kscarbel2

I have to admit, attracted by the nostalgia and traditional appearance, the black Scrambler looks pretty good.

Sounds great guys. I wasn't familiar with them. After reading that Auto News article, I thought to share.

The 2020 #Autocar calendar cover features Harrison Industries of #Ventura, CA. EJ Harrison & Sons is a multi-generational family business that has faithfully served SoCal since 1932 & we are proud to call them friends & customers. #AlwaysUp #uptime #ROI #itsallabouttheuptime .

Vintage Parts Inc. https://www.vpartsinc.com/ https://www.autonews.com/fixed-ops-journal/wisconsin-warehouse-complex-lifeline-dealerships

Financial Times / January 2, 2020 CNH, the truck and tractor maker backed by Italy’s Agnelli family, hopes that a split of the business into two companies will drive consolidation across its two sectors, the chief executive said. Hubertus Mühlhäuser said the business would be open to deals once it had spun out truckmaker Iveco and its other road-going brands into a new entity in early 2021. “One of the reasons why we create two pure plays, one an off-highway, one an on-highway, is of course to be able to actively contribute to industry consolidation,” he said. “Whether we’re going to be the consolidator or consolidatee remains to be seen. “We have not yet seen a coming together of larger Asian players at large scale with the European or American players . . . I think that’s something to come in the coming years.” The truck markets and the agricultural equipment sectors are facing upheaval, with the need for investments into electric propulsion and autonomy coupled with tough trading conditions as haulage firms and farmers delay orders because of the global trade war. Yet the two businesses have very limited spending overlap. “We looked at that from the synergies and the synergies were not there,” said Mr Mühlhäuser. CNH will spin out Iveco, Iveco Bus and the Heuliez Bus units, as well as its power train business, in an “on highway” division, which has combined revenues of about $13bn. It will keep the tractor, agricultural and construction equipment arm, which has revenues of about $16bn, with the aim of raising the values of the two companies by ending CNH’s status as a mini-conglomerate. The split, which will take place in 2021, is part of a strategy intended to more than double profit margins to 10 per cent by 2024. The move, announced at an investor day in September, follows a tradition set by CNH’s previous owner Fiat Chrysler, which is also backed by the Agnelli family through their Exor holding company. FCA, which was formed by the merger of Fiat and Chrysler, spun out CNH in 2011, and subsequently also listed Ferrari, and sold component business Magneti Marelli. Shorn of non-core businesses, FCA is attempting to merge with France’s PSA to create the world’s fourth-largest carmaker, allowing the two auto groups to pool investments into self-driving technology and electric driving. Analysts expect CNH’s remaining tractor arm to have a higher value once divided from the truck division, because agricultural equipment businesses such as John Deere tend to attract higher valuation multiples than truckmakers. Elliott, the activist hedge fund, has built up a lower than 3 per cent stake in CNH, acquiring the shares before the announcement. Mr Mühlhäuser said they were “very supportive” of the company’s strategy. CNH opted to spin the company out rather than listing the new truck business in an initial public offering, in part because of the experience Volkswagen faced with its own truck division Traton, which houses the Man and Scania brands. The Traton listing was delayed once, and finally launched at a lower value in June. Separating the two CNH companies will allow each side to focus on its challenges, from countering slowing farmer orders because of the trade war, to the need for electric investment into haulage vehicles. Iveco is preparing to launch a hydrogen-powered truck and a battery electric vehicle, having invested in start-up Nikola to help it with both technologies. Its off-highway division will focus on the agricultural market, which is under pressure as farmers delay replacing older fleet.

Ghosn is a brilliant individual. Without him, Japan Inc. would no longer have Nissan and Mitsubishi today. Their gratitude was short lived.

Nissan’s shock turns to dread as Ghosn readies media blitz Bloomberg / December 2, 2019 TOKYO -- News this week that Carlos Ghosn, facing two trials and under heavy surveillance, pulled off a stunning escape from Japan left Nissan Motor Co. executives with jaws agape reaching for their messaging apps. Just as astonished was CEO Makoto Uchida, who heard about his former boss’s getaway from media reports, according to a person familiar with the matter. Ghosn’s vanishing act throws up a distraction just when the new CEO needs to be laser focused. With profits at decade lows and its stock tanking, Nissan is rife with internal divisions over the ouster of its former leader and the way forward. Now Ghosn is free to talk, armed with potentially damaging details about current Nissan executives. “There must be many people at Nissan and Renault who think this could really be dangerous for them if Ghosn speaks,” said Koji Endo, a senior analyst at SBI Securities in Tokyo. Uchida, who became CEO last month, has a long list of challenges. A top deputy abruptly quit, some 12,500 jobs are on the chopping block, and he needs to refresh an aging lineup of models like the Skyline sedan and GT-R sports car to reinvigorate sales. Then there’s the matter of fixing the rocky relationship with French partner Renault SA as autonomous vehicles and electrification threaten to disrupt the industry. Ghosn has said the charges of financial impropriety brought against him are false, trumped up by Nissan executives, Japanese prosecutors and government officials who opposed his plans to more deeply integrate the two carmakers. On Thursday, he issued a second statement about his escape to deny reports that his wife was involved in the plot. “I alone organized my departure,” the 65-year-old said. “My family had no role whatsoever.” Ironically, it was in a previous crisis two decades ago that Nissan, on the verge of bankruptcy, was rescued by Renault, which took a stake in the Japanese carmaker and sent in Ghosn to turn it around. Ghosn later added Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to the pact, forming the world’s biggest carmaking alliance. Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 at Haneda airport, kicking off a legal saga that would result in him being released on bail, re-arrested and bailed out again. He was facing trial for financial crimes when on Dec. 31, as Japan entered a week-long holiday, Ghosn revealed that he had fled to Lebanon to escape what he described as a “rigged Japanese justice system.” Hollywood thriller It’s still a mystery how Ghosn, one of the most recognizable foreigners in Japan, snuck out of the country despite being under round-the-clock surveillance -- an escape befitting a Hollywood thriller. Theories abound, but it appears that Ghosn flew to Lebanon on a private jet operated by a subsidiary of Turkey’s MNG Holding, according to a senior Turkish official with direct knowledge of the matter. That’s after the former automotive executive apparently flew to Istanbul on another MNG aircraft on Monday morning, before being transferred between the two airplanes inside a box, the official said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Meanwhile, prosecutors on Thursday began a search of Ghosn’s residence near Tokyo’s Roppongi district, a three-story building with four surveillance cameras around the entrance, local media reported. By early evening, prosecutors remained inside the house, while a gaggle of reporters trained their cameras on the front door. Though Ghosn hasn’t been involved in running either company since his arrest more than a year ago, his shadow still looms large. That’s why when the news first broke Tuesday about his escape, it didn’t take long for the shock to ripple through the upper echelons of the two automotive giants he long led. Aside from Uchida, top Nissan managers scrambled to find out details by messaging each other, the person said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. In France, executives were stupefied and some initially questioned whether France was behind the extraction of one of its citizens in any way, according to another person familiar with the matter. France later denied having any involvement. Representatives for Nissan and Renault declined to comment. Settling scores Ghosn, who has said he’ll “finally communicate freely with the media” next week, is a man on a mission to clear his name and has scores to settle. He could create a stir by identifying Nissan executives whom he claims turned on him to advance their own interests. In April, Ghosn’s camp released a pre-recorded video that edited out the identities of those people. Some of Ghosn’s targets aren’t hard to guess. Ghosn’s successor -- protege-turned-accuser Hiroto Saikawa -- blamed his former mentor for many of Nissan’s woes before being ousted himself last year in a scandal involving excess compensation. Then there’s Hari Nada, the former head of the CEO’s office, who became a key whistleblower against Ghosn. In his video, Ghosn also blasted Nissan’s management for the company’s poor performance, saying it lost sight of the need to move the alliance with Renault forward. “I’m worried because obviously the performance of Nissan is declining, but also I’m worried because I don’t think there is any vision for the alliance being built,” Ghosn said in the video. As for Uchida, he’s vowed to try to heal some of the wounds with its French partner, while restoring growth in profit and sales at Nissan. Ghosn on the loose looks likely to complicate those tasks.

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/40915-the-iran-deal-whos-kidding-who/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-341274

Not for long. Volvo expects all customers to obediently subscribe to their I-Shift AMT (rebadged as M-Drive on Mack brand models).

Japan's goal was to smear Ghosn in order to prevent the auto executive from further integrating Nissan and France’s Renault, a plan that threatened the Japanese carmaker’s autonomy and was vehemently opposed in the highest echelons of Tokyo officialdom. Ghosn effected an escape from Japan by hiding inside a musical instrument box, which was transferred to the airport and onto a private plane. A paramilitary group came to Ghosn's house disguised as a band for Christmas dinner. They hid Ghosn inside one of their equipment boxes when they left the home at the end of the evening. “I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold. I have not fled justice — I have escaped injustice and political persecution. I can now finally communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week." Carlos Ghosn https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-01/ghosn-is-a-free-man-with-tales-to-tell-and-scores-to-settle?srnd=markets-vp https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-30/carlos-ghosn-left-japan-arrived-in-beirut-reports-say?srnd=markets-vp https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/31/carlos-ghosn-escaped-japan-hiding-in-a-musical-instrument-case

I was wondering why G&P was trying to look so good recently.......to bump up the sell price. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / December 30, 2019 NFI has acquired G&P Trucking Company, a logistics provider specializing in asset-based transportation, port drayage, and non-asset brokerage solutions, to expand NFI’s coverage of the Southeast. G&P, headquartered in Columbia, S.C., has been providing transportation services for customers across its 14 locations for more than 80 years, including dedicated, regional, long haul, and Mexico border crossing. The addition of G&P’s 370 tractors and 3,000 trailers will increase NFI’s fleet to more than 3,000 tractors, 12,500 trailers, 2,700 company drivers, and 400 owner-operators. “Unifying the talents of both NFI and G&P teams, we are excited to bring even greater value to our customers through our robust suite of solutions,” said Sid Brown, CEO of NFI. Operating at the Ports of Savannah, Norfolk, and Charleston, G&P will expand NFI’s drayage presence in those ports. With the addition of G&P’s 120 owner-operator partnerships, NFI’s drayage fleet will grow to more than 1,500 tractors. NFI said its expansive drayage presence spans major ports, terminals, and logistics hubs across the U.S., offering a full suite of supply chain solutions that includes transloading, consolidation, deconsolidation, and customs exams. The acquisition will also enhance NFI’s brokerage service offerings. “Powered by the same philosophies as G&P, NFI will allow for greater opportunities for our employees, partners, and customers,” said Clifton Parker, president and general manager of G&P. “We look forward to the future and are eager to continue our growth and success with NFI.”

You begin here: https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/ ......and click on "Choose your country": https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/select-languages Then for your purposes, click on one of the countries with an English (EN) version of that website.

Scroll to the bottom and click on the model number of your interest. https://www.fordtrucks.com.tr/en

You would think Volvo's all-knowing engineers in Sweden could remedy loose range shift fork set screws or loose rear yoke bolts. The M-Drive AMT of course is simply a rebadged Volvo single countershaft I-Shift AMT (ZF's superior AMTs feature a twin countershaft design) Mack engineers were developing an AMT version of the "world's best" Maxitorque triple countershaft transmissions, but Volvo canned it.

The more I think about this, i.e. Volvo's termination of Mack-designed Maxitorque transmissions, the more disgusted I feel. Note the webpage while you still can.......obviously it isn't long for this world. https://www.macktrucks.com/powertrain-and-suspensions/transmissions/maxitorque-es/

https://www.diesel-international.com/news/john-deere-13-6l/ https://www.oemoffhighway.com/engines/engines/product/20854903/john-deere-power-systems-john-deere-power-systems-136-l-engine

This #Autocar #ACX front end loader delivers the highest ROI for your business due to superior #uptime, purpose-built engineering & lifetime 24/7 #AutocarSolutions tech support. Imagine how your revenue could grow w/ a fleet of them! #AlwaysUp #itsallabouttheuptime #FEL

https://www.forconstructionpros.com/equipment/fleet-maintenance/diesel-engines/product/12314181/john-deere-power-systems-john-deere-136l-engine-most-powerful-in-john-deere-lineup

Ford Trucks International Press Release / December 26, 2019 https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/ https://fmax.fordtrucks.com.tr/en/home https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/construction https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/tractor https://www.fordtrucksglobal.com/road #SharingTheLoad #FordTrucks Why Ford Trucks? We are one of the largest international heavy truck manufacturers in the world. We produce a range of vehicles including tractors, construction trucks and distribution trucks weighing over 16 [metric] tons (35,274 lb). Research & Development Ford commercial vehicles’ proven track record of quality, durability and efficiency underpins Ford Trucks’ international product strategy. At Ford Trucks, we combine more than half a century of design and production experience with expertise in market-specific product development, to engineer the main components of our vehicles, including the all-new engines. Global Network We currently operate across Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and the CIS, and continue to grow our international network in 3 continents. Hundreds of thousands of trucks all around the world set out each and every day with the confidence that Ford provides. 2019 ITOY Award-Winner! After winning the International Truck of the Year Award, Ford Trucks F-MAX is ready to hit the road internationally. Now, it's time to carry this great honor on the roads of Europe and around the world.

Ford Trucks International Press Release / December 24, 2019 100 points out of 100! MTEK Logistics, Russia's leading transport company, has expanded its fleet with 100 Ford Cargo model 1848T 4x2 long-haul tractors. #FordTrucks #SharingTheLoad #Russia #1848T .

I agree Timmy, a bit too high.

Wishing you the happiest of holidays! When placing your tree & refuse curbside on trash day, consider leaving a thank you card & tip for your driver. It's often a thankless job & a small gesture means a great deal. #Autocar #AlwaysUp #uptime #itsallabouttheuptime