PEORIA, IL — The vocational truck market has changed significantly with the entry of Caterpillar’s CT660. The company launched full production of the much anticipated vehicle last month, and trucks are now being delivered to customers. In fact, it’s been in limited production since June at Navistar‘s plant in Garland, Texas. The first units off the line were used to validate manufacturing procedures and to ensure that standards were being met. So far, most production trucks are going to Cat dealers across the continent.

Based on an International Paystar, but much modified, it features Cat-branded engines built by Navistar. The Garland plant actually builds both trucks interchangeably on the same assembly line, alongside International Workstars plus military and other vehicles in Navistar’s product stable.

The two companies announced this joint truck development and manufacturing arrangement, and much more, in June of 2008, though they’ve had a strong working relationship for many years. They jointly developed a diesel fuel-injection system more than a decade ago, for example. A separate joint-venture company, NC2 Global, is about to bring a new cabover truck to markets outside North America.

The CT660, according to George Taylor, director of Caterpillar’s Global On-Highway Truck Group, competes mainly with Kenworth, Mack and Peterbilt products. In a lengthy private chat during a recent press event at the company’s Edwards Demonstration & Learning Center just outside Peoria, he told Today’s Trucking that bidding competitions so far have shown those other three marques to be the key competition.

Asked about pricing, Taylor allowed that the CT660 is at a premium level and will list at more than the equivalent Kenworth, for example.

There’s a further wrinkle in there, he said, because Cat dealers are not accustomed to the kind of discounting that’s common in the truck world. Other Cat products also command premium prices, and they too face price pressure, but not to the extent that’s routine for truck dealers. It’s not at all unique, said Taylor, for trucks to be sold at 0% profit in a competitive situation, but that’s almost totally unheard of in the construction-equipment market.

"Our dealers face a learning curve," said Taylor.

Supporting that premium price, however, are a few intangibles. Chief among them is the huge Caterpillar network and its very strong links in the construction industry. Taylor allowed that one-stop shopping will have appeal for some companies already connected with Cat.

Another of the CT660’s strengths is Cat Financial, which will help buyers manage the money side of the equation, and not just in terms of a truck purchase or lease. It’s a surprisingly big enterprise with a special fondness for — and understanding of — construction and trucking companies that banks tend not to like. Among other services, it offers a ‘Commercial Account’ credit card that can be used at any U.S. or Canadian Cat dealership to buy parts, pay for maintenance, or rent equipment. It’s not been rolled out in Canada quite yet but will be before year’s end.

Then there’s Cat’s telematics offering, Product Link, which is already standard fare on other Cat machines and will be free for the first three years on the CT trucks. Subsequently it would revert to a subscription service

Back to the CT660 itself, Cat says almost everything above the International Paystar frame is new, but even some chassis components were re-designed. The pitman arms, for instance, are unique to the CT660, and the steering system at large is new. The aluminum-alloy cab, derived from the Paystar but bearing little resemblance to it inside, is also essentially unique to Cat. Among the useful improvements are piano-style door hinges. Also new are the cab mount and suspension and also the “optimized” rear engine mount, all of which contribute to creating a quiet driver environment.

Right now only the CT11 and CT13 engines are available, with horsepower as high as 475 and torque up to 1700 lb ft. Coming in Q1 2012 is the CT15 which will offer power and torque up to 550 hp and 1850 lb ft. The latter is based on Cat’s own 15-litre block. A year after that, Q1 2013, we’ll see the CT680 truck with set-forward axle.

While there is some call from logging and fuel-hauling customers for Cat to produce a short-sleeper version of the CT trucks, Taylor said that’s not presently in the cards. He didn’t, on the other hand, rule it out. — R.L.