KIRKLAND, WA - Kenworth and PACCAR, along with DAF Trucks NV, are forming a super team to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SuperTruck II program. The companies announced their collaboration to join in on the DOE project to develop freight-efficient technologies, this week. Other partners include Eaton, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Mississippi State University, and AVL.
Paccar is the latest North American truck manufacturer to bring a proprietary automated transmission to market. Called the Paccar Automated Transmission, it's a 12-speed, twin countershaft design that was conceived as an automated transmission, which is to say, it was designed that way. It's not a manual box fitted with add-on shift-actuators. Paccar says it's the lightest automated transmission currently in production. At just 657 pounds, it is nearly 200 pounds lighter than Eaton's Advantage AMT. The addition of the automated transmission completes Paccar's goal of having a fully integrated proprietary powertrain. Paccar says its new transmission has been performance-optimized for MX-series engines and the new 40,000-pound drive axles unveiled in October 2016.
LOUISVILLE, KY - What a difference a few months can make. Earlier this year, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems was projecting Class 8 truck sales would drop about 5-10%. Now it's projecting the market will grow about 5%. "Overall, I think the economy has turned for us in the trucking industry," chairman Joe McAleese observed, citing growing truck orders and dropping cancellations. Truck tonnage and utilization are both seen as under control. It was a theme repeated during briefings during the Mid-America Trucking Show's media day.
PACCAR has produced the prototype of an autonomous truck with support from NVIDIA, a computer hardware and software developer. NVIDIA's Drive PX 2 AI technology - which is also used by Tesla -- has an SAE Level 4 ranking, which is the second-highest level of automation, exceeded only by full automation. "This is probably the largest single mass of a product that we've helped make," said Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA founder and Chief Executive Officer, during a keynote presentation at Bosch Connected World.
BELLEVUE, WA - PacLease has added three British Columbia locations to a network that now includes 454 facilities throughout North America. Inland PacLease in West Kelowna, Peterbilt Pacific Leasing in Lantzville, and Peterbilt Pacific Leasing in Delta were among 10 new locations announced this week. "PacLease had another strong year and we're finding increased demand for those wanting to rent and lease Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks," said Jake Civitts, director of franchise operations for PACCAR Leasing Company (PacLease). "With the opening of our new PacLease locations, including three in the major markets of the Detroit and Philadelphia areas, along with Birmingham, we're well situated for continued growth."
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -- The European Union is fining five truck makers nearly 3 billion euros (Cdn $4.3 billion) for acting as a cartel to fix prices of medium and heavy-duty trucks and time the introduction of technologies to comply with emissions rules. It's the highest fines ever imposed by the EU for a single cartel - twice the previous highest amount, imposed in 2012, according to Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's competition commissioner, in a statement. MAN (now owned by Volkswagen), Daimler, DAF (owned by Paccar), Iveco and Volvo/Renault -- which together account for around nine out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks sold in Europe -- had been working together for 14 years, from 1997 until the European Commission's investigation in 2011 put a stop to it.
RENTON, WA - More than 500 people joined PACCAR Parts in celebrating the grand opening of a new $32-million Distribution Center in Renton, Washington. The 160,000 square-foot facility began operations this April, serving 92 dealerships in Western Canada and the Northwestern U.S. It is one of 17 such Distribution Centers worldwide, and can store 38,000 aftermarket parts for all makes of trucks, trailers and buses.
SAINTE THERESE, QC --The truck and engine manufacturer Peterbilt and its parent company Paccar put on a show this week in Canada. They hosted dozens of medium-duty fleet owners and managers at the Paccar manufacturing facility in Sainte-Thérèse, QB, giving tours of the plant, educational seminars and test drives of the company's Class 6-7 lineup in various configurations.
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