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Fleet Owner / June 2, 2017 Overall market outlook remains positive. Orders for new Class 8 trucks dropped in May from the previous month, but remained well above year-ago levels. Class 8 orders were 16,800 units in May, down 30 percent from April and the lowest in the seven months. However, that was 18 percent higher than May 2016. Overall Classes 5-8 net orders fell 11 percent in May to 38,100, the second consecutive monthly dip. That figure was 20 percent ahead of last year’s pace. “Differentiating May from April is the fact that all of the month-over-month decline in May resulted from a dramatic slowing in heavy-duty order intake,” said one analyst. A second truck industry analyst said its data found Class 8 net orders for May were 16,300, down 31 percent from April. That total is up 29 percent from the same month in 2016. He noted all manufacturers saw declines, but the outlook remains solid. “It appears the typical summer order slump just showed up one month early. It does indicate the market is functioning normally and there is a steady, not robust, upward trend. The slowdown in order activity will give the OEMs a chance to get production lined up with demand,” the analyst said. That was also general message from Stifel analyst Michael Baudendistel. “We believe the Class 8 order weakness in May should be viewed as a step back from unsustainable levels,” he wrote in a note to investors. “Overall, we continue to view North American truck order trends over the past several months favorably, and believe conditions are setting up well for a strong 2019-2020, which should be years with significant replacement demand.”

GM accused in lawsuit of using VW-like defeat devices https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/46212-diesel-car-light-truck-news/?page=5

KENWORTH LEGEND 900 Kenworth Trucks Australia Press Release / May 28, 2017 Modelled on the legendary W-model and introduced in 1991, the T900 with its classic look and style was designed with the versatility to operate in almost any application and tough enough to stand up to the harsh Australian conditions. Built to revive the character of the American-style long bonneted truck, theT900 though not the spitting image of its much loved predecessor the W900AR, showcased its own elegance and class and all that was attractive in the much sought after W-model. Although it has been many years since production, the T900 has never faded and is reborn with the release of the Legend 900. .

Isuzu Australia Press Release / May 29, 2017 . . .

Owner/Driver / June 2, 2017 If you’d asked 22-year-old Glen Cameron, 42 years ago, whether he could imagine one day taking on his 1000th truck, he’d have told you “not in a hundred years”. Glen kicked things off back in 1975 in his early twenties, using a single 8-tonne tray truck around the Melbourne area to grow his customer base. As the story goes, Glen regularly made the walk from his depot down to a nearby phone box in Bayswater to book jobs and keep the wheels turning. It’s a case of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ for the Glen Cameron Group, as they reach a milestone with Mack truck number 341 being replaced by a new Mack, truck number 1000. The 1000 truck milestone is one Glen and his team are proud of, and the handover in Brisbane last week commemorates a true Australian success story. Lucky truck number 1000 is a 2017 Mack Granite Elite and it replaces the Group’s oldest prime mover, a 2000-model Mack CH Value-Liner. "You know it’s been a great truck for us and has been relatively trouble free with its whole of life costs really low, which was absolutely a contributing factor in our decision to replace 341 with a new Mack," said Glen Cameron Group Asset Manager Shane Coates. "In fact the truck has been so good to us that we are reluctant to move it on, it’s just that the truck is 17 years old. "The average age of our fleet is around three-and-a-half years, so it’s time to retire the old Mack." The Glen Cameron Group takes safety seriously and as a result the new model Mack has been fitted with ABS, Traction Control and Mack Roll Stability with a Jost sensor technology turntable. Shane says the decision of another Mack comes down to how reliable they’ve proven to be in the past, particularly the 17-year-old Value-Liner being replaced. "When we evaluate trucks that we want to buy in the future we don’t just look at the purchase price, we look at the running cost of the vehicle over its life… and the Mack has performed well. "Achieving low whole-of-life costs for the old Mack were also low because the driver Micky Hyndman, who has been with Glen for 30 years, was pretty much the sole driver of that Mack for its entire period and took such good care of it. "He loved the Mack, got good fuel economy, and he treated it like it was his own truck, delivering 20 tonnes of Cadbury chocolates to retailers every day for the past 17 years. "Having employees and drivers like Micky Hyndman along for the journey makes it all-the-more rewarding when you reach great milestones like this. "Whilst we are a company of reasonable size, Glen’s mantra here is that we keep it personal, we keep it flexible, we strive to do what our bigger competitors can’t do by virtue of their size, and that it’s all about the customer." Today, the Glen Cameron Group is a multimillion dollar national logistics company offering over 250,000 square metres of warehousing space, a fleet of around 900 pieces of equipment and 400 sub-contractors servicing customers across 23 locations throughout the country. It’s clearly a long way from that red phone box all those years ago! .

Australasian Transport News (ATN) / May 31, 2017 Volvo Trucks has offered a first glimpse of its proposed, spacious new FH XXL cab. Volvo Trucks has showcased its concept FH XXL cab to customers and partners before the Volvo Trucks customer dinner, which took place during the 2017 Brisbane Truck Show. "We are extremely excited to be introducing the FH XXL cab concept here in Australia," says Mitch Peden, vice president of Volvo Truck Australia. "As always we have been listening closely to our customers and there has been a strong and clear demand for this product." According to Volvo Trucks, the FH XXL concept cab was designed with the driver in mind, being 200 millimetres longer than the current XL Globetrotter cab, including noticeable improvements to the driver’s work and living conditions with additional space for accommodation and storage. "Showcasing the FH XXL cab signals our intention to bring this project to commercial reality," Peden says. "There have been some obvious challenges to developing a product that is considered niche in the global product portfolio. However the fact that we are able to showcase a concept cab today shows that we are committed to bringing this product to market while also underlining the importance of the Australian market and customers within Volvo Trucks’ global operations." The concept cab is currently not a part of the Volvo Trucks product portfolio and will undergo rigorous testing to meet stringent safety and quality standards before it is introduced in Australia. .

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Iveco Defence Vehicles Press Release / May 31, 2017 Iveco Defence Vehicles (DV) has signed a delivery order with the Swiss Armed Forces, represented by armasuisse (Federal Office for Defence Procurement), for 400 trucks to be supplied between 2017 and 2021. The agreement was signed at the powertrain R&D center belonging to Iveco Defence Vehicles' CNH Industrial sister brand FPT Industrial in Arbon, Switzerland on May 2, 2017. This initial delivery order forms part of a frame contract for a new fleet consisting of special trucks to be delivered from 2016 through to 2022. The frame contract was awarded to Iveco DV in November 2015, following two years of thorough market evaluation and comprehensive practical trials with several demonstrator chassis. This is the third frame contract between the two parties, following previous agreements in 1996 and 2006. It confirms a long established and trusted cooperation between Iveco DV and the Swiss Armed Forces, enhancing the brand's position as a key industry supplier. "The awarding of this contract is yet another important milestone in our nearly 30-year collaboration," commented Martin Sonderegger, National Armaments Director. "Projecting and producing tailor-made vehicles adapted to the specific needs of our customers is always an interesting challenge for us," explains Vincenzo Giannelli, President & CEO of Iveco Defence Vehicles. "This latest frame contract bid provided us with an excellent opportunity to improve innovation and research for a new generation of trucks." As with previous contracts, vehicle drive configurations will comprise a range of variants, including 4x2, 4x4, 6x2, 6x6, 8x6 and 8x8 vehicles from the new Stralis and Trakker ranges, which will be supplied with a range of different equipment, some with protected cabins. The high level of technology fitted in the vehicles, together with the extended use of civil COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) components are fundamental to ensuring the required safety and operability of the fleet. All vehicles will be fully-compliant with Euro 6 emissions regulations and fit for Single-Fuel-Operation. Iveco DV will provide ongoing support, project management and engineering services to the Swiss Armed Forces in close partnership with Iveco Switzerland. The new fleet of vehicles joins the current EEV-truck-generation, which Iveco DV has delivered to the Swiss Armed Forces over the past five years. These consist of 1,200 heavy trucks, over 1,000 of which have successfully served in operation in the last three years, a result that is in-line with the program planning. .

Scania Group Press Release / May 31, 2017 With the company motto “Punktlighet er vårt varemerke” (“Punctuality is our brand”) stamped in large letters on its vehicles, it’s no wonder that Ørland Transport was the first transport company in Norway to order and take delivery of a fleet of Scania S 730 trucks. In one of the world’s most challenging topographies for heavy transport, the power and technology of V8 engines are a must. Kjell Haugland is the owner and Managing Director of Ørland Transport, one of the oldest and largest transport companies in Norway’s Stavanger region. But he still regularly joins his 130 drivers on the Norwegian roads in one of the company’s new generation Scania S 730 V8 trucks. “I started in this company as a driver and I think it’s important to remember where you come from,” he says. “Not only that, it’s demanding to run a business as big and competitive as this, and driving is my way to calm down and feel good.” Haugland says he can’t think of a ­better way to relax and unwind than to take a transport assignment with one of the company’s new S 730s. As a veteran of the road, he has come to know every hairpin bend, steep slope and narrow tunnel along the E39 – the region’s main transport artery. Haugland loves the luxury feeling he gets from the new cab while moving a heavy load up and down the rugged mountains, with the stormy North Sea at his back. “That’s hard to beat,” he says. Today, in two S 730s, he and fellow driver Jan Høiland load 50 tonnes each of prefabricated concrete foundations at a building contractor in Sandnes, destined for the construction of a new school in Kristiansand, 220 kilometres to the south-east along this wild coast. The journey starts by hugging the North Sea coastline and moving through flat farmland, before beginning the serious business of climbing up narrow, winding roads through mountain passes made treacherously slippery by snow and ice. Then it’s downhill along serpentine roads, only to have to negotiate the road through another narrow fjord. The vehicles’ performance is key to managing a mission like this. “For our business, the V8 engines from Scania are often a must,” Haugland explains. “The volume of traffic and average speed on these narrow, steep roads is constantly increasing, and heavy transport missions like ours must have the capacity to follow that flow in a reasonably good way. Very often the power and torque of a V8 engine is a prerequisite.” Fuel consumption As a transport operator, Haugland doesn’t talk about “making money” but “saving money”. And that requires discipline when it comes to service and maintenance of the vehicles. By managing the fleet meticulously, Ørland Transport can reduce fuel consumption – and save more money. “Every vehicle in our fleet has its time, down to the minute, for when it has to be maintained and serviced,” he says. “No well-paid extra assignments can change that. Working this way, our vehicles never fail – and they earn more money!” Ørland Transport’s objective is to reduce the fleet’s overall fuel consumption by 10 ­percent in a year. If they manage this, the employees will share a windfall of NOK 1 million (EUR 114,000). “If we can reduce the idle fuel consumption from 18.9 percent to 6 percent, we are already there,” he says. “And if we also manage to reduce the average speed a bit, we will do even better. That’s ­earning us even more money!” Some of the vehicles in the fleet of Ørland Transport run assignments in the northern parts of Norway. “With those distances and our country’s rugged topography these trucks can be away for months,” Haugland says. “Then it’s great to have Scania’s extensive network of workshops to rely on.” He slips into an impassioned explanation of the partnership he feels he and the company have with Scania. “As an example,” Haugland says, “we never discuss price with Scania any longer when buying new vehicles. Never! We know that we get exactly the perfect trucks for our operations. We know how much money we can earn from each of them. And we know the resale value is high when we change them for new ones. It’s very much about trust. That’s partnership for me!” Fjords Fjords are long, narrow sea inlets created by giant glacier tongues that cut through the Norwegian landscape over a very long time indeed. When is a fjord not a fjord? When the strip of water is wider than it is long then it is not a fjord but a bay or a cove. Synnøve Finden, the famous Norwegian cheese maker, was born in Finnafjord, the smallest of Norway’s fjords. Norway’s biggest fjord is Sognefjord. The largest fjord in the world is Scoresby Sund, in Greenland. .

Scania Group Press Release / May 31, 2017 Sublime journey. Ube Industries has the world’s longest private highway. “What we have is like a test course for new trucks,” says the company’s head of logistics. The industrial city at the very southern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshū has turned local limestone into cement since the 1920s. Over the years the operation run by Ube Industries has grown so much that almost every aspect of it is gargantuan – from cement kilns to quarries to the transport that carries its 8.4 million tonnes of limestone, coal, and waste product every year. The road connecting facilities inside the site stretches more than 30 kilometres, making it the world’s longest private track, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The trucks that speed at 70 km/h along it carry 80 tonnes of cargo in 30-metre-long double-trailers. And then there’s the ‘minor’ detail of working its 35-truck fleet trucks every single day, from 06:30 to 21:00, to clock up an annual 180,000 kilometres per machine. “What we have is like a test course for new trucks,” says Ube Industries logistics and purchasing leader Hideki Shimazu. “If the Ube road is no problem, then everywhere is no problem.” Putting a truck through its paces in the Ube industrial heartland has many a manufacturer excited, he says, but few can provide the machines that cope with the conditions and meet Ube’s stringent efficiency clauses. In fact, Ube’s active fleet has been whittled down to just three truck brands and each of these has drawbacks. Domestic truck manufacturers have the service capability and lowest costs, but lag in terms of horsepower. Foreign rivals have the machine power, but no direct distribution and parts supply in Japan. “English communication is still very difficult,” Shimazu says in English, before breaking into a chuckle. So, when Ube Industries was introduced to Scania two years ago, Shimazu got interested very quickly. Scania had a Japanese distribution network, a local corporate entity with staff that could literally speak Shimazu’s language, and a 580-hp, high-torque V8 engine that met Ube’s 500-plus horsepower criteria. It was also affordable. Ube Industries moved to add two Scania machines to its fleet from March, and two more are due by the summer. Ube’s drivers are already singing the praises of Scania’s light-touch automated transmission in contrast to the powerful but exhausting manual clutch of another foreign brand currently dominating the fleet. Less than 68.5 litres per 100 kilometres For Shimazu, however, it will be a case of judging Scania’s cost performance over the next three years and the total lifespan. Ube uses trucks for eight years before putting them into the spares squadron. So far, with a fuel consumption of less than 68.5 litres per 100 kilometres, Scania is proving to be one of the most efficient, despite recent model upgrades by rivals. The V8’s high torque means it doesn’t lose out even to a 600-horsepower rival. That and Scania’s use of triple axles allow drivers to navigate inclines on Ube’s road without crimping fuel efficiency. Scania staff is also advising Ube on ways to keep the cost of replacement parts in check, Shimazu said. These advantages will be particularly telling as Ube raises the bar. The company is intent on boosting cargo weight without slowing the trucks. From this year Ube’s double-trailer load will rise by 10 percent. Shimazu is also overseeing the reintroduction of triple-trailers, a practice abandoned in 1999 due to frequent power train failures. “There is a revolution in trucks today,” Shimazu says, adding that this is a chance for Ube to pick a machine for its own next generation of demands. “Scania is one of the makers I have the best expectations for,” he says. Japan Many truckers in Japan wear white gloves as a symbol of their professionalism. A ‘Dekotora’ is an extravagantly-decorated Japanese truck, inspired by the 1975 film Torakku Yaro (Truck Rascals). .

Crossing the Andes with Hugo | Driver's Day | Episode Three Scania Group Press Release / May 30, 2017 On one of the world's highest roadways, Argentinian driver Hugo Valdiviezo takes on high mountain passes, salt flats and seemingly endless desert in order to get his transport to Chile on time. In his Scania R 620 V8, the Trans GOL driver takes on the Paso de Jama, which connects northern Argentina's Jujuy province with the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, and its famous Cuesta de Lipán. .

On The Bus With Mariana | Driver's Day | Episode Two Scania Group Press Release / April 28, 2017 Meet Mariana Torres, a driver for Cartagena, Colombia's bus rapid transit system, as she gives us a look into her daily life, both on and off the bus. .

Renault Trucks Press Release / June 1, 2017 All year round, Renault Trucks T High delivers to all destination throughout Finland from the port of Helsinki. .

Rethinking the regional trucking market Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / June 1, 2017 Shifting freight patterns and driver demands may be positioning regional trucking for greater growth. WINSTON-SALEM, NC. The main reason driving Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) to introduce the new VNR family of trucks to replace its VNM model is a fairly simple one, according to Chris Stadler, the OEM’s product marketing manager for regional haul: “The VNM is an aged truck; it was time for a refresh. We needed a more adaptable truck, too: one that can operate in the city and on the highway.” Yet Stadler also explained to Fleet Owner that shifting freight transportation patterns plus the need to address a growing shortage of truck drivers accelerated VTNA’s decision to build the VNR: a family of trucks that took over two years to design in part due to the input of 2,000 customers and drivers. “Even with autonomous vehicles we’ll need drivers; there’s going to be a need for them [drivers] for quite a while,” he said. “We need to make sure they are productive, rested, comfortable, and less distracted.” Stadler noted that while the regional market is changing, the OEM can’t bank on any one segment doing better than another. “There are lots of good opportunities in the regional market: bulk haul, tanker, city delivers, P&D [pickup and delivery], flatbed, construction, and LTL,” he emphasized. “But there are also lots of changes, too. We had anticipated more regional versus long haul when the expanded Panama Canal opened. Also the oil and natural gas fields are only slowly recovering.” Those are some of the reasons why demand for regional trucks slumped in recent years. For example, according to VTNA data, in 2014 the regional haul market accounted for 66,300 units, humping to 72,320 units in 2015. But in 2016, demand dropped to 54,029 units. Comparing year-to-date regional market sales through March 2016 to year-to-date sales through March 2017, the decline is steeper: 15,519 units against 11,762 units, respectively. Still, Magnus Koeck, VTNA’s vice president of marketing and brand management, stressed that 54,000-plus units remains “a big market.” Perhaps the biggest change in the regional sector, though, is how truck OEMs are now getting more focused on driver recruitment and retention issues, said Stadler, as less and less people want to get into trucking. “They don’t want to be gone weeks at a time anymore and that’s why LTL fleets, for example, are creating more hubs and distribution points: that leads to more short hauls,” Stadler said. “We’ve also heard there is more demand for timed deliveries, too. So we want to put the right truck into the right application and not just for today but for five to 15 years down the road.” That means adding more electronics and “gadgets,” from Stadler’s view, to give the “younger generation” vehicle operating parameters that appeals to them, while keeping it “intuitive” for the current generation of truck drivers. “It’s about making it easier for all generations [of truck drivers] to adapt to using it,” he stressed. “We want to make sure it can be operated by those who’ve never seen a manual transmission in their life. Make it adaptable.” It also must be a more cost-effective truck as well, Stadler stressed. For example, he said the VNR’s improved aerodynamic profile can boost fuel economy 1% compared to the previous VNM model, while the VNR’s Volvo GHG2017 powertrain can offer a further 2.5% to 3.5% gain in fuel efficiency versus the VNM. “Regional can longer be a hand-me-down from long haul; it must offer better performance and fuel efficiency, too,” Stadler pointed out. “While regional [fleets] don’t usually think about fuel economy, fuel is still their biggest cost. So getting an extra one to two miles per gallon when they are operating on the highway is an additional savings in the wallet for them.” Regional customers also keep truck a long time, he added: five to 15 years for some of them. “They’ll start it in bulk hauling, then move to flatbed and then finally to dry van. They use the truck to its full potential,” he explained. “My mission is to give the customer a truck that can do all of those jobs.” .

Volvo VNR Ride & Drive Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / June 1, 2017 Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) recently showed off its new VNR regional truck model during a ride and drive event in Winston-Salem, NC. A total of three VNR models in four different configurations were made available to attending journalists: a VNR 640 6x2 highway tractor configured with a 61-in. sleeper plus a VNR 400 6x4 tractor configured with a 42-in. mid-roof sleeper, both pulling 53-ft. flatbeds loaded out with concrete blocks; a VNR 300 4x2 in straight truck configuration, fitted with a dry van box and hydraulic lift gate; and a VNR 300 4x2 tractor pulling a 28-ft. pup trailer. Photo gallery - http://fleetowner.com/equipment/volvo-vnr-ride-drive#slide-0-field_images-219741

Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / June 1, 2017 OEM also believes a rebound in the long haul segment will occur by year’s end. WINSTON-SALEM, NC. Roughly five months into 2017, Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) still thinks the North American Class 8 market will top 215,000 units for the year – truck production volume that is being driven in part by strong construction spending, which the OEM said is at its highest level since 2007. Magnus Koeck, VTNA’s vice president of marketing and brand management, explained to journalists gathered here to test drive the OEM’s new VNR regional haul truck – introduced in Montreal back in April – that strong labor market and consumer spending will drive U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year, with moderate manufacturing growth expected as well, both of which in turn will help bolster Class 8 sales. “Diesel prices are also low and the Department of Energy now expects just a 2.2% annual increase in diesel prices until 2040,” he added. That doesn’t mean VTNA is looking at the commercial vehicle market through rose-colored glasses, however. Koeck noted that the long haul segment is declining largely due to weak freight demand and rates, along with excess used truck inventories. He added that looking at Class 8 registrations year to date though March of 2016 and 2017 side by side, “we see a drop in long haul from 46.8% to 41.2%.” Altogether, total Class 8 registrations dropped from 59,481 units year-to-date through March of 2016 to 45,856 units year-to-date through March of 201, according to VTNA data. Meanwhile, the regional haul market is expected to remain flat in the U.S., Koeck noted, maintaining a consistent 28% of Class 8 market share, though there will be a continued trend towards freight "regionalization" spurred on in part by the growing driver shortage. “For 2017 what we expect is that regional [demand] will stay balanced but flat,” he pointed out. “Yet there’s a change in transportation patterns towards less driving distances and less sleeper use. But we do expect long haul to pick up slightly at the end of the year.” A few other truck trends Koeck highlighted during his talk included: Cheap diesel is delaying the growth of natural gas as a fuel source for the trucking industry. There’s been a recovery in the natural gas and oil field sector in the U.S. and that is translating into more tanker trucking demand. The recent expansion of the Panama Canal and U.S. ports is increasing container and intermodal traffic. There are more partnerships and expansions of LTL carriers between U.S. and Canada. Volvo engines now represent 92.5% of all the OEM’s truck builds, with the Volvo I-Shift automated manual transmission (AMT) spec’d for 90.2% of all Volvo truck builds. .

Volvo Expects Range of Market Shifts to Push Demand for New Model Transport Topics / June 1, 2017 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Volvo Trucks North America expects market shifts that range from the expanded Panama Canal to the strongest construction market in a decade to lift demand for its new VNR regional-haul model, company representatives said. “We see this is a common workday tractor that goes out on local deliveries, supporting the communities, supporting the cities, supporting farming — it is a work truck,” Chris Stadler, product marketing manager for VTNA, said during the manufacturer’s ride-and-drive media event here June 1. Specifically, he listed local deliveries in cities and rural regions as applications that the company is targeting with the truck, which was introduced in April at ExpoCam in Montreal. During the truck’s development, Volvo talked with about 2,000 fleets and drivers to learn what they needed in a regional-haul truck, he said. That included hearing from drivers “what they have to say when they are operating in these markets,” he said. Models in the ride-and-drive event included the Volvo VNR 300 with a 28-foot trailer, a Volvo VNR 300 with a 28-foot refrigerated trailer, a Volvo 400 6×4 flatbed and a Volvo 6×2 flatbed. And market shifts are key to Volvo’s business outlook for the truck, said Magnus Koeck, the company’s vice president of marketing and brand management. At the top of the list is the expanded Panama Canal, and the volume of cargo that is moving through East Coast ports as a result. “It is happening. We don’t see the full effect of this yet, but it is something that we are monitoring very carefully,” he said. Among business segments, Koeck said, the company is seeing some recovery in the gas and oil field sectors, which will boost demand for tanker trucks. The construction industry is another sector that is mounting a comeback, experiencing its strongest performance since 2007, he said. “The construction sector has grown, and we continue to see that probably into next year,” he said. In terms of vehicle registrations, that growth has come at the expense of longhaul, due to weak freight demand and rates, and excess used-truck inventories, he said. As it relates to new trucks, Koeck said, inventory-to-sales ratios remain steady as dealers are maintaining less inventory and restocking more frequently. “We are very pleased with the positive customer response we’ve seen since we launched the Volvo VNR,” Göran Nyberg, president of VTNA, said in a press release issued in conjunction with the event. “Our order intake, especially for the VNR 640, has exceeded our expectations, and we look forward to delivering the truck that meets all of the unique demands of the regional-haul market.” .

China firmly embraces capitalism, while the former Soviet Union went hard core with Karl Marx’s political theories……and the rest is history. Interestingly, Marx was from Prussia (Germany today) and wrote his Communist Manifesto in London with another German philosopher named Friedrich Engels.

Getting a fresh look at Volvo's new VNR Sean Kilcarr, Fleet Owner / May 31, 2017 Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) provided journalists with a chance to get up close and personal with its new VNR regional haul tractor during a special ride and drive event in Winston-Salem, NC; a tractor that the OEM only recently unveiled to the industry. Highlights for this particular daycab VNR 300 model, shown off to journalists ahead of the event, include its adaptive loading lift axle solution for 6x2 tractors, forward collision warning technology tied to an automatic emergency braking system, light emitting diode (LED) low and high beam headlights as well as turn signals and marker lamps, plus much more. Photo gallery - http://fleetowner.com/equipment/getting-fresh-look-volvos-new-vnr

Fields tried to fire Hinrichs before being ousted from Ford Automotive News / May 31, 2017 DETROIT -- Days before his May 19 ouster as CEO of Ford Motor Co., Mark Fields was proposing to fire his top lieutenant, Joe Hinrichs, in an effort to relieve some of the pressure he was facing from a skeptical board of directors, Automotive News has learned. Fields intended to get approval from the board for his decision to fire Hinrichs during the week of May 14, sources said. Fields' plan backfired, however, when the board decided instead to part ways with him and communications chief Ray Day, following a Friday, May 19, meeting. Instead of a pink slip, Hinrichs was given a promotion to the newly created position of president of global operations, in charge of Ford's global product development; manufacturing and labor affairs, among other things. Jim Hackett, the former head of furniture maker Steelcase and chairman of Ford Smart Mobility, was named Ford's new CEO as part of a wide-ranging management shakeup. Hinrichs was conspicuously missing in a round of retention bonuses the company paid out to top executives on Wednesday, May 17, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. But Hinrichs was added to the list the following week, getting a $5 million stock bonus. Fields faced increased scrutiny during meetings with Ford's board of directors ahead of the company's annual shareholders meeting on May 11. The board had grown impatient with Fields' strategy for the future and irritated with the automaker's sluggish stock price, which had fallen nearly 40 percent since he took over in July 2014. Fields believed he could deflect pressure from himself and pacify the board by ousting Hinrichs, the sources said. Fields did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ford said in a statement, "Joe is a critical part of our leadership team for taking the company forward, as he knows Ford inside and out and has led many parts of our business. We do not comment on rumor or speculation." Hinrichs, 50, had been president of the Americas since December 2012. Since he took over, the company earned about $38 billion in North America, which represented 92 percent of its total pretax profits during that period. He also oversaw the successful redesign of Ford's best-selling vehicle, its profit-generating F-series pickup. However, U.S. sales are down 5.1 percent through April, more than double the industry decline as the industry plateaus. The automaker has lost four-tenths of a percentage point of market share during that same stretch. Part of that sales decline is due to a planned drop in fleet sales. Ford had front-loaded fleet sales at the beginning of last year, so this year's comparisons are much lower. In April, Ford reported first-quarter net income of $1.6 billion, down $900 million from a year earlier.