LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (Dec. 23) — Mack Trucks Inc. and Oshkosh Truck Corp. will collaborate on a new generation of front-discharge concrete mixers to replace its FDM model mixer.

The vehicles will have a Mack E-Tech engine mounted at the rear of an Oshkosh front-discharge concrete carrier featuring a McNeilus mixer drum, the companies said.

The line will carry a Mack badge and be called the Mack FCM. The truck will be the only front-discharge concrete mixer sold in the United States that is powered by a Mack engine.

The trucks will be built at Oshkosh Truck’s assembly plant in Oshkosh, Wis., and be sold through Mack dealers and sales agents for McNeilus, an Oshkosh subsidiary.

As a result of the agreement, Mack said it will discontinue production of its FDM model mixer, which was manufactured in Pleasant Grove, Utah. The Utah plant will be closed.

North America’s leading supplier of vehicles to the construction industry, Mack has faced new competitive pressures with the introduction of Sterling Trucks by Freightliner Corp.

The FCM will unite “three of the ready-mix industry’s biggest names to offer a truly world-class product,’ said Paul L. Vikner, Mack executive vice-president for sales and marketing.

Oshkosh Truck builds trucks and truck bodies for the construction, refuse hauling, defense, and fire and emergency markets. McNeilus is a subsidiary of Oshkosh and markets products under the Oshkosh, Pierce, and McNeilus brand names.