FORD MOTOR CO.

Ford struck a mother lode of sales with its fresh SuperDuty family, grouped in the F250/350/450/550 series and built in Kentucky, and F650/750, assembled near Mexico City. Ford designed the lighter SuperDuty’s for commercial applications, but people are also buying them for everyday use; U.S./Canadian sales of the F250 through F550 are running at virtually full production capacity of 30,000 units a month.

Ford is just now starting to distribute F650s and F750s to dealers here in Canada, reports Terry Spyropoulos, medium-duty brand manager with Ford Canada. The 234 class-7 vehicles reported sold by Ford in Canada in the first eight months of 1999 represent the last of the F800 series inventory. Spyropoulos expects the last to be gone before the end of the year, allowing a seamless transition to the F750 for customers in that class. He feels that a special strength of the F650/750 line is that it offers factory-built four-door super cab and similar crew-cab models.

FREIGHTLINER TRUCKS

A source of excitement at Freightliner is the availability of Mercedes-Benz diesels for FL-series Business Class conventionals. Alex Bernasconi, director of medium-duty and vocational sales, thinks the MBE900 engines will be ordered by users who want “quietness, to make them less obvious when they’re working.” The Aisin A581 automatic transmission, now being delivered in limited quantities from Japan, should help alleviate the shortage of Allison automatics.

It’s offered with the Cummins ISB; when Aisin works out details of the electronic communications protocol with Mercedes and Caterpillar diesels, the A581 will be available with lower-power ratings of those engines, too.

Bernasconi notes that Freightliner is finding niches for the Cargo cabover inherited from Ford; it sells well as a chassis for street sweeper bodies, for instance, a market that consumes perhaps 3000 units a year. Add some orders for trash and recyclables collection trucks, beverage delivery vehicles, etc., and the business adds up.

GENERAL MOTORS

The Isuzu-built W Series of low-cab-forward trucks is coming to Canada, following a recent announcement between GMC and the Japanese firm (of which GM in the States now owns 49%). By year’s end, a total of 21 Canadian GMC dealers will carry the class-3 through-5 series of trucks, which comprises the W3500 (12,000 pounds GVW); W4500 (14,500 pounds); and W5500 (17,950 pounds). All are powered by a 175-horsepower Isuzu diesel.

GMC has updated its C Series conventionals with GM Vortec 7400 gasoline and GM-Isuzu Duramax 7800 diesel engines. Also, a new WT5500 LCO, with a GVW of 18,000 to 19,500 pounds, is designed to bridge a gap between its smaller W Series and the bigger T Series tiltcabs.

GMC is also trying to bring down the premium of a typical LCO versus a comparable conventional in order to boost its LCO sales, says Mike Eaves, an assistant brand manager at Pontiac-GMC Division. “Historically it’s been a $4500 to $5000 US premium, but we’d like to get that down to below $3000,” he says. At that point, many users will start considering the premium worthwhile for an LCO’s nimble qualities in urban surroundings.

Sales already are strong: with its LCOs and fast-selling conventionals, GMC and Chevy badges (which GM markets in the U.S.) now go on four out of 10 midrange trucks, according to U.S. industry figures.

HINO DIESEL

Hino made power windows standard in its 2000-model LCOs. Many customers ask for power passenger-side windows for driver convenience, and the cost of also powering the driver’s-side window is minimal. Also new are marker lights in mirror heads that sufficiently heat and de-mist glass in most climates. In Canada, Hino owns the class-5 market with a market share of 85% or more, but is a smaller player in class-6 (7%) and class-7 (2.9%). Still, says Alan Masters, national marketing manager for Hino Diesel Trucks (Canada), it’s class-7 sales that have been showing the strongest rate of growth over the past 18 months.

Hino has recently announced plans to offer the class-4 “FA” model (15,000 pounds GVW, with a 168-horsepower four-cylinder Hino diesel) in Canada, available around March of 2000. The price will likely be $2000 to $3000 lower than for the class-5 FB series, with the FA intended to help Hino better penetrate the class-3 and-4 markets,

MACK TRUCKS

Mack’s Mid-Liner business is 65% cabovers and 35% conventionals, an anomaly in a market dominated by the conventional-cab configuration. Sales manager Didier Piquet chalks the numbers up to tough competition in the conventional market.

“The cabover market is getting smaller and smaller, but it’s where Mack is best able to compete. Mack is working on new models, but meantime return customers are keeping sales steady, reports David Velho, director of Mid-Liner sales. Certain competitors with deep pockets are “buying business” from new customers, he says, but Mack makes up for it by doing all it can to keep customers happy, up to and including replacing units that have failed customers’ expectations.

MITSUBISHI FUSO

Under the banner of MFTA Canada Inc., Mitsubishi Fuso has launched a full-fledged presence in the Canadian class-3 to class-7 market, appointing onetime Volvo Canada executive Brian Shantz as director of sales, and opening a headquarters in Mississauga, Ont. The company will market 10 different models representing 72 possible spec’ing configurations (GVWs of 12,000 to 32,900 pounds) through a dealer network that will number 25 locations by the end of 2001. Mitsubishi’s current offerings include three class-3 vehicles and one class 4. The FH is the class-5 truck (17,995 pounds GVW); the FK and FM-MR are class-6s (23,000 and 25,995 pounds GVW, respectively); and the FM-HR, FM-SR, and FM-SP are class-7 trucks (30,000 to 32,900 pounds GVW). All are LCOs.

The company’s 2000 models have side-door impact beams, sill reinforcements, energy-absorbing steering wheels and daytime running lights. Power windows and door locks are standard.

NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL

Navistar’s International 4000 series may be dated in design, but high-tech diesels and strong dealer support have kept sales robust, says Tim Shick, manager of medium-duty marketing. He says the company’s “Diamond Spec” pre-engineered models now account for more than 70% of trucks ordered by dealers for stock, with buyers wanting the advantages of quicker delivery and a better warranty compared to custom-spec’d trucks. Diamond Spec fleet orders are now above 30% and growing.

Meanwhile, Navistar’s Next Generation Truck series is due in the first quarter of 2001, “right around the corner,” Shick says. The NGT will have a new cab and chassis, and will emerge as a conventional. It will also have the capability to be built as a stripped chassis and a cabover, if the market calls for it.

PACCAR

After quietly dropping models based on a Brazilian Volkswagen cabover two years ago, PACCAR stablemates Kenworth and Peterbilt returned to the mid-range cabover market with two largely identical versions of a new truck to be built at Kenworth’s refurbished plant in Ste-Therese, Que.

The new class-7 vehicle-Peterbilt’s Model 270 and Kenworth’s K37-uses a chassis and steel cab designed by European truck-maker DAF, also a PACCAR property. The Cummins ISB is the standard engine with ratings from 175 to 230 horsepower, matched to an Eaton six-speed synchronized transmission. KW and Pete each will offer a two-year, unlimited-mileage warranty. Class-5 and -6 versions are expected next year.

STERLING TRUCKS

Since its startup a year and a half ago, Sterling has fielded a small group of conventional and low-cabover models that its parent, Freightliner Corp., acquired from Ford. In September, Sterling introduced its Acterra family, four models covering each of the weight classes from class 5 to mid-range class 8. The Acterra 5500 (class 5) and 6500 (class 6) are both single-axle straight trucks; the 7500 (class 7) is available as a single-axle truck or tractor; and the 8500 (class-8) is available as a single- or tandem-axle straight truck, or as a single- or tandem-axle tractor.

The Acterra cab is the same one used on all Sterling conventional trucks, but it sits on a Freightliner Business Class frame. The Mercedes-Benz MBE900 engine is standard, with the Cummins ISB and ISC or Caterpillar 3126B optional (the Cummins ISL is also available on the 8500).