TeamsterGrrrl

Talking to a Ford source the other day, assured me that the Ranger with a diesel option is the next new truck launch after they get the 2017 Super Duty in full production. Looks like they'll be some delay while they find a new home for the Focus and other vehicles built at Michigan Assembly Plant though. Sounds like there's no plans for a new cab for the F650 and up, everything will get the F150 based aluminum cab... The millennials will feel right at home! No word on a return of the Cargo, hard to believe Ford is going to let Chevy have that market. Perhaps there's a non-compete clause from when they sold the European heavy truck biz to IVECO?

Sloppy of Consumers Union, commenting after the comment period ended over a week ago and the deal is done. There's already a "lemon" procedure in the settlement to have a car bought back after the recall if the owner isn't happy with the fix. The buyout prices are generous in most cases, except for the 2015 models as there wasn't an established used market price to base the buyback offer on- VW should just pay those owners a minimum of list price and be done with it. For me and my 2013, if VW keeps giving me these freebees they're gonna put me in a higher tax bracket!

Heck, parts get swapped on brand new trucks too. Drove an '86 Freightliner cabover with an L10 Cummins and a 9 speed Roadranger around the midwest practically from the day it was delivered, serial number plate on the cab says it had an N14 Cummins with a 7 speed. Also had a radio antenna and no radio. Turns out that the cab was damaged in an accident while being delivered, and Freightliner swapped the cab for one going on a truck for our fleet going to California.

Would have been great for Scania to marry Mack a couple decades back, but after Volvo picked over Mack there ain't much left now. What would Scania get that Volvo wouldn't keep for itself? An old cab, the Maxitorque transmission, axles, and bogie, and that's about it. By the time Scania got Mack turned around, a Mack truck would be a revival of the Scania T model cabover with a hood with Scania engine and maybe some legacy Mack drivetrain options.

You guys still haven't figured it out... Still working your butts off! Here I sit at 66 enjoying my 11th year of retirement, do what I want, get up when I want, etc... All thanks to a union pension!

Sad to see, but hard for Ford to justify a low volume vehicle like the Ute. That said, it might make sense for Ford to make a Falcon and Ute off a global rear/four wheel drive platform shared with the Mustang, etc..

That's why I'm debating whether I should replace my '13 Sportswagon TDI with another. Instead of "getting legal", VW cheated on emissions for over a decade, and looks like all the top executives were in on the cheating. Makes one wonder what else they lied on, and while VW 'fessed up to the cheating, they have done peanuts to insure that such ethical lapses won't be repeated. VW's been good to me, but I come from a Ford family and hold Ford stick too, so I'm tempted to replace the TDI with a Ford. If Ford brings back the Ranger with a diesel, that'll seal the deal!

Another example of how american trucking's obsession with conventional cabs is depriving us of the world's best trucks... The rest of the world is over 80% of the market and they prefer cabovers, so conventionals for our couple hundred thousand truck a year market are a low priority. We're losing on productivity too... A long conventional with big sleeper and a 16 meter (53') trailer is about 24 to 25 meters (80') long. An Australian/Euro/SA B-train doubles or truck and trailer combination that same 24-25 meters (79'-82') long would give at least 20 meters long loadspace with a cabover for at least a 25% improvement in productivity.

I know some UAW retirees from the closed Twin Cities Assembly Plant that built the Ranger, they're supporting Hillary. One of them was a delegate at the convention in Philly.

A new truck is often a million mile decade long investment that will consume over a million dollars in fuel, repairs, labor,etc.... Thus a few thousand $$$ saved on initial price is often not a savings in the long run.

Class 7 amd 8 truck are a niche market in North America, and Ford is a high volume manufacturer that likes to keep an assembly line busy for 2 shifts cranking out a couple hundred thousand vehicles a year. That's the whole class 7 and 8 market here in a slow year, and no way are Daimler et al going to surrender that market share nor the antitrust division allow it. The Cargo exists because Ottosan Ford probably has a lower volume break even point, it can cover class 6 and below as well as class 7 and 8, and being a cabover it can compete in the million plus unit a year world market that demands cabovers.

IIRC, the ISX12 was based on the ISX15 and carried it's weight penalty. The new '17 X12 has the weight and bulk of the old M11, and is nearly a thousand pounds lighter than the X15. Cummins lost share in the EU because the truck builders like ERF and Foden that used them got bought up and discontinued. As for the rest of Cummins successful products, read their 10K.

There's a lot more to Cummins than just Class 8 truck engines, and the North American Class 8 truck market is just a sliver of their business. That's why Cummins is very reliably profitable- They make filtration, exhaust after-treatment that's used on a lot of engines besides their own, the B series for FCA pickups and everyone else, the V-8 for Nissan, generators and the engines to power them, alternative fuel engines, the first North American locomotive diesel to pass Tier 4, and a whole bunch of other good stuff. And back to Class 8 trucks, the upcoming X12 is going to eliminate any excuse to buy a proprietary 11 to 13 liter diesel engine from Daimler, Navistar, Paccar, or Volvo...

And Cummins is hiring people for their skills, there are no quotas at Cummins.

So if all this diversity is bad, how come Cummins is still in business?

Cummins is the only truck engine maker to be honored by Ethisphere for running an ethical organization, year after year. Looking at all the trouble VWAG has gotten themselves into and the ensuing loss of shareholder value, Cummins is a good example to emulate. And Cummin's product is more than competitive, Look at the upcoming X12 engine... It has the light weight of the old M11, up to 475 horsepower, and peak torque clear down to 1000 RPM. This makes Cummins competitive in the 11 to 13 liter marketplace again where the bulk of sales occur.

Good to see Mexico going with the world standard Euro 6 instead of the oddball EPA standards!

Awesome! I saw that there's a company in the Netherlands converting new Scanias into conventionals, with the V8 those would kill the KWs and Petes!

I'm a party official, and I admit this is disgusting. Both the DNC and RNC have annual budgets in excess of one hundred million dollars. With those millions they can make or break campaigns, and thus prevent any independent candidate from getting nominated, never mind elected. We need to get these billions (yes, the total campaign spending is in the billions) and return to the people the right to elect the candidates and elected officials of their choice.

Saw pix of another maker's attempt at this a few months back, basicly they took a new truck and tried to make it look like a typical 3rd world trashed out HiLux.

BTW, I wonder how many of these glider kits Fitzgerald and others are cranking out have functional ABS brakes?

IIRC, before volvo took over Mack used to offer gliders to rebuild trucks badly wrecked in crashes. But the insisted that you provide the VIN of the truck you were sourcing the powertrain from, so you couldn't just build a fleet of new trucks out of rebuilt powertrains and glider kits.

VW is hardly a German company anymore, half their employees are outside of Germany, same for Daimler and almost every major auto and truck maker. Navistar was simply never able to fully make the transition to being a worldwide manufacturer.

Same with VW... Got a 2013 TDI that VW has offered to buyback and have 'til end of 2018 to accept the deal. Will need to do some services by then, checked and dealer has jacked the price of 40k mile service to $800! Stupid "stealers"... They need us customers to survive, but instead of rewarding our loyalty they're taking it out of our hide!

Navistar would make more sense and wouldn't face many anti-trust challenges. VW could buy Paccar, but they'd probably have to sell off DAF due to anti-trust conflicts.