Iranian compromise led to significantly fewer CIA agents being killed than in China, according to former officials. Still, the events there hampered the CIA’s capacity to collect intelligence in Iran at a critical time, just as Tehran was forging ahead with its nuclear program. U.S. authorities believe Iran probably unwound the CIA’s asset network analytically — meaning they deduced what Washington knew about Tehran’s own operations, then identified Iranians who held that information, and eventually zeroed in on possible sources. This hunt for CIA sources eventually bore fruit — including the identification of the covert communications system. A 2011 Iranian television broadcast that touted the government’s destruction of the CIA network said U.S. intelligence operatives had created websites for fake companies to recruit agents in Iran by promising them jobs, visas and education abroad. Iranians who initially thought they were responding to legitimate opportunities would end up meeting with CIA officers in places like Dubai or Istanbul for recruitment, according to the broadcast. Though the Iranians didn’t say precisely how they infiltrated the network, two former U.S. intelligence officials said that the Iranians cultivated a double agent who led them to the secret CIA communications system. This online system allowed CIA officers and their sources to communicate remotely in difficult operational environments like China and Iran, where in-person meetings are often dangerous. A lack of proper vetting of sources may have led to the CIA inadvertently running a double agent, said one former senior official — a consequence of the CIA’s pressing need at the time to develop highly placed agents inside the Islamic Republic. After this betrayal, Israeli intelligence tipped off the CIA that Iran had likely identified some of its assets, said the same former official. The losses could have stopped there. But U.S. officials believe Iranian intelligence was then able to compromise the covert communications system. At the CIA, there was “shock and awe” about the simplicity of the technique the Iranians used to successfully compromise the system, said one former official. In fact, the Iranians used Google to identify the website the CIA was were using to communicate with agents. Because Google is continuously scraping the internet for information about all the world’s websites, it can function as a tremendous investigative tool — even for counter-espionage purposes. And Google’s search functions allow users to employ advanced operators — like “AND,” “OR,” and other, much more sophisticated ones — that weed out and isolate websites and online data with extreme specificity. According to the former intelligence official, once the Iranian double agent showed Iranian intelligence the website used to communicate with his or her CIA handlers, they began to scour the internet for websites with similar digital signifiers or components — eventually hitting on the right string of advanced search terms to locate other secret CIA websites. From there, Iranian intelligence tracked who was visiting these sites, and from where, and began to unravel the wider CIA network. U.S. intelligence officials were well aware of Iran’s formidable cyber-espionage capabilities. But they were flabbergasted that Iran managed to extirpate an entire CIA spy network using a technique that one official described as rudimentary — something found in basic how-to books. But the events in Iran were not self-contained; they coincided roughly with a similar debacle in China in 2011 and 2012, where authorities rounded up and executed around 30 agents working for the U.S. (the New York Times first reported the extirpation of the CIA’s China sources in May 2017). Some U.S. intelligence officials also believe that former Beijing-based CIA officer Jerry Lee, who was charged with spying on behalf of the Chinese government in May 2018, was partially responsible for the destruction of the CIA’s China-based source network. But Lee’s betrayal does not explain the extent of the damage, or the rapidity with which Chinese intelligence was able to identify destroy the network, said former officials. U.S. officials believe that Chinese intelligence obtained physical access to the transitional, or temporary, secret communications system used by the CIA to correspond with new, unvetted sources — and broke through the firewall separating it from the main covert communications system, compromising the CIA’s entire asset network in that country, Foreign Policy reported earlier this year. It’s not clear whether China and Iran cooperated, but the former officials said the communications systems used in both countries were similar. The two governments may have broken the system independently. But Iranian, Chinese and Russian officials were engaged in senior-level communications on cyber issues around this time, recalled one former senior intelligence official —interactions that were “very suspicious in hindsight.” Some U.S. intel officials took the interactions as an indicator of enhanced open coordination among these countries, and even a nascent alliance against the U.S. and its Five Eyes intelligence partners, this person said. (U.S. officials also believe Chinese officials subsequently shared information about its penetration of the secret CIA system with their Russian counterparts.) “Our adversaries dramatically upped their game” in their offensive hacking operations, including those geared toward cracking the U.S. covert communications platforms, during this period, said another former senior intelligence official. This almost certainly included information sharing between these countries on U.S. covert communications techniques, said multiple former officials — the makings of a real-life “axis of evil.” There were discrete signs of potential cooperation. Around the time of the purges of CIA informants in Iran and China, senior counter-espionage officials from China’s Ministry of State Security visited their counterparts in Tehran, said four former U.S. officials. Some officials believe the two countries engaged in a trade — perhaps with Iran providing China with the technical information needed to pinpoint signs of online activity on the communications system, in exchange for military hardware, speculated one former official. “That’s the spy service way,” said another former official. With dawning horror, U.S. officials realized that once Iranian or Chinese intelligence officials were able to pinpoint CIA assets within their own borders, they were almost certainly capable of zeroing in on similar digital signatures in other countries, former officials said. Former officials said the fallout from the compromises was likely global in scope — potentially endangering all CIA sources that used some version of this internet-based system worldwide. “You establish these networks that are obviously critical to our ability to really understand what our adversaries are up to — there’s a pride in that — and when something that valuable starts to fall apart, the concern is, ‘Are we developing a house of cards?’” said one former senior official. “A lot of bells went off” during this time, said this person, because “whatever methods and procedures we were using were in jeopardy because of what the Chinese and Iranians had determined. You find that you’re blind.” These multiple, overlapping failures of the communication system created systemic problems for the agency. “There was a cascade of effects that flowed outward” from the initial breaches, said another former intelligence official. “Part of the problem was trying to figure out the second and third order of effects.” Repairing this breach had to be approached with extraordinary delicacy because attempted fixes can expose sources. Iran or China could then target and flip those CIA sources, or use information about them as bargaining chips with other intelligence services, former officials said. Around this time, Iranian intelligence officials also began aggressively pitching CIA officers to become double agents —meaning that they had somehow identified agency personnel, potentially through this wider compromise, said one former intel official. One country where the impact appears to have been contained is Russia. CIA officials who focus on Russia knew about the China ordeal and quickly adjusted their communications with sources accordingly. Aspects of the CIA’s Russia operations have historically been walled off from the rest of the agency, which likely helped minimize the damage. But the issue was so acute in the Middle East that the CIA was forced to suspend its use of internet-based covert communications systems there several times. The problems were exacerbated by increasingly aggressive Iranian cyber-espionage. The Iranians “were very good tactically,” one former official said, and were adept at “breaking into low-level communications in the field, such as between Iraqi forces and their American counterparts.” Starting around 2013, Iranian cyber experts seemed to be tracking CIA agents outside their own borders, including in Yemen, where Iran eventually compromised the internet-based covert communications system there. During this time, emergency meetings had to be scheduled at the agency because the Iranians had “hacked into systems outright that had nothing to do with them,” said this person — that is, those beyond Iran itself. “Iran was aggressively going out to hunt systems down,” the former official said. “They weren’t just protecting themselves anymore.” As Iran was making fast inroads into the CIA’s covert communications system, back in Washington an internal complaint by a government contractor warning officials about precisely what was happening was winding its way through a Kafka-esque appeals system. In 2008 — well before the Iranians had arrested any agents — a defense contractor named John Reidy, whose job it was to identify, contact and manage human sources for the CIA in Iran, had already sounded an alarm about a “massive intelligence failure” having to do with “communications” with sources. According to Reidy’s publicly available but heavily redacted whistleblower disclosure, by 2010 he said he was told that the “nightmare scenario” he had warned about regarding the secret communications platform had, in fact, occurred. Reidy refused to discuss his case with Yahoo News. But two former government officials directly familiar with his disclosure and the investigation into the compromises in China and Iran tell Yahoo News that Reidy had identified the weaknesses — and early compromise — that eventually befell the entire the covert communications platform. Reidy’s case was complicated. After he blew the whistle, he was moved off of his subcontract with SAIC, a Virginia company that works on government information technology products and support. According to the public disclosure, he contacted the CIA inspector general and congressional investigators about his employment status but was met with resistance, partially because whistleblower protections are complicated for federal contractors, and he remained employed. Meanwhile, throughout 2010 and 2011, the compromise continued to spread, and Reidy provided details to investigators. But by November 2011, Reidy was fired because of what his superiors said were conflicts of interest, as Reidy maintained his own side business. Reidy believed the real reason was retaliation. In his 2014 appeal to the intelligence community inspector general, first published by McClatchy News, Reidy describes the first signs of compromise in stunning detail — though it was unclear at the time, because of what was redacted, what issue he was addressing. “As our efforts increased, we started to notice anomalies in our operations … sources abruptly and without reason ceasing all communications with us,” he wrote. Something, he realized, was deeply wrong with the agency’s human sources network. The “U.S. communications infrastructure was under siege,” he wrote. Reidy warned that the problem wasn’t limited to a single country — it extended to everywhere the CIA operates. Close to 70 percent of operations at the time were potentially compromised, he noted. In other words, an entire class of CIA agents — those using some iteration of the online system — was in danger. “CIA is aware of this,” he wrote. “The design and maintenance of the system is flawed.” Reidy’s complaint wasn’t fully addressed for many years. But when the wide-scale arrest of sources in Iran happened, the CIA eventually launched an investigation. The deaths in China sent investigators into overdrive. Teams from the CIA, the FBI and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence scrambled to try to figure out what had happened — and how to stem the damage. “Can you imagine how different this whole story would’ve turned out if the CIA [inspector general] had acted on Reidy’s warnings instead of going after him?” said Kel McClanahan, Reidy’s attorney. “Can you imagine how different this whole story would’ve turned out if the congressional oversight committees had done oversight instead of taking CIA’s word that he was just a troublemaker?” Irvin McCullough, a national security analyst with the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that works with whistleblowers, put the issue in even starker terms. “This is one of the most catastrophic intelligence failures since September 11th,” he said. “And the CIA punished the person who brought the problem to light.” The roll-up of the CIA’s networks reignited debates within the U.S. intelligence community about the merits of high-tech versus low-tech methods of communicating with sources. Within some corners of the intelligence world, “there was widely held belief that technology was the solution to all communications problems,” according to one of the former officials. Proponents of older methods — such as chalk marks, burst communications, brush passes and one-time pads — were seen as “troglodytes,” said this official. The failure of the communication system was discussed extensively in closed-door hearings at the House and Senate Intelligence committees. “Some of the senators and congressman went nuts about this, and they should have,” a former official said. One of the central concerns among those familiar with the scope of the breakdown is the institutions responsible for it were never held accountable. Doing a comprehensive investigation isn’t easy, “but you have an absolute obligation to do that, because if you don’t, all you’re doing is rolling the dice with future lives,” said one former senior official. Even several years after the breach, the concern within the intelligence community is accountability. “When we continuously allow things like this to happen, and Congress doesn’t do anything, and the institutions don’t do anything, you’re going to have worse issues,” said another former official. “People will say, ‘I went to the inspector general and it didn’t work; I went elsewhere and it didn’t work.’ People will see it as a game. It will lead to corruption, and it will lead to espionage. When people see that the system is corrupt, it affects everything.” In the end, said the former official, “our biggest insider threat is our own institution.”

Scania Group Press Release / November 1, 2018 Summary of the first nine months of 2018 Operating income amounted to SEK 10,153 m. (9,080) Net sales increased by 11 percent to SEK 98,674 m. (89,111) Cash flow amounted to SEK -134 m. (3,002) in Vehicles and Services The period was affected by major disruptions in the supply chain resulting in negative cash flow As from the 2018 financial year, the presentation of the income statement has been adjusted to align with Volkswagen Group’s (including comparative periods) Comments by Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO “Demand for the new truck range remained strong and the trend in services is positive. Scania’s net sales for the first nine months of 2018 amounted to SEK 98.7 billion, an increase of 11 percent compared to the previous year. Earnings in the first nine months of 2018 rose to SEK 10,153 m., which resulted in an operating margin of 10.3 percent. Higher vehicle and service volume contributed positively and so did currency effects while higher production costs for running double product ranges and disruptions in the supply chain impacted earnings negatively. Earnings were also negatively impacted by a less favourable market mix. The disruptions in the supply chain related to the shift to the new truck range were further aggravated by the strike that occurred at a components supplier, which led to a temporary stop in deliveries and sales of V8 engines. As a result of these disruptions, inventory levels increased, which combined with the high investment level impacted negatively on cash flow. With only Latin America remaining, within the coming two quarters we will have completed the task of shifting production to the new truck range in Scania’s production facilities globally. As we approach the end of our biggest industrial transition ever we are concurrently focusing on normalising our cost levels as our earnings are not fully reflecting the current favourable market situation. Order bookings for trucks fell by 7 percent during the first nine months of 2018 compared to the year-earlier period. Demand for trucks in Europe remains at a good level. In Latin America the demand trend is reflected by the slow recovery in Brazil. There is currently uncertainty related to global trade. In the Middle East, demand has fallen drastically in Iran and Turkey, causing both cancelled orders and hampering new order intake. Overall order bookings in the Asia region were also negatively impacted by a slowdown in China. Demand in Eurasia continues to develop positively, mainly due to Russia despite its uncertainties. Demand for Buses and Coaches is also affected negatively by the situation in Iran but overall order bookings are in line with the same period in 2017. In the Engines business area the demand is at good levels in all segments, partly due to a pre-buy effect in Europe. Service revenue amounted to a record high SEK 19.6 billion, an increase of 12 percent. Financial Services reported operating income of SEK 1,059 million and credit losses remain at low levels.” .

Tesla seeks ATIS patent for its Semi Kevin Jones, Trailer-Body Builder / November 1, 2018 In another indication that the Tesla Semi is not just an elaborate stunt to generate investor interest, or a whim project from mercurial founder Elon Musk, Tesla Inc. is seeking a patent for an automatic tire inflation system that will “overcome the shortcomings” of systems currently on the market, the company says. The recently published application, originally submitted April 13 to the US Patent and Trademark Office, is designed to “significantly reduce contamination” in the ATIS air stream. “With some prior art techniques, air was fed through hollow drive axles to a fitting located on the end thereof. The fitting was then coupled to the air inlets of the tires,” the description reads. “To couple the air into the hollow drive axles, a rotatingly attached fitting coupled air from an air storage to the inside of the hollow axles. This fitting was subject to leakage of contaminants. These contaminants interfered with the operation of the ATIS and eventually caused the ATIS to fail.” The Tesla ATIS, in contrast, includes a controller, valves controlled by the controller, the valves having an air supply inlet, and “a plurality of air outlets.” “Further,” the application says, “the ATIS includes, for at least one drive axle having inner bearings and outer bearings, a channel formed in a spindle, first hosing coupling a valve of the valves controlled by the controller to the channel formed in the spindle, a channel formed in a hub, a rotary air seal residing between the inner bearings and the outer bearings and coupling the channel formed in the spindle to the channel formed in the hub, and second hosing coupling the channel formed in the hub to at least one wheel.” For those readers to whom this language makes sense, the complete document is available from USPTO. For everyone else, the application drawings with brief descriptions are included above. The Semi received only passing mention in Tesla’s most recent earnings call, however, as Musk said he was “most excited” about the Tesla pickup truck. “It's like … I think it's going to reach the next-level stuff there.” Also on the Oct. 24 call, Musk said he had approved the Model Y entry-level crossover for production, with full production slated for 2020.