LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Navistar International took out a massive amount of floor space at the Mid-America Trucking Show, to which Jim Hebe, senior vice-president, North American sales operations declared “This is a message.”

He said it as a message that the company was committed to both the North American and global truck markets.

Hebe said the company’s decision to dominate a large section of floor plan at MATS stemmed from a visit to Germany, during which the company considered making a big splash at the Hanover Truck Show.

“We came to the conclusion we’re a North American company, our roots are right here, we’ve been in trucks as long or longer than anyone else in the world and so we decided we are going to invest our resources here in North America,” Hebe said. “We’re going to show off a little this year.”

The company hosted about 600 dealers at the show, with about 1,400 dealer reps and customers attending its event.

Navistar announced the International LoneStar will now be offered with a 500-hp, 13-litre engine. “This is an honest-to-God strong engine,” Hebe declared.

He also said the 15-litre MaxxForce is now being delivered to customers under the ProStar hood. “We’re building them and delivering them and we have customers who are running them and like them,” he said.

Hebe also announced Navistar has now delivered more than 100,000 EPA2010-compliant MaxxForce engines. He also said International dealers now offer more diesel particulate filter (DPF) cleaning machines than all other truck dealers combined.

Navistar said it will be offering the Cummins ISL G natural gas engine within its medium-duty product line. However, Hebe said the company will also be developing a natural gas version of its MaxxForce 13.

Hebe said Swift Transport has just ordered “several hundred” natural gas-powered International trucks.