Navistar Adding More Medium-Duty SCR Variants

[kscarbel2]

Transport Topics / July 9, 2014

Navistar, Inc. continues to expand availability of selective catalytic reduction systems on its medium-duty lineup, months after the first SCR setups were installed on the trucks, CEO Troy Clarke told Truck Fleet Management.

“We are still releasing configurations,” he said during a meeting with editors from Transport Topics Publishing Group, the parent of TFM, here July 9. “We tried to release the high runners early, but our medium-duty cab comes in three different heights — the taller one with a spacer under it, a middle one and one where the cab sits very low on the frame. That one tends to be a non-suspended cab, like a tow truck. And we won’t finish launching all of those iterations until, probably, the second quarter of next year. But we will have all of those combinations.”

The first medium-duty International trucks that featured Cummins ISB engines and SCR began shipping in January; the availability of SCR in the truck maker’s medium-duty lineup was announced in September 2013.

Clarke noted that sales in medium- and severe-duty dropped off when the company announced that it was adopting SCR and abandoning its plan to rely on in-engine exhaust gas recirculation to meet federal emissions limits. But he believes that was a business strategy for buyers looking to ensure their new trucks will have service support in the years to come.

“Part of the reason why market share dropped off is because when we announced that we were getting out of EGR people said, ‘Whoa, I don’t want to be the last guy to buy an EGR [truck],” he said. “So, all of a sudden, everything stops.”

Clarke noted that when the company announced the addition of the Cummins ISB, the reaction was positive. However, he acknowledged that the gradual rollout is affecting sales.

“When we said we’d have the ISB, some said, ‘That’s good, but when will you have the ISB I want?’ When we say, ‘Not until September,’ they either say that they won’t place an order now, or they will go buy another [manufacturer’s] truck.”

He also noted that the company’s proprietary MaxxForce DT medium-duty engine — which does not use SCR — will be available for the foreseeable future. Navistar is permitted to sell the engines, which do not comply with federal emissions regulations, due to credits it accrued during years when its engines exceeded the previous limits.

“I suspect the market demand will drop, but it works great in most applications,” he said. “There are customers who still prefer it. For the majority of applications, it works just fine, and it is a low-cost operating system. But we cannot afford to maintain two emissions systems in the marketplace. When we run out of credits on the midrange engine, that decision is made.”

Clarke added that, at current levels, Navistar has enough credits to continue selling the MaxxForce DT well into 2015.

While this period of transition between the systems could be frustrating for suppliers of the bodies for International trucks, Clarke said the company has maintained good relationships with the companies.

“We have been able to work with body suppliers to make sure that we have packaged [sCR] so it minimizes the impact, and so that there is time for them to make changes and bring out those units,” he said.

[DailyDiesel]

What a big ol' stinking doo doo pile this emission decision turned out to be for International. I hope they pull through.