News
Mack partners with Petty’s Garage, eyes growth
OAKLAND, CA - Mack Trucks is once again turning to the power of celebrity partnerships as it looks to expand its share of a growing North American truck market. The truck maker is now an official sponsor of Petty's Garage, the high-performance speed shop established by NASCAR's Richard Petty. Under the deal, the Garage receives a 2018 Mack Pinnacle Axle Back model with an MP8-445C engine to move cars to public events as part of the Performance Tour. This build's on Mack's established relationship with the NASCAR race series, which has it providing 10 Pinnacles to haul gear, equipment, and other technologies. For Mack customers, the NASCAR relationship means opportunities to ride in pace cars or see drivers load in equipment at track level. Now appearances by Petty - one of the biggest names in auto racing - will be included as well. This build's on Mack's established relationship with the NASCAR race series, which has it providing 10 Pinnacles to haul gear, equipment, and other technologies.
Path to electrification not straight to linehaul: Mack
OAKLAND, CA - Mack Trucks continues to see a healthy future for diesel engines, even as alternatives like electrification begin to emerge. "Diesel today, it's performing extremely well. It's cleaner than it's ever been, it's robust, it's versatile," said Roy Horton, director - product strategy, during a briefing in Oakland, California. As for talk about electric trucks? "It's almost a little bit of an uphill battle there." Electrification is "on the bubble, and it's something everyone is looking at," he said, admitting that the recent unveiling of Elon Musk's Tesla Semi attracted attention. "It's definitely going to be part of our future." Just not for longhaul. Not right away. Mack believes the earliest adopters of electrification will be operations with the chance to charge at a home base and not depend on general infrastructure for fuel. That includes refuse, local delivery, and public transportation fleets.
