EnRoute
Headlines From The Vehicle Renting and Leasing Industry
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Top Stories
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Maintenance is one of the areas that fleet management is able to control the costs and make a dramatic impact on the bottom line, which is why most perform preventative maintenance in-house and over half of survey respondents conduct their own brake and tire maintenance during the warranty period. FULL STORY
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published a final rule which will go into effect on August 2, 2010, which states that Canadian cross-border carriers will no longer need to be insured by a U.S. company or maintain a policy "reinsured" by an American issuer. FULL STORY
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ACT Research Company reported its latest release of the State of the Industry: Class 5-8 Vehicles and nA new white paper, “CSA 2010: The Driver Impact,” is the second in a series from Multi Service which outlines the driver-measurement portion of the new Federal safety screening system, offering clear descriptions of what statistics will be followed and how they will affect drivers’ records. FULL STORY
Technology Trends
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Cummins Inc. is investing $100 million in to the expansion of the company’s High-Horsepower Technical Center and high-horsepower engine product line at its manufacturing facility in Seymour, IN. FULL STORY
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HSR2 Eco Plus is a new fuel-efficient medium-duty steer tire for hybrid highway and regional applications from Continental Tire the Americas. HSR2 Eco Plus has showed 15 percent improvement in rolling resistance over the company’s HSR 2 regional steer tire. FULL STORY
Briefly
J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc. announced that www.2290online.com is now accepting 2010 tax year filings. This website helps companies file IRS Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) forms. . .Visual Marking Systems has won an Inca Digital Excellence Award (IDEA) in the Product Decoration and Specialty Products Category. . .Manheim Southern California has opened a new 25-acre auction facility to better meet the needs of its rapidly expanding Specialty and Heavy Truck & Equipment customer base. . .Allison Transmission dedicated a new hybrid manufacturing plant in Indianapolis. Once fully operational, nearly 100 manufacturing workers will be capable of producing more than 20,000 commercial-duty hybrid propulsion systems each year. . .GE Capital Fleet Services has been awarded the Blue Seal of Excellence from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence for the 11th year. . .PHH Arval has released the results of its 2010 Green Survey, an annual industrywide survey of public- and private-sector fleet managers on the subject of the environment. For more details about these and other findings, request the full white paper at www.phharval.com/greensurveyresults. . .Kenworth Truck Company’s manufacturing plant in Renton, WA, received a 2010 Best Workplace for Recycling and Waste Reduction Award from King County’s Solid Waste Division for Kenworth’s outstanding efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. . .Great Dane Trailers announces the addition of Universal Truck and Trailer in Dieppe, New Brunswick, to its North American distribution network. . .Maxon Lift Corp. and Purkeys Fleet Electric have formalized their decade-long informal relationship with a strategic partnership agreement. This partnership will aid in resolving the issues arising at the point of sales regarding what is needed in terms of the liftgate and the total battery charging capacity. This cooperation will result in a greater body of knowledge that will be incorporated into Maxon’s future liftgate designs. . .For the second year in a row, Ryder System, Inc. has been named an Inbound Logistics Green Supply Chain Partner in Inbound Logistics annual “Green 50” magazine issue. . .Navistar International heavy duty trucks ranked the highest in customer satisfaction in the Vocational Truck and Dealer Service segments according to J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Heavy-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Survey. . .SAF-Holland has recorded increasing utilization of its production capacities since the beginning of the year and as a result, the company has taken on 83 new industrial employees for plants in Keilberg, Frauengrund and Worth am Main. In North America, over 100 production workers have been added to the workforce since the beginning of the year. . .Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America has created a new YouTube channel to promote its brand and to give its customers and prospects the opportunity to share videos of the Fuso trucks in action.
People
Volvo Financial Services has appointed Leo Hawkes as president of its Region of the Americas operations, with responsibility for the North America, Latin America and South Africa markets. . .Phil Pines, president and chief operating officer for Great Dane Trailers has announced that he intends to retire from the company at the end of 2010. William H. Crown, the chief executive officer, will take on the additional roles of president and chief operating officer at the end of the year. . .AmeriQuest has named Patrick A. Gaskins vice president of financial services and will report to James Guice, executive vice president.
Taking $tock
A look at truck transportation-industry Fortune 500 public companies:
| Company | Symbol (Click for Chart) |
7/14 Close | Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avis Budget Group Inc. | CAR | $10.42 | $0.28 | 2.62% |
| Cummins Inc. | CMI | $74.64 | $0.91 | 1.23% |
| Dana | DAN | $11.03 | $0.15 | 1.34% |
| Eaton | ETN | $68.70 | $0.18 | 0.26% |
| General Electric | GE | $15.20 | $0.01 | 0.07% |
| Goodyear Tire & Rubber | GT | $11.49 | $0.04 | 0.35% |
| Navistar International Corp. | NAV | $51.47 | $0.36 | 0.70% |
| PACCAR Inc. | PCAR | $44.00 | $0.30 | 0.69% |
| Ryder | R | $41.62 |
$0.02 | 0.05% |
SOURCE: Yahoo! Finance and bigcharts.com
Money Matters
Preliminary data released by FTR Associates shows that June Class 8 truck total net order for all major North American OEMs at 15, 667 units which is a 20.5 percent increase over the previous months net orders and 90.8 percent better than June 2009. FULL STORY
The Voucher Incentive Program (VIP) through the California Air Resource Board (CARB) has $28 million in grants available to help independent truckers and small fleet owners replace or retrofit older, high-polluting diesel trucks ahead of California's regulatory deadlines. FULL STORY
News From TRALA
TRALA is working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this election season to promote pro-business candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Please take advantage of the U.S. Chamber’s Vote For Business website to help you and your employees make informed decisions about candidates that will best benefit the business climate in the U.S. and your state. The website has voter resources such as information on registering to vote, finding your polling place, requesting an absentee ballot, and finding information about your candidates. You can also sign up to get news updates sent to your email address.
Please contact TRALA’s Joe Sculley with any questions at jsculley@trala.org or by calling (703) 299-9120.