The last time demand was this high for new Class 8 trucks, fleets placed record orders. Not this time because manufacturing capacity is limited.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter offering perspective and context on the trucking industry.
Peterbilt, Kenworth and DAF Trucks are sold out globally for 2021 as the global semiconductor shortage leaves 6,500 trucks awaiting parts.
Experiencing the view from the passenger seat of a PlusDrive-equipped truck navigating a northern California rush hour.
Aurora Innovation gets a $10.6 billion enterprise value, the second highest of four autonomous driving software developers seeking to go public.
Daimler Truck, TRATON and Volvo Group will spend $593 million to build a truck charging network across Europe.
Cummins is recalling 4,413 remanufactured engines on top of an earlier fuel rail recall that threatened engine fires in trucks, buses and motor homes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration orders trucking manufacturers and operators to report crashes linked to autonomous technology.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter that adds perspective and context to issues affecting the trucking industry.
Embark Trucks plans to go public at a $5.16 billion valuation with sponsorship by the special purpose acquisition company that backed Lion Electric.
The blank-check route to going public is losing steam, but Aurora Innovation may take the plunge in a SPAC led by one of its investors.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter that brings perspective and context to trends and issues in the trucking industry.
From a shortage of truck production workers to parts depot staff, Daimler Trucks North America is trying to keep up with blistering demand.
Despite supply chain constraints, Tier 1 driveline supplier Dana beat analyst expectations for Q1 and raised full-year estimates.
PACCAR puts up strong Q1 numbers, including record parts sales that suggest the new truck backlog is boosting aftermarket sales.
Incentives help make Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 trucks affordable for a food logistics supplier, whose 14-unit order benefits from a $3.9 million grant.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter where FreightWaves adds context, commentary and color to industry news and trends.
Kenworth and Peterbilt avoid downtime from semiconductor shortage by parking unfinished trucks and getting back to them later.
The costs of keeping up with four engine technologies and the pace of self-driving trucks push rival truck manufacturers into partnerships.
Self-driving technology startup Embark Trucks develops a universal autonomous driving system that will work in semis from the four largest manufacturers.
Largely spared the automotive industry impact from semiconductor shortages, truck manufacturers are starting to take downtime.
As a love affair with electric vehicle companies fades, self-driving truck startups appear to be the new courtship objects of blank check companies.
Roger Nielsen will need a new outlet for his electric and driverless truck passion as the Daimler Trucks North America CEO retires after a 35-year career.
Truck Talk is a weekly newsletter where FreightWaves adds context, commentary and color to industry news and trends.
Truck Talk, is a weekly newsletter where FreightWaves adds context, commentary and color to industry news and trends.
Hydrogen-powered fuel cells always seem to be five or 10 years from a meaningful presence on the transportation stage. That may finally be changing.
Peterbilt took five years and the input of 59 customers to complete a thorough redesign of its Class 8 flagship Model 579 that improves fuel economy by 7%.
Meritor started with an electronic axle and worked forward to pull together all the major components of an electric powertrain that can propel an 80,000-pound line haul tractor or a medium-duty box truck.
As the trucking industry rebuilds toward meeting replacement demand, PACCAR expects new products will help it continue gaining market share.
The continuing impact from COVID impacts results but the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF parent company still turns in positive numbers.
PACCAR’s Columbus, MIssissippi engine plant’s proximity to nearby colleges and universities creates jobs at the $400 million facility where 250,000 engines have been manufactured in 10 years.
Manufacturers take varied approaches to avoiding the chicken-and-egg conundrum of electric trucks. PACCAR is selling and financing them with leases for battery-powered trucks.
Kenworth and Peterbilt climbed Pikes Peak with Class 8 electric trucks, then descended the 12-mile course of switchbacks and twisting turns to show the range-extending value of regenerative braking.
Volvo Trucks North America will begin building Class 8 VNR Electric day cab trucks in Virginia in December, continuing an industry surge in bringing battery-operated commercial vehicles to market.
PACCAR Inc. earnings fell in the third quarter but the maker of Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF Trucks continued a string of beating earnings estimates.
Electric trucks from PACCAR siblings can get California rebates when the fund is replenished; Daimler shows future battery and fuel cell trucks; and FMCSA grants Bosch a video mirror waiver.
PACCAR won’t rush in bringing battery-electric trucks to market, saying it will have them when customers ask. But it contends hydrogen fuel cells are five to 10 years away.
Major truck manufacturers are using digital tools for ordering parts, repairing equipment faster and transporting trucks for service because of staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks puts worker protections in place as it tries to make up for production lost to the coronavirus pandemic.
PACCAR Inc. posted decent first quarter earnings despite shuttering its plants in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. While truck orders cooled, parts sales set a record as the truck maker tries to build on 81 consecutive profitable years.
Growing awareness of a 12-year-old relief fund for semi-truck drivers is attracting more and bigger donations as the coronavirus pandemic highlights health risks to truckers hauling critical freight.
Major truck manufacturers extend production suspensions as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. J.P. Morgan upgrades PACCAR and holds a neutral rating on Navistar.
Big investors like Carl Icahn will have a say in whether Volkswagen’s truck group buys the 83% of Navistar it does not already own, but CEO Troy Clarke’s expected age-related departure this year seems more than a coincidence in TRATON’s $2.9 billion bid.
As more of its drivetrain business moves to electrification, Meritor focuses on integrating recent acquisitions TransPower and AxleTech.
The cost of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric trucking could drop 50% by the end of the decade, making it competitive with other clean energy options and even conventional fuels like diesel.
After making four investments totaling $12 million in electric truck systems supplier TransPower, Meritor is acquiring the rest of the company.
Kenworth skipped the fanfare in showing its Class 8 autonomous truck for the first time ar CES 2020.
Add Werner Enterprises to the parade of companies testing battery-powered heavy-duty trucks in California.
Kenworth and Peterbilt will both put power electronics from Dana in their electric medium-duty trucks.
New Class 8 truck orders dipped to their lowest level in a decade in 2019, payback for an ordering frenzy a year earlier.
Landstar’s strong cash flow generation and enviable balance sheet allow it to pay large special dividends even in down market years.
Just in time for the holidays, Paccar declared a special dividend of $2.30 a share for stockholders of record by Dec. 20.
The power and fuel efficiency of truck engines continue to rise as their size and weight shrink.
Preliminary orders for new Class 8 trucks tumbled again in November after one month of improved bookings, new evidence that a slowing manufacturing economy is sapping all but critical replacement demand.
Volvo Trucks North America will lay off about 700 workers in January, extending an industry pullback in production to match slowing orders of new Class 8 trucks.
The number of used Class 8 trucks for sale continues to grow as new equipment deliveries drain the backlog created during a 2018 order binge.
Daimler Trucks North America, the industry sales leader, is not sweating the loss of big chunks of heavy- and medium-duty market share trucks through the first nine months this year.
Kenworth Truck Co. is finally satisfied that over-the-air software updates are safe for its trucks.
Paccar Inc. delivered 31,000 trucks in the third quarter, helping the parent company of Kenworth Truck Co. , Peterbilt Motor Co. and DAF beat earnings estimates.
Preliminary Class 8 retail sales for September set an all-time record, but large fleet deliveries likely inflated the results that erased the previous record set in December 2006. Meanwhile, the backlog of trucks waiting to be built is falling, which is leading to layoffs..
Four of six major truck makers are reducing production line speed and/or laying off manufacturing workers. Market leader Daimler Trucks North America will cut 900 jobs in North Carolina on Oct. 14.
