North to Alaska. The rush is on!

The Sprinter vans and buses sat out during my first night on the Arctic Drive. It was late January and the temperature dropped to an almost unbelievable -48 degrees F (-44 C). Yet all but one fired up in the morning. Mine was the only one that didn’t – put it down to operator error. So we left it behind in Fairbanks, Alaska, and set off for the appropriately named Coldfoot, Alaska, inside the Arctic Circle.

Sprinters are at work all around the world – it’s one of the most, if not the most, widely distributed vehicles anywhere. This trip was to demonstrate that they can run as well in the frozen North as they do in the soaring temperatures of California’s Death Valley or on the busy streets of New York City. And the North we were to drive them in was deeply frozen in January. It was too cold to snow so we had no trouble with that. And it was cold enough to get traction on roads that were sheet ice for much of the 1,200-plus miles (nearly 2,000 km) of the round trip. But it was COLD!


Most of the day, we headed for Mt. McKinley, America's highest peak.
 

Cascadia Evolution sales heat up

Here's the strangest thing. I'm sitting in a bar (that's NOT the strange part) in Cabo San Lucas looking at whales cavorting about 100 yards off the beach. It's 85 degrees and I’m the guest of Daimler. Two weeks ago, also the guest of Daimler but in a different guise as Mercedes-Benz, I was looking at caribou and freezing my ass of at -40 degrees in Coldfoot, Alaska. That's a temperature swing of 125 degrees.

Ask me which I prefer? It's a difficult decision. The beauty of Alaska's Denali Wilderness and its trees totally enveloped in snow and its roads pure sheets of ice is not to be dismissed. But the balmy breezes and whale sightings make Los Cabos would have to be my first choice.

The first event was to demonstrate how well Sprinter vans cope with the coldest extremes on the planet. Quite well, I can report. The second event was to talk about Freightliner’s success at home and abroad – like overtaking International in its previously unassailable position as medium-duty market leader and the drive for more exports. The Class 6/7 win is quite the accomplishment for Freightliner – never a player in medium-duty until it launched the Business Class in 1991.

General Motors Debuts All-New 2014 Pickups

It may be the most important introduction in GM history. The full-size pickup is so important to GM fortunes that the launch of the 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500 is critical to the future of the company.

The 2014s, recently unveiled at a press gathering, show a range that is big and bold, although hardly revolutionary. It may be, however, that when they go on sale late in the second quarter, they’ll fulfill the dual tasks of work and play just a bit better than the competition and help assure GM’s future.

The trucks at the Detroit launch didn't look particularly distinctive. They have big grills sporting lots of chrome and huge wheel openings, displaying the usual 20- or 22-inch wheels. The conventional four-door extended and crew cabs are the stuff of modern, full-size trucks. But the execution may be enough to pull it off.

 

Those doors, for instance, now fit flush into the openings with triple seals. Along with an all-new frame and cab structure featuring hydroforming for the former and high-strength steel for the latter, they should produce the super-quiet interior promised at the launch.

All-new engines, albeit with the familiar displacements, promise to offer more performance and economy. Plus the latest in connectivity with as many as five USB ports certainly presents a new product to eager GM truck buyers who have been tempted with equally fully featured competitors as GM gets these new models into the pipeline.
 

Still, it won't be smooth sailing for GM. The company has overstocked dealers with its waning models in an effort to keep the standard flying as it readies the new models for the market. Those trucks have to be shoved through the system before buyers get the new Silverado and Sierra. The danger is that prospective customers will take the inevitable deals on the old stock, meaning slack sales for the new products when they come on stream. GM says the 2500 and 3500 heavier-duty models will continue, as they were refreshed for the 2011 model year.

Navistar’s Road to Recovery

Navistar seems set on recovery. ProStar Plus trucks with Cummins engines are on their way to dealers days ahead of an impossibly tight schedule. However, the cost of recovery is high, with Navistar today reporting a nearly $3 billion loss for the last quarter of 2012, including restructuring and warranties. And Navistar has announced that the third nominee to the board by major investors has been confirmed.

These important steps signal a turnaround for the company is under way, if it can survive the cost.

Fourth Quarter Loss
Today, Navistar reported a fourth-quarter loss on tax expenses and expenses from its cost-reduction programs and engine warranties. Navistar lost $2.8 billion, or $40.13 per share, compared with a profit of $255 million, or $3.48 per share, a year ago. The pre-tax loss was $566 million, compared with a $275 million pre-tax profit for the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter ending Oct. 31 fell 24% to $3.3 billion, from lower sales (as predicted here).

Shell Reaches Out

One of the most fun things I do each year is judge the Shell Rotella SuperRigs truck beauty contest. Last summer’s event was in Joplin, Mo., and, as always, concurrent with the contest is the selection of trucks for the annual SuperRigs calendar. That calendar, published this month, features 12 super rigs photographed at various locations around Joplin, as well as information about the owners.

Best of Show at SuperRigs was won

by Todd Raccapriore of Clean State

Environmental.

If you stop in for an oil change at a Speedco location or purchase more than 10 gallons of Rotella, you get a 2013 calendar free during November. Starting in December, you can purchase a calendar here.

Joplin was the site of choice for this, the 30^th SuperRigs event, because it was an opportunity for Shell and the SuperRigs contenders to give back to the local community, which was so devastated by the tornado that hit in 2011 – the deadliest tornado in America since 1947. By the time the show closed, the All Roads Lead to Joplin rebuilding project helped raise nearly $100,000, which was contributed by Shell and Speedco to the YMCA of Joplin’s Community Disaster Recovery efforts.

In a heartwarming close to the June SuperRigs event, Best of Show winner Todd Raccapriore donated his $10,000 winning check to the Disaster Recovery fund on behalf of driver John O’Keefe.

New MX13 for Petes

As predicted in my September column in Diesel Progress magazine, the Paccar MX13 that debuted at the IAA in Hanover, Germany, in September has been introduced into Paccar’s Peterbilt models. The announcement on October 30 came a lot sooner than I thought it would however. No doubt we shall see a similar announcement from Kenworth within a few days.

The MX13 features an all-new common-rail injection system, accounting for the model name change from the MX12.9 previously. Gone is the somewhat antiquated unit-pump system, replaced by a full-blown common rail fuel injection system. Running at 2,500 bar (36,000 psi), it is one of the highest rail pressure injection systems so far. Higher pressures provide the finest fuel atomization along with multi-event injections for improved fuel economy and lower noise, both attributes of the current MX12.9. So the new engine is good news for the Paccar brands.

With its new injection system, the MX becomes a thoroughly modern diesel with ratings starting at 380 hp and peak torques up to 1,450 pounds-feet for North America.

The engine debuted in Europe in the heavily remodeled DAF XF105. That truck is mostly new under the skin but the cab structure – the biggest in the industry, says DAF – is unchanged though thoroughly updated. The model change is to bring the tall, cabover XF in line with the upcoming Euro 6 emissions requirements that will hit European customers early 2014. But in line with European practice, the new models are introduced ahead of time so customers can realize the benefits of the required new technology as soon as it is available.

In the case of the XF105 with its new MX13 engine, these benefits include improved fuel economy along with an improved driver experience for recruitment and retention, issues in Europe as much as they are here in the United States.

 

The benefits of early adoption of the new emissions level are societal as well, as the new, cleaner technologies get to the market earlier and in larger numbers than is the case in North America, where the last three technology jumps to meet emissions have seen a pre-buy of older technology and a slower post-buy of cleaner engines.

The Trucking Industry's Top Concerns 2012

The release of trucking’s top 10 issues by the research arm of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) shows the state of the economy is still a concern, but the new #1 is the Compliance, Safety and Accountability motor carrier safety-rating program of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (CSA). Particularly, carriers want a review of the accuracy, reliability and significance of CSA scores, in light of testimony that the system does not accurately rate carrier performance.

The state of the economy has been the top concern for the last three years, featuring in second place in 2008 as the current economic situation loomed. It now drops to third place behind the perennial concern with changes to hours of service and their full impact on carrier operations going forward.