Rolf Lockwood
Rolf Lockwood is editor emeritus of Today's Trucking and a regular contributor to Trucknews.com.
The urban future?
As I write this in a hotel room in Hannover, Germany -- where 400 other trucking journalists are also lodged -- I'm anticipating the opening of the 2016 IAA Commercial Vehicles Show tomorrow morning. Ultimately there will be some 2500 motor noters like me descending on the Hannover exhibition grounds and then rushing about this way and that like pen-wielding ants, all of them looking for a story that nobody else has discovered.
VW, Navistar: What’s the Deal?
Well, it finally happened. Rumored for many months, if not years, and now a fait accompli, Volkswagen Truck & Bus has bought a piece of Navistar International. While the gossip mill mostly envisioned an outright purchase by the German giant, yesterday's announcement described a less dramatic deal: VW is buying a 16.6% stake in the Illinois company. It will pay US$15.76 per share or a 25% premium over Navistar's 90-day volume-weighted average price as of Aug. 31, or 12% over Navistar's closing price on Sept. 2. Navistar will receive US$256 million from the equity investment to be used for general corporate purposes.
