Coca Cola Macks

[Dzlbudman]

Wonder if we'll get some in Texas. We were the test market for the T600 KW around 20 of them have been running. According to the head fleet man for Coke they will never buy another navistar again after there maxforce problems. Maybe there branching out. They have some really old units in there fleet.

[kscarbel]

i think we all know kscarbel has a agenda to hate everything about volvo.

me personally i dont care who owns mack.

i dont care if volvo or paccar or mercedes or volkswagon owns them.

Volvo has gutted and destroyed arguably the greatest American truckmaker in the history of the United States.

I care very much who owns Mack Trucks. Every American should care about the well-being of America's economy and industrial might.

Mack should be American owned and you should care who owns it with the way our economy is.

Exactly. How could any knowledgeable American who cares about our country's economic survival think differently?

HEHEHE

If an EX-employee of Mack feels Volvo has done him some wrong in life.....Well Sir, I'm sorry you feel that way and I hope Volvo makes it up to you some day.

Foreign domination of America's commercial truck industry is not in the best interest of the United States. What with you being Canadian, my statement understandably has less meaning to you. However, Canada's economic tone does weigh heavily on the state of America's economy.

Every former employee of Mack Trucks is disgusted at what Volvo Group has done to Mack Trucks. Volvo Group has reduced an American and global icon down to a mere shell of its former self that produces Volvo-based trucks with Mack nameplates. What part of that do you disagree with?

Given that you are so thrilled with your Mack-branded Volvos, why not go the extra inch next time around and buy the Volvo-branded models. Same chassis, engines, transmissions and axles (Meritor), Just a more spacious cab. Your having transitioned over to the superior global truck, Volvo Group Trucks Sales and Marketing Americas will be pleased to no end. The sooner they can bury the Mack brand as they did White and GMC, the sooner they can simplify their life in the North American market with one brand - Volvo.

[bbigrig]

Volvo has gutted and destroyed arguably the greatest American truckmaker in the history of the United States.

I care very much who owns Mack Trucks. Every American should care about the well-being of America's economy and industrial might.

Exactly. How could any knowledgeable American who cares about our country's economic survival think differently?

Every former employee of Mack Trucks is disgusted at what Volvo Group has done to Mack Trucks. Volvo Group has reduced an American and global icon down to a mere shell of its former self that produces Volvo-based trucks with Mack nameplates. What part of that do you disagree with?

Given that you are so thrilled with your Mack-branded Volvos, why not go the extra inch next time around and buy the Volvo-branded models. Same chassis, engines, transmissions and axles (Meritor), Just a more spacious cab. Your having transitioned over to the superior global truck, Volvo Group Trucks Sales and Marketing Americas will be pleased to no end. The sooner they can bury the Mack brand as they did White and GMC, the sooner they can simplify their life in the North American market with one brand - Volvo.

Yes......I can see it now.....The sky is falling!!!!!

I will leave the fear mongering to you. You seem to have time for that.

Me and my Macks have money to make and memories to build. All while enjoying life in the Great White North.

[kscarbel]

I think Volvo wanted to shut down Mack brand, but they realized that the Mack brand was too important in North America to be closed, it would just be better for them to compromise their Volvo with a Mack badge.

Built like an OLD Mack Truck - It was a part of the language.

Exactly. Volvo Group's arrogant company culture is focused on the Volvo brand. The global plan is to have a sigular brand - Volvo.

Acquiring Mack Trucks, like White and GMC, was merely a stepping stone towards achieving Volvo's ultimate goal.

we would all like to see Mack be what it once was, an independent, successful medium and heavy truck builder.

What would have happened to Mack if Volvo had not stepped in to buy it? More than likely it would have gone out of business.

As to another company (Cummins, Oshkosh) buying Mack, do you think that Volvo would sell to another company thus creating a serious competitor to the Volvo brand?

bulldogboy

Volvo did not "step in" and save Mack. Volvo had a plan since the mid nineties. Mack got caught up in merger negotiations between Renault and Volvo. Ultimately Volvo tried to pull a fast one and had Renault up in arms.

Had Volvo NOT gotten their hands on Mack via RVI so as to conquer the North American market (their third attempt), Renault would have shopped Mack Trucks around to the logical suitors, most being in the United States. Those would include Paccar, International, Oshkosh and Caterpillar, just to list a few. All of those companies recognize the value of Mack Trucks and would have given the unexpected purchase offer serious thought.

[rsb502]

Same argument over and over is getting boring, either deal with the fact Mack is owned by Volvo and is not what it used to be but is still alive and actually selling well lately even if its just a Mack Cab on a Volvo chassis or shut up! I hate to see Mack trucks using Volvo chassis and components but I'm happier seeing Mack cabs on Volvo chassis on the road than no Mack cabs at all. I am also glad they are still assembled here in the USA even though the parts are different the same family traditions carry on in those plants and I doubt those folks want to go on unemployment right now. It really boils down to a simple choice be happy there is a Mack "branded" truck or hope they shut down, I'll stick with #1.

[rw613]

Realistically, those aren't Mack trucks though. From the Volvo VN chassis, Volvo engine and I-Shift transmission to the mountain of Volvo global components and Meritor drive axles, that's a Volvo thru and thru with a legacy Mack cab and hood.

Make no mistake about it, those are not Mack trucks.

do you always have to be an asshole or just certain days of the week

[GearheadGrrrl]

From the point of view of the buyer, Volvo is slowly removing the reasons for buying a Mack truck. The MP engines are OK, but good luck getting a Maxidyne in a highway chassis. The Maxitorque tranny is still theoretically available, but the standard Eaton trannies give Mack no advantage over the competition, and the Volvo automated single countershaft trannies look to be a liability in the long run. Same with the rear axles- the standard Meritor units are the same as everyone else uses, so unless you order the Mack bogie, no advantage there. The frame is Volvo, so no advantage there, and the "Mayflower" cab is nothin' special, although it does have the proven ability to withstand a couple decade's abuse.

So unlike the 70s and 80s when Mack was head and shoulders above their competitors and an easy choice, todays Volvo/Mack offers little advantage over the competition. Daimler, Navistar, and Paccar will be happy to give you a truck with the same 12 to 15 liter engine, automated manual tranny, and single reduction axles as Volvo does in their Mack product. Thus the customer's choice is determined by price, forcing Volvo to accept low profits in what has become a commodity market.

[kscarbel]

do you always have to be an asshole or just certain days of the week

While you may not want to accept the reality that the Mack-branded Volvo trucks produced by Volvo Group are not Mack trucks (as any employee of the former Mack Trucks will quickly tell you), there's no place on this forum for those colorful metaphors. I'm sure that you can communicate on a higher plane than that.

[2stacksuperdog]

I have to agree with both of them. What happened to mack transmissions in their trucks? most you see have eaton. The indestructible 5 and 6 speeds are gone and now they are using the Mride or volvo suspension in the trucks. Its not too long before camelback is gone. Then Vovlo just lets the dealers do whatever they want. Theres a dealer here that sells Macks, Volvos, and Kenworths. you may want a mack going in but they'll convince you to buy a kenworth or volvo for less.

[DM897SX]

The guy has a right to his opinion and other members are in no position to call him names or tell him to shut up. As much as I detest seeing posts like "was there any U models?" and seeing members with cutesy sign offs like "Cheers," it's a part of Internet life so, unless and until Barry steps in, just deal with it.

I think we all wish Mack still was the company it used to be and anyone who lived through the Volvo Autocar years can certainly understand his motivation. I do agree, though, that his position has been made very clear here and his time would probably be better spent trying to find a buyer for Mack rather than repeat himself. That said, I hope he continues to post about the history of Mack trucks.

[41180]

Well parts are getting harder to find for trucks in the '80s because they have been "discontinued". Mack should be American owned and you should care who owns it with the way our economy is. Volvo is taking over as you can see by putting their suspension in the trucks with all their other crap. Go back to E6s and E7s and everybody would be happpy

we still get all the parts we need for our superliner we even just got the part that holds the hood to the frame so we didnt have to fabricate it. i think if mack only made the e6 or e7 now they wouldnt be selling to well. look at the newest versions of those engines and how crappy the aset egr engines were. i dont know of anyone that liked those. i do think they should make a RD glider with E7 PRE ETECH engines. those would sell very well in the dump truck world. i personally like the mp8 and mp10 engines . just about every driver ive talked to likes the mp8 powered new macks

[2stacksuperdog]

Many parts are still available. We run a fleet of mostly 80's trucks with one 2001 RD. But they also aren't. We went to get parts for a 1980 truck and they had to go to the museum to find the parts.

[Rich Reinhart]

If you grew up in the Lehigh Valley like I did and watched Bethlehem Steel, Ingersoll Rand, Treadwell, and dozens and dozens of other locally based companies close and fall away you`re happy that at least the name Mack is still being made in some way, shape or form. No company in America is as it was 20 or 30 years ago.

[kscarbel]

The overall parts situation is an important topic that we don't speak anough about, and certainly one of the issues I have with Volvo.

Since acquiring Mack Trucks, Volvo have adopted a strategy/policy of marking up spare parts prices to "just below" the point where most customers will walk away.

Let's take a simple example. An AC belt used to be $3.00 to $4.50. Mack's cost as around $1.00. Mack covered their overhead and made a solid profit, and yet the customer received a fair price. But Volvo came in and decided that most customers would be willing to pay $9.00 to $15.00 for that AC belt. Anyone that has been purchasing Mack parts for many years knows exactly what I am speaking about.

The other day I needed a low air pressure sender. The Volvo/Mack dealer demanded an absurd $105, while the exact same Cole Hersee switch was available for just $7 at NAPA. This is a typical example of Volvo intentionally raping the American customer so as to improve their global margins. Mack Trucks didn't do business this way.

Mack Trucks wasn't selling the parts too cheap, rather they gave the customer a sound reason to shop at Mack's dealers rather than the will-fit parts house. But now Volvo has pushed customers out of the Mack dealers. No customers shop at Mack (Volvo) dealers for anything other than proprietary items they can't buy elsewhere.

Volvo's stick-the-customer strategy has been a poison pill to the service departments at the Mack dealers as well. Up to 80 percent of the service work performed is warranty now, because they are unable to be price competitive with customer and local shops. In the days of Mack Trucks, warranty repairs never accounted for more than 10 percent of shop work.

And Volvo's termination of Mack part numbers, replacing them with meaningless "Volvo global part numbers", has destroyed the once superior Mack parts system. The Mack part numbering system combined shear brilliance with simplicity. Easy-to-remember part numbers that told you exactly what that part was. This is why Mack parts people were the best in the world.

Volvo's randomly chosen impossible-to-remember global numbers represent nothing. It amounts to much more than a huge step backwards. Relating to Mack, the part number change to Volvo global part numbers is just plain stupid.

The Mack part numbering system was VASTLY superior to the dysfunctional Volvo system. The Mack veterans in parts operations told Volvo the change was a huge mistake, and most of them were shown the door for not willingly going along with the "new way".

[keg1]

I would love to buy a new 55 Chevy or a real Jeep CJ but times change and I don't care how much you complain about Volvo your never going to buy a new R model or Superliner. If Paccar or International would have bought Mack it would have been their truck with Mack on the hood like it is now. Like everyone said be glad there is still a Mack out there.

[220cummins]

In a perfect world, Kscarbel I agree with you as most do on the forum, but we don't live in a perfect world. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but at this point it's like beating a dead horse. I clicked on this thread to happily see the Coke Trucks because I seen them in the yard next to the Macgunie plant where my Cruiseliner cab was being stored.The owner of the yard's shop is currently being used to add the air dams to these and many other new Macks. The tread has been hijacked by the "Volovo Badddddd Blah blah blah blah blah" argument. Can we just move on.....and not rehash the same topic every few days.....

[jaysm35a2]

Who owns International trucks and what country?

[kscarbel]

I would love to buy a new 55 Chevy or a real Jeep CJ but times change and I don't care how much you complain about Volvo your never going to buy a new R model or Superliner. If Paccar or International would have bought Mack it would have been their truck with Mack on the hood like it is now. Like everyone said be glad there is still a Mack out there.

Today's truck customers in year 2013 wouldn't want a new 1987 spec R-model or RW-613/713 Super-Liner and I woudn't sell it to them. Today's trucking needs have evolved, and thus so has truck design.

Had Mack Trucks remained American owned and operated, the company's truck designs and technology would inherently have evolved to offer customers around the world a cutting edge trucking solution.

[kscarbel]

Who owns International trucks and what country?

To answer your question, Navistar International Corporation is an American truckmaker, incorporated in the United States and headquartered in Lisle, Illinois.

Paccar and International are America's last remaining heavy truck manufacturers.

[farmer52]

The overall parts situation is an important topic that we don't speak anough about, and certainly one of the issues I have with Volvo.

Since acquiring Mack Trucks, Volvo have adopted a strategy/policy of marking up spare parts prices to "just below" the point where most customers will walk away.

Let's take a simple example. An AC belt used to be $3.00 to $4.50. Mack's cost as around $1.00. Mack covered their overhead and made a solid profit, and yet the customer received a fair price. But Volvo came in and decided that most customers would be willing to pay $9.00 to $15.00 for that AC belt. Anyone that has been purchasing Mack parts for many years knows exactly what I am speaking about.

The other day I needed a low air pressure sender. The Volvo/Mack dealer demanded an absurd $105, while the exact same Cole Hersee switch was available for just $7 at NAPA. This is a typical example of Volvo intentionally raping the American customer so as to improve their global margins. Mack Trucks didn't do business this way.

Not to keep hijacking this tread but John Deere, AGCO, and CaseIH do the same thing with old and obsolete parts. Likely other companies do the same.

[kscarbel]

Not to keep hijacking this tread but John Deere, AGCO, and CaseIH do the same thing with old and obsolete parts. Likely other companies do the same.

Yes they do. However I'm primarily talking about current production truck parts.

[farmer52]

Yes they do. However I'm primarily talking about current production truck parts.

That too...it is just NOT A VOLVO thing!

[rw613]

The overall parts situation is an important topic that we don't speak anough about, and certainly one of the issues I have with Volvo.

Since acquiring Mack Trucks, Volvo have adopted a strategy/policy of marking up spare parts prices to "just below" the point where most customers will walk away.

Let's take a simple example. An AC belt used to be $3.00 to $4.50. Mack's cost as around $1.00. Mack covered their overhead and made a solid profit, and yet the customer received a fair price. But Volvo came in and decided that most customers would be willing to pay $9.00 to $15.00 for that AC belt. Anyone that has been purchasing Mack parts for many years knows exactly what I am speaking about.

The other day I needed a low air pressure sender. The Volvo/Mack dealer demanded an absurd $105, while the exact same Cole Hersee switch was available for just $7 at NAPA. This is a typical example of Volvo intentionally raping the American customer so as to improve their global margins. Mack Trucks didn't do business this way.

Mack Trucks wasn't selling the parts too cheap, rather they gave the customer a sound reason to shop at Mack's dealers rather than the will-fit parts house. But now Volvo has pushed customers out of the Mack dealers. No customers shop at Mack (Volvo) dealers for anything other than proprietary items they can't buy elsewhere.

Volvo's stick-the-customer strategy has been a poison pill to the service departments at the Mack dealers as well. Up to 80 percent of the service work performed is warranty now, because they are unable to be price competitive with customer and local shops. In the days of Mack Trucks, warranty repairs never accounted for more than 10 percent of shop work.

And Volvo's termination of Mack part numbers, replacing them with meaningless "Volvo global part numbers", has destroyed the once superior Mack parts system. The Mack part numbering system combined shear brilliance with simplicity. Easy-to-remember part numbers that told you exactly what that part was. This is why Mack parts people were the best in the world.

Volvo's randomly chosen impossible-to-remember global numbers represent nothing. It amounts to much more than a huge step backwards. Relating to Mack, the part number change to Volvo global part numbers is just plain stupid.

The Mack part numbering system was VASTLY superior to the dysfunctional Volvo system. The Mack veterans in parts operations told Volvo the change was a huge mistake, and most of them were shown the door for not willingly going along with the "new way".

my my I have to agree with that

[philatruck]

Is corporate Coke buying these Macks or a Coke Franchise?

[Mack 3P]

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. bought the trucks.