trucks world news: October 2005

Production - USA - GM's small-block motor celebrates 50th anniversary, ninety million built

Detroit,Mich,USA -680news.com (VANCOUVER,Can), by: STEVE MERTL -Oct 30, 2005: -- Awash in red ink and losing market share, General Motors Corp. still has had something to celebrate this year - the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most popular engine in history... The small-block V-8 motor debuted in the 1955 Chevrolet sedan and will always be identified with Chevy... But the compact, lightweight but powerful "mouse motor" would eventually proliferate throughout GM's divisions for economic reasons... More than 90 million small-blocks have been produced... GM is also looking at other approaches for the small-block, such as gas-electric hybrid V-8s for its trucks, and gasoline direct-injection, which allows very precise fuel metering...

R&D - Thailand - Honda Strengthens R&D Capability in Asia Oceania Region

By Establishing Automobile R&D Center in Thailand
Tokyo, Japan -JCN Newswire via COMTEX -Oct 31, 2005: -- Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda responsible for research & development activities, today announced that it had obtained permission to establish an automobile R&D company in the Kingdom of Thailand to strengthen Honda's ability to quickly respond to the ever diversifying needs of customers in rapidly growing Asian automobile markets... A new Honda subsidiary, Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co., Ltd., will be established on December 1 and the new R&D center to become operational in 2007...

Hybrids - Japan - The envy of all the copycats

Toyota pioneered hybrids; now the other automakers are struggling to catch up

TOKYO,Japan - Lexington Herald Leader/kentucky.com/AP, by Yuri Kageyama -Oct. 31, 2005: -- When Toyota unveiled its first hybrid vehicle nearly a decade ago, many people were skeptical about its environmentally friendly gas-and-electric-powered engine that dramatically boosts mileage... Today, Japan's biggest automaker is scrambling to keep up with the growing demand for hybrids, especially in North America, where soaring oil prices -- now double from several years ago -- are suddenly making hybrids an attractive cost-saving alternative... All the world's major automakers, including Ford Motor Co. of the United States and Japanese rival Honda Motor Co., are either selling or developing their versions of hybrids these days... Okamoto, Toyota's research executive, acknowledged the jump in hybrid demand was a pleasant surprise for the sales division... "This year, we see the hybrid being treated as a very important option," said.

Markets - China - GM calls to develop service sector

Beijing,China -Business Report/Johannesburg,S.Africa/AFP -Oct 31, 2005: -- The top executive of automaker General Motors on Sunday called for China and its economic capital Shanghai to improve its relatively underdeveloped service sector... The sector represents slightly more than one third of China's gross domestic product... China's situation contrasts with that in other developing countries. In India the service sector accounts for 51 percent of GDP and in Mexico it is 71 percent compared with China's 32 percent... But in China the industrial sector contributes more than half of GDP, against 26 percent in Mexico and 21 percent in India...

Acquisition - Germany - MAN back in talks to buy Daimler MTU diesel unit

FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -Oct 31, 2005: -- German truckmaker and industrial group MAN has re-entered talks to acquire DaimlerChrysler's MTU Friedrichshafen heavy diesel engine unit, DaimlerChrysler said on Monday... Confirming an earlier report by Reuters, a spokeswoman for the world's fifth-biggest carmaker said MAN had replaced buyout firm CVC, which had dropped out of the list of bidders... "MAN is back in for competitive reasons so that we have three bidders," the spokeswoman said...

Prices - USA - Diesel dilemma

Gasoline prices may be tumbling, but local companies and truckers who rely on diesel fuel are still stuck paying high prices

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA,USA -Lancaster New Era, by Cindy Stauffer -Oct 27, 2005: -- We hate to burst your bubble, all you folks out there who have been celebrating the 40-cent drop in gas prices in the past month... But there’s something else going on at the pumps... And it’s no cause for celebration. While gas prices have dropped in the past month, diesel prices have remained persistently high... In fact, the price has risen slightly since September... And even if you don’t drive an 18-wheeler, you’re paying for that, trucking companies say... “With the higher cost of diesel fuel, we are making attempts to not pass the cost along to our customers,” he said....

TechNews - USA - GM, Shanghai Automotive pledge to develop energy-efficient vehicles in China

Agreement calls for expansion of joint hybrid bus program
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News/APress -Oct 30, 2005: -- General Motors Corp. and its partner in Shanghai agreed Saturday to work together to produce energy-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles in China, according to a joint statement released by the companies... The agreement, signed in Shanghai by GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Chairman Hu Maoyuan, calls for both companies to look into expanding their joint hybrid bus program to a larger fleet to serve the city of Shanghai... The partners also will pursue hybrid options for cars and hydrogen fuel cell technologies for use in China...

Recalls - USA - GM recalling SUVs because of corrosion on latch

WASHINGTON DC,USA -Associated Press -Oct 29, 2005: -- General Motors Corp. said Friday it was recalling about 100,000 sport utility vehicles in 20 northern states because corrosion can affect latches on the two backseat doors, potentially allowing the doors to open while the vehicle is being driven... In some cases, slush, water and salt has passed through a seal at the base of the door and come in contact with the door's latch. Over time, it can cause corrosion and make the door not latch properly, GM spokesman Alan Adler said... Adler said there has been one unconfirmed report of injuries related to the problem. GM did not have any details on what happened...

By By - USA - Ford's head of hybrid programs to leave

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Dow Jones/AP -Oct 29, 2005: -- Ford Motor Co.'s high-profile head of hybrid programs is leaving the automaker at a time when Ford is relying heavily on its gas-electric hybrid-vehicle program to help turnaround its struggling automotive operations... Mary Ann Wright, Ford's director of hybrid programs and chief engineer on the Ford Escape Hybrid, submitted her resignation Friday morning. She is one of many senior managers to recently exit Ford, which in the midst of a corporate restructuring that is to be detailed early next year... Ford spokesman Oscar Suris said Wright's departure "doesn't change Ford's plans" to increase hybrid production... this departure comes two weeks after Phil Martens, Ford's vice president of product creation in North America, also left the company. Following Martens out the door was Matt DeMars, vice president for North American vehicle operations...

A good cause - Canada - 18 Wheels of Christmas campaign rolls on

CALGARY, Alta,Canada -Truck News, by James Menzies -27 Oct 2005: -- The Alberta trucking industry is once again gathering food for the less fortunate this Christmas season, through the 18 Wheels of Christmas campaign... Rosenau Transport is once again offering a 48-foot trailer which organizers hope to fill with food donated by the trucking industry. Last year's effort netted 24 skids of food which were delivered to the Medicine Hat Food Bank and the Lloydminster Salvation Army... Some of the biggest contributors last year included Big Horn Transport which donated a skid of peanut butter and Rosenau which chipped in two skids of baby food... "A little competition wouldn't hurt and it all goes to a good cause," points out Nickel... To participate, call Dale or Colleen at 403-279-4204 or e-mail 18wheels_xmas@rosenau.org...

Survey - USA - Hino Trucks Leads ATD Results

DETROIT,MI,USA -PRNewswire -Oct. 27, 2005: -- In its annual survey of United States truck dealers, the American Truck Dealers Association heard a lot of positive references to Hino Trucks this year. In fact, Hino led other OEMs in gains in multiple medium duty truck categories... The ATD survey is an annual review of dealer attitudes about the OEMs they represent. The 2005 report contains 704 surveys representing 1,560 evaluations. Its summary is a comprehensive review of an OEM's effectiveness in the areas of generating franchise value, marketing programs, policy implementation, parts support, hiring good people and producing an overall positive attitude in its relationships with its dealers... Hino Motors Sales U.S.A. Inc., is the Detroit, MI, headquartered distribution arm of Hino Motors Ltd. based in Tokyo, Japan. HMS sells and services a full product line of Class 4-7 Medium Duty Trucks through a nationwide dealer network. The Company assembles its products in Long Beach, CA and operates a National Parts Distribution Center in Southaven, MS.- Toyota owns controlling interest of Hino Motors Ltd...

Illegal Surcharges - UN - Volcker Says Volvo, Siemens Paid Kickbacks to Iraq

NY,USA -Bloomberg -Oct. 27, 2005: -- Volvo AB, Siemens AG and DaimlerChrysler AG were among 2,392 companies that paid kickbacks to Iraq in an aid program designed to allow Saddam Hussein to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other goods, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker said in a report today... The European companies sold vehicles and electric-utility equipment to Iraq, according to the report issued in New York today on the United Nations program... UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan knew about Hussein's corruption of the program and did little to stop the illegal activity, the Sept. 7 report from Volcker's investigation said... Annan was informed of kickbacks, oil surcharges and smuggling that allowed Hussein to skim about $13 billion from the Iraqi aid program. He didn't share that knowledge, confront Iraqi officials or take steps within the UN to address the problems, the report said... Benon Sevan, the former UN official who ran the program, is in his native Cyprus and can't be extradited should he be indicted. Volcker in an Aug. 8 report accused Sevan of taking kickbacks from a company for helping it secure contracts to buy Iraqi oil...

Economy - USA - Hybrid Heavy

USA -Ward's Auto World -Oct 1, 2005: -- Ford Motor Co. will step up its planned rollout of hybrid-electric vehicles, launch a new flexible-fuel vehicle campaign and focus on making its cars and trucks safer as part of a rejuvenation effort spearheaded by Chairman and CEO Bill Ford... Ford says it has placed more than 1 million ethanol-capable vehicles on roads worldwide during the last 25 years, but the auto maker will step up that effort next year and seek to improve consumer awareness and availability of the fuel... The new plan calls for production of 280,000 ethanol-powered Ford F-150 pickups, and Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car passenger cars in 2006...

R & D - Germany - Incremental Growth

Fuel-saving water and oil pumps, low-friction bearings and lighter pistons will not change the world — but it is a start...
Germany -Ward's Auto World (USA), by Drew Winter -Oct 1, 2005: -- While elaborate and expensive hybrid technologies capture much of the attention at the recent Frankfurt auto show, Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG, the automotive unit of German automotive and defense supplier Rheinmetall AG, touts products that offer small but significant improvements in fuel economy and emissions... At a press conference at the Frankfurt show, company officials revealed several new piston designs that are lighter weight and achieve faster cooling and oil throughput, but Kleinert says he also sees promise in new products such as an electrically driven coolant pump, first introduced two years ago... High-performance engine bearings are expected to be a key growth area for the company as well. Its Plain Bearings Div. offers a host of new high-performance and low-friction composite bearings that are designed to withstand the rigors of increasingly power-dense engines and new families of highly corrosive engine oils...

Oil's Earning - USA - ConocoPhillips profit up 89%

USA - Journal Gazette/FortWayne.com -27 Oct 2005: -- ConocoPhillips, the nation’s third-largest integrated oil and gas company, said third-quarter profit surged 89 percent, reflecting high prices for crude oil and natural gas after one of the worst hurricane seasons in memory slammed the heart of the nation’s oil industry... The Houston-based company emerged from the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita unscathed profit-wise, with earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 of $3.8 billion... Results were nearly double those of a year ago, which reached $2 billion, or $1.43 per share...

Fuel Alternatives - Thailand - Ford launches ethanol-compatible car

Hua Hin, Thailand -Mail Guardian (South Africa) -27 Oct 2005: -- Ford Motor Company on Thursday launched its first ethanol-compatible sedan -- the Ford Focus -- on the Thai market... The Ford Focus will be imported from Ford's factory in the Philippines, entering Thailand with low import tariffs granted under the Association of South East Asian Nations Free Trade Area (Afta) agreement...

Controls - USA - Ford cracks down on rest room breaks

Some workers spend more than 48 minutes away from the line at Wayne truck plant, slowing production of SUVs

Detroit,Mich, USA -The Detroit News, by Louis Aguilar -Oct 27, 2005: -- You know things are tense at work when management starts timing rest room breaks. But beleaguered Ford Motor Co. is doing just that... In a memo that was distributed Tuesday to workers at Ford's Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, plant managers said too many of the factory's 3,500 hourly workers are spending more than the 48 minutes allotted per shift to use the bathroom. The extra-long breaks are slowing production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles that are built there, the company said... Workers point out they have had 12 weeks of downtime due to slow sales this year, and more may be on the horizon... The memo ends on an upbeat note: "We look forward to putting this concern behind us as we obtain your personal commitment in supporting our joint focus on embracing change."...

Sales - China - General Motors reports: In first three quarters rise 28 percent

SHANGHAI, China -The Detroit News/Associated Press -Oct 27, 2005: -- General Motors Corp. said Thursday that its China sales in the first three quarters of 2005 rose 27.8 percent from a year earlier, helped by a rebound in sales following a slow start.
According to analysts, a large share of the growth in GM's sales in China, which totaled 472,468 vehicles between January and September, were from a mini-vehicle joint venture with partners Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp. (SAIC) and Wuling Automotive... Much of the sales growth has come from economy models, rather than the large sedans that fattened automakers' profits in previous years... China's passenger-car makers reported a 52.9 percent year-on-year drop in profits in the first three quarters of this year, according to a report earlier this week by the National Bureau of Statistics...

Production - China - Toyota Motor's plans to build third Tianjin plant

TOKYO,Japan -The Detroit News (Detroit,Mich,USA)/Associated Press -Oct 26, 2005: -- Toyota Motor Corp. said that its joint venture with China's biggest automaker plans to build a third plant in China with an annual production capacity of 200,000 passenger cars... Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., set up by Toyota and China FAW Group Corp., is currently applying for Chinese government approval of the joint project in China's northeastern city of Tianjin... Last year, Toyota models accounted for 2.1 percent, or 98,000 units, of the estimated 4.6 million vehicles sold in China... The world's major automakers are bolstering their presence in China to make inroads into the country's growing auto market...

Earnings - USA - Fiat posts third-quarter profit on cost cutting, strong sales

ROME,Italy -The Detroit News/AP -26 Oct 2005: -- Fiat SpA reported a third-quarter profit Wednesday, more than reversing a loss a year ago, due to cost cutting and robust August sales at its struggling auto unit... Group net profit came to 818 million euros ($989.6 million), compared to a loss of 404 million euros in the third quarter of last year... Fiat said the group can be "cautiously optimistic about its future and confirms its 2005 targets."...

Business - Germany - Audi Could Absorb SEAT

A decision is expected by November...
USA - The Car Connection -27 Oct 2005: -- Audi is studying whether to absorb its troubled Spanish unit, SEAT. The upscale VW brand-which leads a group of brands including SEAT and Lamborghini-is uninterested in selling or shutting down its Barcelona-based brand... However, Audi is expected to fold SEAT's business into its own as a cost-saving measure, which would give Audi's executive board more control over SEAT's expenditures, vehicle development and production...

Report - USA - Big Three, Japanese Brands "Equal" on Initial Quality

USA -The Car Connection, by Mac Gordon /Consusmer Report -27 Oct 2005: -- The U.S. Big Three closed the gap with the Japanese vehicles on initial vehicle quality, but the Japanese brands still led significantly in durability from 2-8 years, says the chief of the Consumer Reports vehicle test team, David Champion... who called for such safety enhancers as SUV rear-view cameras and anti-roll stability systems to become standard equipment on all new vehicles... Consumer Reports, issuing its annual new-model preview issue this week, rates the hybrid Toyota Prius as the most reliable of the 2006 models, and the Infiniti QX56 SUV the least reliable. The magazine relies for its rankings on reports from readers, as well as its own testers, with a record one million questionnaires... Nameplates falling short are Kia Amanti, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Montego, says Champion - and, because of safety concerns, Chrysler 300. Consumer Reports coordinates its findings with the crash-safety tests of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety...

Investigation - USA - SEC Subpoenas General Motors

More job cuts and plant closings coming to GM

NY,USA -Reuters -27 Oct 2005: -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed General Motors as it investigates accounting practices at the largest U.S. automaker, Reuters reported on Wednesday evening. The Feds are investigating how GM accounted for a series of transactions between itself and supplier Delphi Corp., which has since sought Chapter 11 relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, as well as GM's accounting for pension benefits to its own employees... GMAC, the automaker's finance arm, has also been drawn in the SEC investigation at a critical juncture; the automaker is trying to sell a majority stake in GMAC to refill its coffers and to restore the finance company's good credit ratings, which were downgraded along with GM's into junk territory earlier this year. GM says it is cooperating with authorities in their investigation...

No Tech - Korea - Hyundai Blocks Tech Transfer to China

Seoul,Korea -The Car Connection(USA), by Peter Chang - 26 Oct. 2005: -- South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor said it has blocked a possible leak of its car-making technologies from one of its subcontractors in South Korea to Chinese carmakers... Hyundai Motor, which produces its cars in its plant in China along with its affiliate Kia Motors, said the technologies were for engines and durability... The action was taken after Hyundai Motor had found that one of its subcontractors had contacted Chinese automakers. After discovering the leak, all data related to the technologies was scrapped... South Korean carmakers including Hyundai Motor's affiliate Kia Motors are trying to prevent their auto-making technologies from being leaked to the fast-growing Chinese companies. Earlier this year, South Korea's third-largest car company, GM Daewoo, which produces its cars on a CKD basis in China, filed a lawsuit against Chinese car manufacturer Chery for alleged piracy of its popular Matiz minicar...

Lewd and lascivious - USA - Wisconsin Fights Car Flasher

West Bend, Wisc.,USA -AP - 26 Oct 2005: -- Police in West Bend, Wisc., have charged a 40-year-old man with lewd and lascivious behavior as well as disorderly conduct after the man put pictures of his genitals on cars parked by women at stores in the area... The man charged with the indirect flashing, one Jeffrey J. Hein, was charged with leaving the pictures behind at the Wal-Mart, Kmart, and a beauty-supply store in the town... Hein says he was merely trying to play a joke on the women and thought they might find it funny, the Associated Press reports. He also admits that some of the women laughed at the pictures when they recovered the shots from their car windshields...

Prostitution? - USA - Car-Washing Cheerleaders or Hookers?

You Make The Call
Reno,Nevada,USA -KRNV-Reno/The Car Connection -26 Oct 2005: -- The In Nevada, it's apparently a narrow legal line between high-school cheerleaders and other women who wear the same costumes for pay... What does this have to do with cars, you ask? Nothing until recently, when the Nevada State Supreme Court sat down to consider whether a new law could result in innocent civilians being prosecuted for violating anti-prostitution statutes... According to the law, police can arrest someone who "repeatedly beckons to, stops, attempts to stop or engage persons passing by in conversation, or repeatedly stops or attempts to stop motor vehicle operators by hailing, waiving of arms or other bodily gestures," KRNV-Reno reports-for example, when cheerleaders solicit customers for a car wash... The justices are weighing whether an overzealous police officer could interpret that to include the more wholesome crowd and charge the girls with loitering for the purpose of prostitution...

Closing Loophole - USA - Senate Passes Bill To Require Truck-Insurance Notification

Washington,DC,USA -Hartford Courant, (Conn.), by CHRISTOPHER KEATING -Oct 27, 2005: -- The state Senate on Wednesday took the first steps toward closing a loophole in state law, passing a bill that requires the state to be notified when a commercial truck owner drops its insurance... The loophole came to light after the July 29 crash of a dump truck on Route 44 at the bottom of Avon Mountain. Four people died, including a father of five... The problem gained widespread attention in 1993 when the legislature passed a law requiring insurance companies to notify the DMV when a motorist drops insurance... But legislators left a gap in the law, including using the words "no such notification shall be made for any cancellation of any policy of commercial" vehicles' insurance... That gap will now be closed if the measure, as expected, is passed by the House and signed by Rell... The bill would become effective Jan. 1...

Advice - USA - Future bankruptcers? Here a way...

Before the Last Resort: What to Do If You’re Considering Bankruptcy

USA -Bankruptcy Plus Resources, Copyright 2005, by Michael Knowles -26 Oct 2005: -- Filing for bankruptcy is an extreme move, not a quick fix. It’s a long, painful process with a huge stigma, and you’re unlikely to be able to get any kind of credit for ten years afterwards. Yet bankruptcies are on the rise. Out of ignorance or stupidity, more and more people seem to be using bankruptcy as a first option, instead of a last resort. Before you do it, make sure you’ve considered every alternative... Have You Reorganized Your Debt?... Sell Everything You Can... Work More... Use the Power of Threats... Know Your Local Laws... Try to get a lawyer – you might think that you can’t afford one, but many will work ‘pro bono’ (for free) for people who really need a lawyer but can’t pay...

Contrast - USA - Rise in profit sets Chrysler apart

Third quarter brings glimmer of hope to Detroit; automaker earns $374 million after car sales jump.

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Christine Tierney -26 Oct 2005: -- In stark contrast with its ailing Detroit rivals, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group boosted its third-quarter profit 43 percent to $374 million after increasing auto sales sharply... Chrysler's robust showing, after a deep, three-year restructuring, provides a glimmer of optimism for the domestic auto industry following huge losses announced last week by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co...

Ailing - USA - Delphi offer: $9 an hour

Ailing supplier lowers bid to UAW; workers asked to pay up to $5,000 yearly for health care.

Detroit,Mich.,USA -The Detroit News, by Bill Vlasic -Oct 26, 2005: -- Delphi Corp.'s first offer to unionized autoworkers since filing for bankruptcy protection calls for an unprecedented elimination of benefits and even steeper wage cuts than an earlier proposal made by Chairman Robert S. "Steve" Miller... Instead of the $10 to $12 an hour that Miller said Delphi should pay its production workers, the company started talks with the United Auto Workers last Friday by seeking wages as low as $9 an hour, according to a copy of the proposal posted on union Web sites...

Opinion/Engines - USA - Forget hybrids, America; diesels will provide economy, performance

Technology allows diesels to meet toughest upcoming emissions rules; automakers' hybrid alliances show lack of belief in gas-electric future
GRANADA, Spain -Autos Insider/USA, by Neil Winton -26 Oct 2005: -- Peugeot of France doesn't sell its cars in the U.S., but its new 407 Coupe (pictured) is powered by an engine that will induce a warm glow in Americans... The engine is a diesel, and it means that Americans forced by high gas prices to seek alternatives to fuel-guzzling motors can do so without making sacrifices... a 2.7 litre V-6 diesel engine that is quieter than a gasoline engine, has incredible torque and averages 27.6 miles per gallon. Ford builds the engine, in partnership with Peugeot... AID's Schmidt has no doubts... "Diesels are all round superior to hybrids in terms of running costs, manufacturing costs, flexibility in town and highway, they are winning hands down. Hybrids' only plus? A marginal advantage in very heavy traffic congestion," said Schmidt... So will Ford send that creamy V-6 diesel engine to America? I'm sorry to report the answer is no... "Ford has no plans at the moment to use this engine in the U.S.," said a spokesman...

Utility - USA - Car customizer creates vehicle with style, utility

Radical design of Scion xB makes it perfect for drivers and passengers using wheelchairs

Detroit,MIch.,USA -The Detroit News, by Larry Edsall -26 Oct 2005: -- With its very boxy design, room outside for colorful graphics and room inside for plenty of electronic component customization, the Scion xB is nothing if not cool. Now drivers in wheelchairs can share in that cool... Independent Mobility Systems of Farmington, N.M., worked with Toyota Motor Corp.'s Scion division in developing the Scion xB xRamp system. Conversion work is done by IMS . Its equipment can be installed in any xB, including one already on the road. A new vehicle with full mobility package equipment costs about $30,000...

Prices - USA - While Gas Is on the Rise - You Don't Have to Feel the Drain

NEW YORK, NY,USA -MULTIVU REPORT/PRNewswire/AutoTrader -Oct. 24, 2005: -- AS GAS PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE, CONSUMERS ARE LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES TO GAS GUZZLERS... SOME HELPFUL TIPS FOR MONEY CONSCIOUS AUTOMOBILE OWNERS... SOME EASY WAYS TO CONSERVE GAS: REDUCE TRIPS -- TRY TO DO CHORES ON YOUR WAY HOME FROM WORK RATHER THAN MAKE SEPARATE TRIPS. TAKE IT EASY -- AVOID AGGRESSIVE DRIVING AND USE CRUISE CONTROL TO MAINTAIN A SENSIBLE PACE. AND CARPOOL IF POSSIBLE. WHETHER YOU'RE TRAVELING TO WORK OR SHOPPING, SPLITTING THE DRIVING CAN CUT COSTS... "Simple things like maintaining your car to make sure it's running at peak performance and using a more efficient car rather than an SUV can help you save money on gas. At AutoTrader.com we have nearly 3 million cars and 10 million monthly shoppers so no matter what your shopping needs are we have the right car for you."

TechnoNews - USA - The key to fresh water: Imitation spleen proteins

BURLINGAME, Cal,USA -CNET News/ZDNet NewsBy Michael Kanellos -Oct 24, 2005: -- The human spleen doesn't get a lot of good press, but the Electronic Power Research Institute has come up with a spleen-inspired molecule that could expand the world's water supply... EPRI's MagMolecules are designer molecules that can extract specific contaminants from water. .. The firm is testing one molecule that can remove radioactive materials, such as cesium, from the water that circulates inside nuclear power plants, said Clark Gellings, vice president of innovation at EPRI... The MagMolecule technology also could greatly reduce the amount of radioactive waste from nuclear plants, according to EPRO. At present, evaporation is used to extract solid waste from water used at the plant. Though the solids can have radioactive material inside, the amount that can be extracted through evaporation is often miniscule...

GreenNews - USA - Volvo Expresses Confidence in 2007 Engines

USA - Fleet Owner - Oct 24, 2005: -- Peter Karlsten, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America, expressed confidence in Volvo's 2007 engine emissions solution during an interview at the recent ATA Conference & Exhibition in Boston... "Our customers know we are doing everything we can to make 2007 a non-event," he noted. "Volvo has the resources and the know-how to meet these new emission standards, so we see this as an opportunity to bring a new generation of engines to market. We are confident and we want our customers to share our confidence."

Operations - USA - Slumping Ford picks employee brains

Ideas for turning around North American operations flood in to management, which will weigh them all

Detroit,Mich.,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -Oct 25, 2005: -- Ford Motor Co. is turning to employees for ideas and insights to help guide a major turnaround of the company's North American operations... Salaried employees in Ford's Americas division received an e-mail Friday from division president Mark Fields and his management team, encouraging them to share suggestions with senior management... Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr. plans to unveil a major restructuring in January to reverse mounting losses...

TechNews - USA - GM plans Russian tech hub

Automaker will employ scientists who once made nuclear bombs to create new car technology, trim costs

USA -Bloomberg News, by Jeff Green and Alan Katz -Oct 25 2005: -- General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, is turning to scientists who once designed nuclear bombs and biological weapons in the Soviet Union to invent new car technology as it tries to end losses... GM will announce today a new science center in Russia that is part of an effort to cut the cost of engineering new cars and trucks... The automaker intends to take advantage of U.S. and European programs that pay former Soviet scientists to abandon weapons development for peaceful projects, said Alan Taub, GM's director of research and development...

Business - Japan - Isuzu Motors in talks to take over GM's truck business in Australia

TOKYO,Japan -The Detroit Free Press/Associated Press/USA -Oct 24, 2005: -- Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors is wrapping up talks with General Motors Corp. to take over the struggling U.S. automaker's commercial truck business in Australia, an Isuzu spokesman said Monday... But GM spokeswoman Masako Hamada said nothing had been decided, although GM remains interested in strengthening its relations with Isuzu...

Beer's Fuel Too? - USA - Coors ramping up production of ethanol from beer waste

GOLDEN, Colo.,USA -The Denver Post, by By Robert Sanchez -Oct 24, 2005: -- One answer to lessening the country's dependence on foreign fuel imports might be hiding in the six-pack you carry home from the liquor store... At the Coors brewery here, the brewer and Merrick & Co. of Aurora, Colo., are using beer waste to process 1.5 million gallons a year of the gas substitute ethanol... The 9-year-old plant that distills the residuals from beer making has been such a success, officials from the brewer and the engineering company said, that a second, $2.3 million plant will open later this month on the same site... But ethanol is hardly free from criticism... Opponents say ethanol can be costly, also argue that the fuel substitute reduces gas mileage and wouldn't be economically feasible without federal tax credits for producers... David Pimentel, an ecology and agriculture sciences professor at Cornell University in New York, released a report on ethanol production this year that calculated everything from the amount of fertilizer needed to grow corn to the fuel needed to haul ethanol to refineries... The report showed that ethanol production expended more energy than it created...

Safety - USA - Automakers use tough road tests to drive out defects in new models

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif.,USA -Los Angeles Times, by John O'Dell -22 Oct 2005: -- Each year automakers introduce about a dozen all-new passenger vehicles, while a hundred or so other models are delivered with major changes to transmissions, air conditioning, lights, suspensions, even door seals. The typical car or truck has about 3,000 parts, and automakers test new pieces individually, often with computer simulations or in laboratories. But ultimately these pieces must be bolted onto a car and put on the road to find out how they all work -- or don't -- by exposing them to extreme bumps, bangs, heat, cold, dirt and damp... Toyota has more than 1,000 engineers and technicians focusing on extreme testing, and Ford Motor Co. has about 1,500 test engineers. Other automakers have similar staffs. Their extreme road tests have pinpointed air filters that let dust into passenger cabins, brake parts that overheat and crumble, and wiring harnesses that fray and crack in extreme cold... To run these tests, carmakers set up hot-weather test tracks in Arizona and cold-weather facilities in Northern Canada... Extreme road tests are tough on vehicles, but cold-weather testing also can strain engineers working in these remote winter locations...

Dark/GreenNews - USA - Bluewater Takes On Toyota's "Green" Rep

USA -Detroit Free Press/The Car Connection -24 Oct 2005: -- An environmental organization that has attacked Ford for not reaching environmental goals is turning its gunsights on Toyota... A report says that Bluewater Network, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, is running ads in publications from Mother Jones to the New York Times, claiming that Toyota's newer hybrids don't improve on the mileage of their gas-engined counterparts and that Toyota is fighting tougher emissions regulations... Toyota, Bluewater says, had the best fuel economy in the industry 20 years ago and has worsened dramatically since then. The Highlander and RX400h hybrids don't produce better real-world fuel economy than the standard version... The Japanese automaker's big expansion into trucks has evaporated its fuel-economy leadership and has led Toyota to join other automakers in fighting tougher fuel-economy standards, Bluewater adds...

Changes - USA - UAW Agrees to Healthcare Cuts

USA -The Car Connection -23 Oct 2005: -- The United Auto Workers has agreed to contract changes to help bail out General Motors Corp.'s ailing North American operations. The proposed concessions require GM's active workers to defer $1 per hour of wage increases planned through 2006 to help finance the cost of healthcare benefits... In addition, retirees with GM pensions also will pay more for healthcare through a combination of new monthly premium payments and increases in co-payments and deductibles... Many, but not all, of GM's blue-collar retirees now pay nothing for healthcare except for some co-payments on prescription drugs and additional deductible for retirees who have stuck with traditional plans. In addition, both active and retired workers will have to make a larger co-payment for so-called lifestyle drugs such as Viagra... Richard Wagoner, GM chief executive officer, said that the new healthcare plan will save the company $3 billion annually on a pre-tax basis and reduce the automaker's outstanding liability for post-retirement healthcare for employees by 25 percent or $15 billion over the next seven years...

GreenNews - USA - California air agency adopts idling truck rule

SAN FRANCISCO,CAL,USA -Reuters-21 Oct 2005: -- California air quality regulators have issued an order that will prohibit big-rig trucks with sleeping berths from idling their diesel engines while parked... The order, adopted late Thursday by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), is believed to be the first in the nation to require big sleeper trucks to shut off their engines during layovers, according to the agency... The decision will affect an estimated 180,000 big-rig trucks operating on California roads every day, most of them equipped with sleeper cabs, CARB spokesman Jerry Martin said. About 40,000 sleeper trucks are from outside California.... while big rigs in California are idling, they emit 53 tons a day of nitrogen oxide, which contributes to the formation of smog, Martin said...

Issue Shares - China - Dongfeng Gets OK for Hong Kong Listing

Hong Kong,China -AP, by ELAINE KURTENBACH -Oct 21, 2005: -- Dongfeng Motor Corp., one of China's biggest automakers, has gained approval to issue shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a $600 million initial public offering planned for December, state media reported Friday... The car maker, based in the central province of Hubei, had held back due to a downturn in the market earlier in the year but with a rebound in sales has revived its listing plans, the state-run newspaper China Securities Journal reported...

Report - USA - Chinese auto supplier plans site

Detroit,Mich,USA -Detroit Free Press -Oct 21, 2005: -- Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced Thursday that Century Automotive, a Chinese auto supplier, will open a 200-person research and development facility in Canton Township by about 2007... Ficano made the announcement during a weeklong trade mission in China. Century, a division of China-based Tempo Group, plans a 425,000-square-foot facility...

Business Plan - USA - Toyota controls quality, cost by making many parts in house

Bucking the trend

USA - AutoWeek, by LINDSAY CHAPPELL -21 Oct 2005: -- Making cars and car parts in the same factory is supposed to be an outdated business plan... So why is Toyota Motor Corp. - an industry leader in efficiency and innovation for many years - hanging on to in-house parts making at its North American assembly plants?... General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group have been struggling for years to make assembly plants more efficient by unloading parts manufacturing to outside suppliers... Toyota's North American factories, which range in age from 10 to 20 years, also perform the sort of large-scale in-house parts making that more modern auto factories no longer do... But Toyota's factories are the most efficient in North America - parts and all - and Toyota isn't so sure it wants to change... Toyota is simply following a different model, says Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "There isn't one magical business formula in the auto industry. Vertical integration works for Toyota. It doesn't work so well for the others" Cole says...

Solutions - USA - GM Has "Short List" of GMAC Investors

NY,USA -Bloomberg -Oct. 21, 2005: -- General Motors Corp., trying to regain an investment-grade rating for its auto-loan debt, has a "short list" of possible buyers for a controlling stake in its auto finance unit, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said... GM is in discussions with several companies that make the most sense for a "strategic partnership" by buying a stake in the General Motors Acceptance Corp. finance unit, Wagoner said in an interview today at the automaker's Detroit headquarters. He wouldn't identify potential buyers. Analysts say the sale may raise as much as $15 billion for GM, the world's largest automaker... Bank of America Corp., HSBC Holdings PLC and General Electric Co. could be on GM's short list, said Pete Hastings, vice president of fixed corporate income at Morgan Keegan Inc. in Memphis, Tennessee...

HOS - UK - BBC Drivers' Hours Investigation

UK -Transport News Network -18 Oct 2005: -- The BBC is to allege tonight that some lorry drivers operating in the UK are blatantly ignoring drivers' hours regulations, or even falsifying tachographs... The Radio 4 investigative programme 'File on 4' which is to air tonight at 8pm has already revealed some of its findings... The programme follows an operation by Police in North Wales, stopping lorries on the Holyhead road. Speaking to the BBC, Chief Superintendent Geraint Anwyl, head of the National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum said, "Half of the vehicles we're stopping on the Late Arrival operation are driving in excess of their hours or they've got tachograph offences or even using forged tachographs."...

Warns -UK - On Aging Transport and Logistics Worker Profile

UK - Transport News Network -21 Oct 2005: -- The UK's transport and logistics sector could face a worse crisis than spiraling diesel prices if it does not engage young people more effectively, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has warned... The CILT has expressed its concern over the rapidly-maturing workforce within the transport and logistics sector and says the sector needs to engage with young people to help a steady stream of fresh talent to enter the sector... While the recent fuel protests, panic buying and subsequent shortages of petrol and diesel may have left some shops briefly short of stock, the Institute believes that failing to bring through more young people could have far more damaging long-term effects. It is convinced that raising the profile of the profession as a whole, particularly among the young, will help prevent future shortages of skills as well as products and services...

Safety - UK - More Mirrors Proposed for Trucks

UK -Transport News Network -21 Oct 2005: -- DfT proposals could mean that up to four additional mirrors will be required on some classes of goods vehicles, although many are currently supplied with more mirrors than the law demands... Responding to the Department for Transport (DfT) consultation on the issue, the RHA's head of technical services, Steve Biddle, said: "Having considered the DfT's proposals, as the fitment of these devices is for safety related reasons then we would support the use of these mirrors to reduce the risk of fatal or serious injury." ... "The RHA would not support any retro fitment requirements as this would place a considerable financial burden on the industry", Biddle adds...

Car Trouble - USA - Should We Recall the U.S. Auto Industry?

Analysis II: The Knowledge/Wharton College/ Pennsylvania University
Penn.,USA -21 Oct 2005: -- When Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie is asked to explain why General Motors and Ford continue to take a drubbing from their competitors, he thinks for a moment and replies: "You can dig into the particulars around products and manufacturing processes for an explanation, but I guess the broad impression is the U.S. companies don't tend to be good learning organizations, which is something Toyota and Honda are superb at."... Whatever the U.S. car companies have learned in the past year, they have learned it the hard way. Consider the opening sentence of GM's 2003 annual report, published 12 months ag "Here's what's new about GM's strategy this year: Nothing."... the 2004 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study says global competition is so fierce that Detroit may have to become accustomed to being a smaller player. "There is a structural situation that is going to make it very difficult for GM and Ford to keep from losing market share, and they have to be looking at trimming down their operations. They have got excess capacity and excess overhead, and some of it they can't get rid of overnight, like the pension liability and the health care costs. Those decisions were made 10, 20 years ago. Perhaps there's more opportunity for them overseas than their home market." (originally published May 4, 2005)

Trouble - USA - A Bumpy Road for Delphi, GM and U.S. Auto Workers

Analysis: The Knowledge/The Wharton School Team/ Penn. University
Pennsylvania,USA --21 Oct. 2005: -- ... One thing became clear: the road ahead is going to be bumpy not only for Delphi, but also for General Motors, the United Auto Workers and the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the government-run entity that stands behind defined-benefit plans when they are terminated... Experts at Wharton and elsewhere who follow the auto industry say Delphi's decision to file for bankruptcy was hardly surprising but nonetheless significant. Also important was GM's subsequent announcement, that it had reached a tentative agreement with the UAW to cut the healthcare benefits of unionized retirees... The Delphi filing and the tentative GM-UAW accord set in motion a chain of events that may forever alter the relationship between America's Big Three carmakers and the UAW, and they underscore the degree to which globalization is exerting downward pressure on the wages and benefits paid to U.S. workers... Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie says Delphi's problems -- and GM's for that matter -- do not stem directly or entirely from the legacy costs or high wages paid to current workers. A major part of Delphi's difficulty is that it remains too dependent on a weakened GM as a customer for its parts... But there were tough problems, too -- inefficient businesses and pressure to sell some parts to GM at less than cost... GM's future is intertwined with Delphi's because GM became responsible for Delphi's legacy costs once Delphi filed for bankruptcy... Since the spin-off from GM, Delphi has made many positive changes of the kind that auto parts manufacturers need to make to stay competitive in global markets, according to MacDuffie, who is also co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP), which has a network of researchers at universities worldwide and is funded by major automakers and suppliers... Helper, the economics professor at Case Western Reserve, hopes that the Delphi bankruptcy also starts a national debate over the immense changes that globalization has brought to blue-collar union families that worked for decades to earn middle-class wages and rock-solid benefits...

Health & Costs - USA - UAW, Big Auto seek feds' help with health care costs

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Daniel Howes -Oct 21, 2005: -- General Motors Corp.'s billion-dollar health care deal with the United Auto Workers is just the beginning... In a separate pact reached during the months-long talks, the two sides said "the federal government has a primary role to play in improving health care quality and in making the health care system more affordable and accountable."... That's bargaining-speak that means GM and the UAW plan to step up pressure on Washington for help controlling runaway health care costs, which are strangling manufacturers and Detroit's automakers... They want the feds to help reduce the cost of prescription drugs by opposing drug patent extensions, which delay cheaper generic drugs; open information on doctors, hospitals and insurers by releasing the Medicare claims database to public scrutiny; pass laws to speed the adoption of 21st-century information technology in medical record-keeping... Until the health care mess gets worse, any solution for Detroit needs to be made right here...

Show - Japan - Exudes optimism as Detroit hunkers down

Tokyo Motor Show
Tokyo,Japan -The Detroit News,(Detroit,Mich,USA), by Christine Tierney -October 21, 2005: -- In sharp contrast with the gloom settling over Detroit, Japan's car makers exuded quiet confidence this week at the motor show here that their focus on fuel-efficient, innovative and high-quality vehicles was paying off... Entering the biannual show on a wave of sales and profits, Japan's largest automakers unveiled a raft of new models that signal their designs on the future. Reflecting the upbeat sentiment, Honda Motor Co. displayed a trio of concept cars under the slogan "Fine Times."... Without specifically mentioning Detroit's automakers, Japanese executives attributed the success of Japan's industry to the automakers' focus on the market, tight cost controls and close ties with suppliers... Fukui said many in the industry believed that automakers can bring down their costs by increasing production volumes, but he said Honda's approach was to tailor production capacity to market demand... Japanese executives said U.S. automakers had improved the quality and styling of their vehicles, but they're still suffering because consumer attitudes change slowly... Nissan's Ghosn, whose career includes several turnarounds, said he believed some of the pessimism about the outlook for Detroit's automakers was excessive... "I wouldn't discount the Big Three too fast," he said. "They will come back. They will react. This is a turnaround story now." ...

Lobbying - USA - ATA hammers out energy policy

ALEXANDRIA, Va., USA -Today's Trucking News -20 Oct 2005: -- The American Trucking Associations' Board of Directors today unanimously endorsed an energy resolution that includes limiting the use of biodiesel... The resolution -- sanctioned by the board members at ATA's annual Management Conference and Exhibition in Boston -- outlined the organization's efforts to combat escalating fuel prices and help shape a comprehensive national energy plan... The ATA lobbying for a national energy planIt calls for increasing the diesel fuel supply; improving the balance between environmental concerns and fuel efficiency; eliminating boutique diesel fuels, and limiting the use of biodiesel... Recently, Minnesota became the first US jurisdiction to mandate a B2 (2 percent biodiesel) blend for truckers filling up in the state...

Oil - Russia - Gazprom net profit in Q105 grows 34%

MOSCOW, Russia -RIA Novosti -Oct 20, 2005: -- The unaudited net profit of Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom grew 34% for the first quarter of 2005, the company's press service said Thursday... The service said the Q105 profit hit 92,397 million rubles ($3.23 billion), against 68,395 million rubles ($2.39 billion) in Q104... The sales earnings, minus excise, VAT and customs payments, increased by 33% against the same period last year to reach 339,181 million rubles ($11.85 billion)...

Cuts - USA - Ford plans more plant closings

Cincinnati,USA -Cincinnati Business Courier -20 Oct 2005: -- For the second time in the past four years, Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr. is preparing for a major round of automobile plant closings... Reuters reported that Ford said in a conference call Thursday that the nation's No. 2 automaker will announce "significant plant closings."...
See too: Ford readies downsizing - Downsizing: Job cuts, plant closures coming - The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -October 21, 2005

Increaseds - USA - 65-mph truck speed fuels pike accidents

Study blames 40% increase on new limit

Toledo, OH,USA -Toledo Blade, by DAVID PATCH -Oct 20, 2005: -- Crashes involving commercial vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike increased by 40 percent during the year after the speed limit for trucks and private buses was raised from 55 to 65 miles an hour, even though commercial-vehicle volume grew by just 17 percent during that time, the Ohio Highway Patrol reported yesterday... The study's time frame includes a 25 percent reduction for truck tolls the Ohio Turnpike Commission began in January. Both actions were intended to woo truckers to the turnpike and away from parallel secondary roads... The report contains no data for accidents occurring on those secondary roads since the turnpike changes were made. The highway patrol said that information will be included in a second report to be issued next month... "The data suggest that as truck speeds generally increase, so do passenger-car speeds," Lieutenant Zwayer said. "For whatever reason, most passenger vehicles tend to pass commercial vehicles, and do not want to stay close to commercial vehicles."...

Safety - USA - Truck threat growing

Madison, WI,USA -The Capital Times -(AP Photo) -Oct 20, 2005: -- The tragic accident involving a Chippewa Falls High School bus and a semi on Interstate 94 near Osseo last weekend raises the question once again about truck safety on our highways... The trucking lobby will insist that more accidents involving trucks are caused by the careless drivers of automobiles, but that doesn't escape the fact that trucks and other vehicles have become a lethal mix as congestion grows on our freeways and interstates... Yes, trucks move commerce, and the U.S. economy is mightily dependent on the industry to deliver goods on time and at a reasonable cost... But as the industry grows by leaps and bounds, questions are being raised about everything from driver training to the amount of rest those drivers get during the countless hours they are on the road. Plus, the tractors that pull the trailers have become more powerful and faster. It is not unusual these days to follow a truck roaring 75 miles an hour down a freeway, keeping up with the cars doing the same. If someone makes a mistake, the results are usually tragic... If the current dangerous conditions aren't addressed soon, there will be more and more sad stories to report of horrendous collisions on congested roads. We shouldn't let that happen...

Markets - China - Vehicle sales up 33 percent on-year in September

SHANGHAI,China -The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville, by ELAINE KURTENBACH/AP -Oct 20, 2005: -- China's passenger vehicle sales jumped 33 percent in September over a year earlier, as price cuts helped spur demand, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported... But the 354,000 units of passenger vehicles sold lagged behind production, which totaled 358,200 units, according to data... After lagging earlier in the year, sales have rebounded in most vehicle categories, with purchases of passenger cars up 36 percent against September 2004 at 254,500 units, it said. Sales of multipurpose vehicles, such as minivans, jumped 89 percent to 13,800 units and sales of sport utility vehicles rose 56 percent to 20,700, it said... Detailed sales figures for other types were not given...

Protection - USA - GM not considering bankruptcy filing

DETROIT.Mich,USA - The Detroit News, by Dee-Ann Durbin/AP -Oct 19, 2005: -- General Motors Corp. isn't considering bankruptcy protection as a way to solve its financial troubles, the automaker's chairman and CEO said Wednesday... "As we look at the responsibilities we have to a broad range of constituents, as we look at what we need to do to make the business successful, as we look at our businesses around the world, we think there are significant costs to bankruptcy," Rick Wagoner said. "We don't think it's a good option."... Wagoner also said he and other top executives will see their compensation cut by 40 percent or more this year, deflecting criticism from UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and others that executives aren't making enough sacrifices...

Markets - China - Toyota picks up speed in China, aims for 10% share

Plans to accelerate
SHANGHAI,China -The Detroit News, by Christine Tierney -Oct 19, 2005: -- Methodical progression characterizes Toyota's efforts in the Chinese auto market, which it entered in 2002, long after most of its rivals... But now Toyota is picking up speed in the Chinese market, the world's third-largest with estimated sales of 5.8 million vehicles in 2005. In the next year or so, China is expected to overtake Japan to become the second-biggest market after the United States. By 2010, Toyota aims to more than double its share of the Chinese market to 10 percent... It is the first automaker to announce plans to assemble a gas-electric hybrid car in China... With car prices falling in China as new players enter, including ultra-low-cost local manufacturers, the winners in the long run are likely to be carmakers with the most efficient and low-cost operations, as well as the most appealing products...

Losses - USA - Ford 3Q loss hits $284 million

Automaker's weak third-quarter results could force it to ratchet up aggressive restructuring

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -Oct 20, 2005: -- Ford Motor Co., hurt by weaker SUV demand, lower prices and higher warranty expenses, swung to a third-quarter net loss of $284 million and said it will unveil additional restructuring moves in January. A year ago, the company earned $266 million... Ford's struggling North American operations reported a wider pre-tax loss of $1.2 billion, compared to a loss of $481 million a year ago. And worldwide, Ford's automotive business posted a pre-tax loss of $1.3 billion, compared to a loss of $609 million a year ago... The company blamed lower inventories, unfavorable product mix, falling net prices and higher material costs for the wider loss... Ford said worldwide revenues rose 4.4 percent to $40.9 billion from $39.1 billion...

Production - Italy - Fiat Auto & Suzuki studying production of diesel engines

ROME,Italy -The Detroit News/AP -Oct 20, 2005: -- Fiat Auto SpA said Thursday it was studying the production of diesel engines in Asia for Suzuki Motor Corp. as the Italian automaker continues to seek alliances in efforts to cut costs and revive its fortunes... The Turin-based automaker said it had signed a "letter of intent" with Suzuki providing for the production of 100,000 engines a year starting in 2010...

Contamination - Ecuador - Amazon Indians say Texaco left damage

ESTACION GUANTA, Ecuador -Tri City Herald/AP, by GONZALO SOLANO -Oct 20, 2005: -- About 50 Cofan Indians, some holding handkerchiefs over their faces to fend off an acrid chemical stench, gathered around two contaminated open pits they say were left behind and never adequately cleaned up by the former Texaco Corp. .. A 35-year-old Cofan woman stood near one of the black pools. Nearby was a marsh, covered by a dense layer of crude and toxic waste that the Cofan Indians say seeped into streams and rivers used for drinking water by almost half of their 900 people, driving them from the area... The plaintiffs had sought for years to have the case tried in the United States, fearing they would not receive a fair hearing in Ecuador's notoriously corrupt judicial system. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled in 2002 that the case should be heard in the country where the damage allegedly occurred... The plaintiffs allege that Texaco, which merged with Chevron Corp. in 2001 to become ChevronTexaco Corp., chose to cut costs between 1972 and 1990 by dumping 18.5 billion gallons of oily wastewater brought up by drilling into more than 600 open pits and streams in the Amazon jungle...

Pollution - USA - Trucking Company Is Sued

Ohioans Target Former Local Firm

USA - Hartford Courant, by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS -Oct 19, 2005: -- Fourteen Ohio residents, saying a local landfill and more than a half-dozen trash and trucking companies have endangered their health through hazardous trash fumes, are suing them and a Portland trucking company for allegedly polluting the neighborhood... The Ohioans brought suit in the Court of Common Pleas in Trumbull County, Ohio, on behalf of themselves and as a class action for all those similarly impacted by the dump. They are asking for more than $15,000 in damages for sicknesses they say were caused by the pollution, cleanup of their properties and an injunction to prevent further hazardous dumping... Since February 2002, says the suit, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has received over 800 complaints from residents concerning the contaminants emitted from the dump. Two years ago, according to EPA records, Warren Hills and Warren Recycling agreed to pay a $30,000 civil penalty for violations in emitting methane gas and hydrogen sulfide gas and fumes from fires as well as leaching of pollutants...

Warning - Australia - Trucking firm to downsize

Australia -ABC Online -19 Oct 2005: -- Northern Australia's largest livestock trucking firm is warning industry that it will no longer provide a taxi rank for trade... Road Trains of Australia says it is downsizing because giant livestock export ships have reduced the flow of business... Director of operations Jamie Cooper says it is the first time the company has had to consider deregistering up to half the fleet of 45 road trains across the wet season...

Views - USA - The proof is on the road

Builders, trucking execs share different views on 2007 engines

BOSTON,USA -The Trucker -18 Oct 2005: -- They might be in the same industry, but they were not exactly on the same page when it came to a discussion of 2007 compliant engines... When it came time for a panel discussion at the Oct. 18 afternoon session of the annual American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition here, the manufacturers were on one side of the podium, the trucking companies on the other... In general, the manufacturers expressed optimism that the work they have done to get the 2007 engines ready for market was paying off... The trucking company officials, meanwhile, all expressed concerns about how the new engines, mandated by environmental regulations, would impact their businesses...

Strike - Spain - Fuel protest strike takes out 60% of Spanish trucks

Madrid,Spain -Euronews.net (France) -18 Oct 2005: -- More than half of Spain's lorry drivers have gone on an indefinite strike. They are protesting over high fuel costs and taxes they say make it difficult for them to earn a living... The strike came amid the failure of talks between representatives of the Spanish Goods Transport Confederation and various ministries to try to resolve the situation... The Confederation includes 34,000 companies with 150,000 vehicles, but the second largest hauliers association did not join the strike. The truck drivers' anger centres on petrol prices which are up by 27% this year and the cost of diesel fuel which has increased by 22%... The companies want cuts in social security contributions, a freeze on national fuel taxes and an end to another regional tax they have to pay which is used to finance healthcare...

Tickets - USA - Heavy trucks weigh on N.C. taxpayers

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,USA -News 14 Carolina, by Brittany Morehouse -17 Oct 2005: – Pat Grimes always wanted to drive big semis and now she’s finally doing it... “Seven months I’ve been driving,” she said... Grimes said the hardest part is keeping different state laws straight. And it’s also no fun getting cited when her truck is overweight... Her first citation lists her load as 34,460 pounds, 460 pounds over that particular limit... She said she takes her tickets seriously... “You’ve got to think about safety first, that’s the key right there,” said... Last week the state transportation secretary agreed to work with lawmakers on some of the truck problems, including some of the exemptions granted to overweight trucks...

Production - Russia - Trucks to be assembled in Latvia

Moscow,Russia -RIA Novosti -Oct 17. 2005: -- The Moscow city government and a Latvian company, Ferrus, will set up a joint venture in the Latvian city of Jelgava this year to promote sales of Russian truck giant ZIL in eastern Europe, the Moscow administration said Monday... The company, AMO PLANT, will first establish an assembly line for ZIL trucks...

Charges - Australia - Truckies hot under the axle over price hikes

Melbourne,Victoria,Australia -The Age (subscription), by Philip Hopkins -Oct 18, 2005: -- If coping with rising fuel prices is not bad enough, truckies will now have to cope with higher registration and fuel charges, with big, heavy vehicles facing rises of up to 40 per cent... The Australian Trucking Association has strongly condemned the proposed increases. "Costs will go up even more than they are now. This a double whammy," association chief Chris Althaus said yesterday. "These increases will be passed on."... The proposed charges are the third heavy vehicle price determination since 1992. They are designed to ensure heavy vehicles "pay their way" for road wear and tear... The fee rises and fuel increases would flow directly into higher transport costs... Mr Althaus said long-distance haulers not only faced registration hikes of up to 40 per cent, but were also the biggest users of fuel...

Study - USA - Finds semis pay as little as 40% of the cost to fix damage, ease congestion they cause

Road to Ruin

LANSING,Detroit,MI,USA -The Detroit News by Gary Heinlein -Oct 16, 2005: -- A study by the federal government suggests Michiganians are paying a heavy price for letting trucks that weigh as much as 82 tons drive on state highways... The report, by the Federal Highway Administration, says the heaviest trucks on the nation's roads pay as little as 40 percent of the cost to repair the damage and ease the congestion they cause... As many as 15,000 trucks could be added to the 300,000 on Michigan roads if the state lowers its load limits to 40 tons...

HOS - USA - Wyoming Most Lethal State for Truck Drivers

USA - Consumer Affairs -Oct 19, 2005: -- The most lethal state in the country, measured by truck crash fatalities per 100,000 population, is Wyoming, followed by Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Georgia, according to data released by a coalition of safety groups... Truck crash victims and safety advocates highlighted the dangers posed by tired truckers -- a major source of truck crashes -- and called on Congress to resist pressure from the trucking industry to codify a dangerous rule that permits big rig drivers to stay on the road for too many hours before pulling over to sleep... The safety groups issued a Travelers Alert warning the motoring public about the potential for sharing the road with lethally tired drivers behind the wheel of big rigs... In September, Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, CRASH, P.A.T.T., the Trauma Foundation and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a petition for reconsideration. The 2003 rule has been in effect since January 2004 because the truckers persuaded Congress to extend its life until Oct. 1, 2005... “Large trucks are rolling time bombs on our highways, with tired truckers allowed to work 14 and 16 hours a day under the new DOT rules, making truck driving the most dangerous occupation in America,” Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said...

TechnoNews - Japan - Honda Unveils New Hydrogen FCX Concept Vehicle

Japan -PowerPulse (Corona, CA,USA)/ -Oct 19, 2005: -- Honda Motor Corp., unveiled a new hydrogen-powered, fuel cell concept car that runs on a refueling unit, which also supplies electricity and hot water for the home. The FCX Concept uses the Home Energy Station, which generates hydrogen from natural gas supplied to households. The system refines natural gas to provide the vehicle with hydrogen, which is combined with oxygen to power the car. It can also supply electricity to the home and recover heat during power generation for domestic water heating... The system is expected to halve the total cost of household electricity, gas, and vehicle fuel as well as reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by about 40 percent. The FCX also boasts the lowest floor platform in its class by accommodating its motor, hydrogen tank, and other components vertically...

EcoNews - Japan - Ecological Cars Highlight Tokyo Auto Show

CHIBA, Japan -CBS News/AP -Oct. 19, 2005: -- The overriding message at the Show, is that gas-guzzlers must make way for green cars that pollute less and rely less on shrinking supplies of fossil fuels... a preview of the show's offerings of experimental ecological cars galore, including a vehicle that switches back and forth between an electric motor and a hydrogen-powered engine from Mazda Motor Corp. and a fuel cell small car from Suzuki Motor Corp... Hybrid vehicles deliver a cleaner ride and reduce greenhouse emissions by switching back and forth between different powertrains, such as an electric motor and gasoline engine... Sanyo, estimates annual production of hybrid vehicles may increase to 3 million worldwide by 2010, or 7 percent of the 44 million passenger-car market. Annual hybrid production now totals less than half a million... Toyota Motor Corp., is showing an even more advanced hybrid called Fine-X, which is powered by an electric battery and a pollution-free hydrogen fuel cell... GM is displaying its Sequel fuel-cell concept vehicle...

Recall - Japan - Toyota to fix 1.3 million vehicles sold in Asia

Japan -The Courier-Journal (Louisville,Ky,USA) -Oct 19, 2005: -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s stellar reputation for quality took a drubbing in Japan yesterday with the announcement that it is recalling 1.3 million vehicles because of a faulty light switch on the steering column. It is the biggest recall on record for a Japanese automaker, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said... The recall will affect 16 models including the Vitz compact, Corolla sedan and the RAV4 sport utility vehicle. Most of the recall will affect customers in Japan, but it also will affect 137,000 vehicles exported to other Pacific Rim markets. Toyota said the recall will cost the company roughly $128 million...

Big Loss - USA - GM Announces $15B Health Care Deal

Union Members Must Approve Pact

DETROIT,Mich,USA -The WGAL channel --Oct 17, 2005: -- General Motors has announced a tentative pact with the United Auto Workers aimed at saving on health care costs, which have been a major drag on its operations... Company chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the deal will help GM save $15 billion -- or 25 percent -- on costs for retirees and another $3 billion a year for employees... The agreement is pending approval by workers... GM has been under growing financial pressure because of rising health care costs and slumping sales. Monday morning it reported a quarterly loss of $1.6 billion... Wagoner also said the company is on track to cut 25,000 manufacturing jobs by 2008, a goal that was announced earlier this year...

GreenNews - USA - California air panel mulls rules on idling trucks

SanDiego,CAL,USA -SignOnSanDiego/REUTERS, by Leonard Anderson -Oct 14, 2005: -- California air quality regulators, in another step to reduce vehicle emissions, are weighing new rules to prohibit big-rig trucks with sleeping berths from idling their diesel engines while parked... The California Air Resources Board is due to decide on the rule on Oct. 20. If adopted, California would be the first state to require big sleeper trucks to shut off their engines during layovers, trucking industry officials said... The measure is drawing fire from industry groups and big carriers like privately held Schneider National Inc., which operates about 15,000 tractors and 50,000 trailers on the nation's highways... They say there are no efficient auxiliary power supplies currently available for sleeper trucks and a no-idling rule could threaten the safety of drivers who need to rest...

Checking - India - Special drive to check overloading of iron ore

Mangalore,India -Business Standard -Oct 18, 2005: -- In a special drive undertaken to check overloading of lorries carrying iron ore fines, regional transport officers along with a team of officers from the transport commissioner’s office, Bangalore, inspected 1,785 vehicles and seized nine vehicles during September 23 to 30... As many as 342 cases have been registered. They also collected a fine of Rs 7.20 lakh during the drive... Between April to September 22, the department had checked 6,803 trucks, registered 773 cases and seized 42 vehicles for overloading...

Protest - Greece - Drivers of trucks transporting fuel

Athens,Greece -Kathimerini, by MARIA MAROGIANNI/ANA -14 Oct 2005: -- Drivers of trucks transporting fuel gather to protest at the Development Ministry in Athens yesterday against the state’s new measures aimed at curbing illegal fuel trade. The government has put into action a plan aimed at stamping out Greece’s illegal fuel industry, which is estimated to cost the state billions of euros in lost tax revenues... They also called a 24-hour-strike starting today, the first day that heating oil will be distributed for the winter period. Heating oil is expected to go on sale for between 58 and 60 cents per liter...

Recall - USA - Nissan recalling minivans over seat adjustment problem

WASHINGTON,DC,USA -WSVN-TV/AP -17 Oct 2005: -- Nissan Motor Co. said Monday it will recall more than 100,000 minivans because of problems with a seat adjustment mechanism that could cause a finger injury... The automaker said the recall affects 109,437 Quest minivans from the 2004-2006 model years... Someone adjusting the second row seat in the vehicle could have their finger pinched when moving the metal mechanism, Nissan said...

Business - USA - Wheeling & dealing

Indianapolis, IN,USA -indystar, by Dana Knight -Oct 17, 2005: -- Business uses its clout to steer smaller trucking companies toward vendor discounts usually reserved for larger fleets... A business-to-business company called TruckersB2B, owned by Indianapolis-based truckload carrier Celadon Group, has leveled the purchasing playing field for small to medium-size trucking companies... With more than 3,000 fleets of its own, Celadon is using its trucking muscle and relationships with vendors to forge partnerships that allow smaller companies the buying power of a large fleet. The average member of TruckersB2B has 22 trucks... Members receive discounts and rebates on items including fuel, tires, retreads and trailers if they use member vendors. Among TruckersB2B partners are companies such as Pilot Travel Centers, Michelin, Goodyear, Prophesy and Fleet One...

Business - USA - Trucking shortage causing hassles for local firms

Greensboro, NC,USA -The Business Journal, by Michelle Cater Rash -Oct 14, 2005: -- The Triad's trucking and logistics industry, a hub for the Southeast, has been struggling lately to fullfil client orders to get goods to market... While a scarcity of drivers and rising gas prices have created a tight trucking market for months, industry experts say Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have made matters worse, with federal relief agencies paying top dollar for trucks so they can ship supplies to the Gulf Coast... To make matters worse, increased demand, combined with increased fuel costs, is pushing up trucking costs. That in turn is forcing some smaller trucking companies out of business, because they can no longer afford to operate... Most freight brokerages -- companies like Epes Logistics that match customers with available truck space -- depend on small trucking companies. The disappearance of these firms has created a gap in the local trucking market... But right now, the biggest reason for the trucking problem may be Mother Nature. After both hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency hired hundreds of trucks to haul supplies to the Gulf Coast. Trucking industry sources say FEMA actually pays more for the use of trucks than private industry, so many companies have eagerly made trucks available...

New Rules - USA - Commercial drivers face tighter law

Pittsburgh,PEN,USA -Pittsburghlive, by Tamara Simpson -Oct 17, 2005: -- A new federal law may make it harder for drivers to get and keep a commercial license... The law changes the processes for applying for a license, sanctioning drivers convicted of traffic offenses and recording such offenses... The original act describes two types of offenses -- major and serious. Major offenses could result in lifetime suspension while serious offenses have to accumulate before a driver temporarily is banned from operating a commercial vehicle... But under the new regulations, it's easier for drivers to rack up disqualifications, for two reasons... Offenses committed in a personal vehicle carry over to a driver's commercial license and so do convictions in other states... Drivers who violate the law could end up with lengthy driving bans and steep fines. The bans vary from 60 days to life depending on the type and number of offenses... For example, two serious offenses committed within a three-year period will result in a two-month driving ban. Three offenses in the same period will yield a four-month ban... Drivers will be banned for a year for one major offense and a lifetime for two... Some examples of major offenses are driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, leaving the scene of an accident, using a vehicle to commit a felony or causing a fatality through the negligent operation of a commercial vehicle. Fines usually will accompany driving bans. Runk said lawmakers increased the fines for drivers and employers. Some fines have spiked from $500 to $2,750...

Strike - Spain - Truckers go on strike

New Zealand -The New Zealand Herald -Oct 18 2005: -- Spanish trucking firms, angry at soaring fuel costs, decided yesterday on an indefinite national strike after last-minute talks with the Government failed to reach agreement, state radio said. The transport firms want concessions from the Government on fuel taxes and other costs. The strike has been called by the Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport, which controls 60 per cent of the market. The second-largest employers' group said it would not join the strike...

Changes - USA - New trucking industry leader says changes needed

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., USA -waff48News -17 Oct 2005: -- As the American Trucking Association's new chairman starting tomorrow, U-S express executive Patrick Quinn says he will be talking about truck-only toll lanes and the possibility of parking big rigs during rush hours... The Chattanooga trucking executive says if there are not going to be more roads, congestion has to be relieved somehow... Quinn says 68 percent of the nation's economy is hauled by trucks and by 2016, the demand is growing and we're headed for national gridlock... and added, there has been talk of trying truck-only toll lanes on a trial basis on Interstate 81 in Virginia. He says new sleep break restrictions on drivers pose a problem for parking trucks during rush hours...

Good News - USA - Auto sector leads in investment

Michigan number two State
Detroit,Mich,USA - CrainsDetroit.com, by Tom Henderson -Oct 17, 2005: -- Amid the doom and gloom in the auto industry following Delphi Corp.’s bankruptcy filing, there was good news for the region. The auto sector led the U.S. in major capital-investment projects begun in 2004, and Michigan ranked second only to Texas in new-project valuation... Sector projects totaled $14.5 billion. Projects in Michigan were valued at $6.5 billion and involved more than 32,000 new jobs. Ernst & Young did not release the list of projects, but said the largest project in Michigan was one of about $300 million at the Trenton Engine Plant, for a new V6 engine line and a redesigned V6 engine line, both to be used in future Chrysler Group cars... More than two-thirds of the capital expenditures planned for Michigan were auto-related, said the study...

Serious - USA - Ford, GM sales screech to a halt as value pricing strategy replaces employee pricing

DETROIT,Mich,USA -Automotive News, by JAMIE LAREAU -17 Oct 2005: -- Two weeks into a move to value pricing by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, vehicle sales have collapsed and panic is settling in among dealers... "We're all very, very worried," says Bob Fusco, president of Roslyn Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Roslyn, N.Y. "It's about as serious as it can be." ... Fusco, chairman of the 650-store Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, says, "I've been in business 24 years, and I don't believe I've ever seen it this slow."...

Losses - USA - GM reports 1.6 billion-dollar loss

Reorganization including some 25,000 job cuts and plant closings

DETROIT,Mich, USA -Yahoo News/AFP -Oct 17, 2005: -- General Motors reported a 1.6 billion-dollar loss in the third quarter as the world's biggest automaker took a hit from slipping US market share and Hurricane Katrina... The announcement came as GM unveiled a major reorganization including some 25,000 job cuts, plant closings and a deal with the US-based United Auto Workers' to cut billions of dollars in health care costs... The big drag on GM's results came from GM North America, which posted a loss of 1.6 billion dollars in the quarter, due to "lower production volumes, continued increases in health care costs, higher material costs, and a shift in vehicle mix away from full-sized sport utility vehicles."...

Cuts - China - VW to cut costs at mainland ventures

Beijing,China -Beijing Time, by Zhu Yanyan & Jin Jinge -18 Oct 2005: -- German auto giant Volkswagen AG announced a restructuring program that will suspend expansion and start massive cost reductions at its Chinese mainland operations... Volkswagen has been losing ground to an influx of rival automakers... Volkswagen plans to reduce costs up to 40 percent by increasing local procurement of raw materials... The company also said it would cease expanding capacity on the mainland through 2008. The capacity of its two ventures stands at 450,000 units annually...

Sells - USA - GM considering sale of controlling stake in financing division

DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News/AP, by Dee-Ann Durbin -Oct 17, 2005: -- General Motors Corp. said Monday it is considering selling a controlling interest in its profitable finance arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp., despite the boost GMAC is giving to the struggling automaker's bottom line... GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the decision to sell was driven by GMAC's credit rating, which was downgraded along with GM to junk status earlier this year. A rating below investment grade makes it harder for GMAC to borrow money... GM will spend several months selecting a strategic partner who would buy a stake of more than 50 percent, Wagoner said...

Sales - USA - October in Deep Freeze

USA - The Car Connection -17 Oct 2005: -- Sales of new cars and trucks have dropped substantially across the board during the first part of October as carmakers reduced incentives for the start of a new model year and consumer confidence declined... The Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power and Associates, estimated that new-vehicle sales were down 33 percent in the first nine days compared with the same period a year ago, and down 44 percent compared with the first nine days of September... The biggest declines came at General Motors, where sales fell 57 percent and at Ford Motor Co., where sales were down 45 percent. The seven major import automakers, including DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Hyundai, also reported sales declines... "The aftermath of the employee pricing programs is having a dramatic impact," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power. "A lot could happen between now and the end of the month, but at this point, we're on track for an October like we haven't seen since the early 1990s."...

Security - USA - Some Trucking Companies Leave Themselves Open To Attacks

Undercover Investigation Found Some Lots Secure, Others Had No Security

DENVER,CO,USA -The Denver Channel -Oct 14, 2005 -- According to the 9-11 commission, surface transportation is an area that remains quite vulnerable because it's so accessible and extensive... 7NEWS reporter Hendrik Sybrandy looked into how the trucking industry may be leaving itself wide open. He visited about a dozen trucking companies in the Denver area. Some of them were secured, but not all... And with terrorists eager to exploit the country's weaknesses, Forbes said it's a problem that needs to be addressed. New regulations will force trucking companies to tighten security in the years ahead, but the changes won't come overnight... Just this summer, the FBI warned of a possible Al Qaeda attack involving fuel trucks. Fortunately, that never happened, but trucks remain an area of concern...

Infraestructure - USA - New Truck Lane Designs May Save Billions of Dollars

Ferndale,WA,USA -Emediawire (press release) -Oct 14, 2005: -- Each year, billions of dollars are spent on U.S. road construction and pavement replacement costs. Although large and heavy trucks are vital to the economy, they account for significant and accelerated pavement usage. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data reveals that seventy-five percent of all large truck fatalities occur in two lanes while 0.5% of these traffic fatality collisions occur in single lanes. In order to improve safety on our nation’s highway infrastructure, ESRA Consulting Corporation, introduces several new and innovative patents-pending truck lane designs... Existing lane reconfiguration appears to be a more economical approach. However, these need to include mechanisms for detecting overweight vehicle travel in addition to directing truck traffic flow. The ESRA truck lane designs include special sensors and automation devices that seem relatively simple and usable. Such designs allow the states and the federal governments the option to target and fine the illegally overweight trucks, rather than assess a fee to every truck that drives in the truck only lanes...

Production - S.Africa - Scania's export sales by more than 400%

Heavy-Duty Visitor
Johannesburg, S.Africa -Business Day -Oct 13, 2005: -- SCANIA is celebrating its 10th anniversary in S.A. this year... initially entered in 1995 with a view to establishing a wholly-owned assembly plant in Elandsfontein, east of Johannesburg... From 1995 to 1997 a number of branches were established around the country... expanding its local operations, Scania established its Aeroton branch, south-west of Johannesburg, followed by branches in Cape Town, Durban and Kimberley... Recently, Richard's Bay and Bloemfontein branches were added, together with a second Gauteng branch on the East Rand... In 2000 Scania established a bus assembly plant in Polokwane in Limpopo... Just a year later launched a strategy whereby a hub was created in Johannesburg for the supply of trucks, buses, engines and spare parts to neighbouring countries. The countries identified as part of this plan were Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, the southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique... Since 2001 Scania achieved an upturn in export sales by more than 400% and became SA's number one exporter of heavy duty trucks and buses...

Bonds - China - The first Chinese automaker to issue short-term finance bonds

China Heavy-Duty Truck floats short-term bonds

Singapore -Auto Asia (subscription) -12 Oct 2005: -- China Heavy-Duty Vehicle Corporation has floated short-term finance bonds with a nominal value of a billion yuan (USD123.6 million) on the national interbank bond market, becoming the first Chinese automaker to issue short-term finance bonds after new regulations promulgated by the People's Bank of China took effect in May this year...

Hitching? - Australia - Trucking industry rejects Nullarbor hitchhike calls

Australia -ABC -13 Oct 2005: -- Western Australia's trucking industry says it is unrealistic to expect drivers to stop for people hitching for a ride across the Nullarbor... The only bus service which ran across the long stretch of road has been cancelled, due to a lack of passenger numbers and rising fuel costs... But truckies will not be stopping for anybody... "Now, most companies have policies in place that prevent the drivers from picking up the passengers and also the insurance companies don't want unknown people in the cab of the vehicle, so I think it will be far less likely than in decades gone by that people will be picking up hitchhikers on the side of the road," Debra Goostrey, chief executive officer of the Road Transport Forum said...

Justice - USA - Trucking Firm Wins Key Decision in Bankruptcy Court

POUGHKEEPSIE,NY,USA - Layover/Akron,PA-The Times Herald-Record/Middletown, New York -Oct. 12, 2005: -- A trucking company without trucks, especially if it's in financial trouble, is a dead trucking company... So it was good for Cloverleaf Transportation Inc. that a bankruptcy judge yesterday found in its favor against a leasing company eager to get its trucks back... Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia Morris decided that an Aug. 8 fax from Moretran Leasing Corp. of Saddle Brook, N.J., was insufficient to cancel the contracts for 17 trucks Cloverleaf leases...

Sales - Sweden - Volvo's Renault Trucks Received Order from World Bank

GOTEBORG, Sweden -PRIMEZONE -Oct. 13, 2005: -- AB Volvo's subsidiary Renault Trucks has received an order from the World Bank for 280 Renault Kerax construction trucks. The trucks will be used in the rebuilding of the cities and villages in the heavily earthquake-damaged Bam region in Iran... The order from the World Bank, which was signed in mid-September, is for 200 Renault Kerax 6x4 and 80 Renault Kerax 4x2 trucks, all equipped with tippers. Deliveries are scheduled for February through June 2006...

Specialties - Australia - Volvo Trucks Brings Aussie Aeropower Closer to the Action

Brisbane,Australia -TNN/UK -13 Oct 2005: -- Australia's vast distances, harsh climate and isolated communities present major challenges for companies delivering vital services like electricity... To help in this environment, Volvo Trucks is playing an essential role in helping to construct, inspect and maintain power transmission lines with a uniquely specified and constructed truck... The Volvo 380hp FM9 is being used by Aeropower, a Brisbane based company, as a mobile helicopter landing and maintenance facility to assist in the aerial survey and maintenance of high voltage power transmission lines by providing not only a safer, elevated landing platform for its helicopter crew, but also fuel, water and maintenance provisions to maximise operating efficiency in the field...

Markets - Germany - Competitors See European Truck Market Stagnating on Oil

Germany -Bloomberg, by Jeremy van Loon/NY,USA -Oct. 13, 2005: -- MAN AG, Scania AB and European competitors expect demand for new commercial vehicles to stagnate in the region next year as fuel prices remain near an all-time high, leading to losses and bankruptcies for truck buyers, executives said... To counter the lack of growth in Europe, truckmakers are expanding into eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East where demand is growing faster. MAN plans a ``simpler'' model for both Eastern Europe and Asia. Stuttgart, Germany-based DaimlerChrysler is sharing parts among its Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Mitsubishi-Fuso brands to lower costs...

Experiment - USA - Off-hour port operations ease traffic

CA,USA -Inside Bay Area -14 Oct 2005: -- When a cargo container is unloaded at the Port of Oakland and moved onto the back of an 18-wheel truck, that cargo container becomes a Bay Area commuter, with a fairly predictable timetable. There's a high concentration of them during the day and during the week. The thousands of cargo containers that come from the port have a profound effect on Bay Area commutes... Now the port has begun experimenting with off-hour operations at one of its terminals, keeping one of its eight terminals open from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., making it a so-called night gate... The Oakland International Container Terminal, which handles exports only, is the largest terminal, the hub of about 2,500 daily truck trips. Port officials are hoping about 15 percent of that traffic will move to the later hours...

EcoNews - USA - Port of Los Angeles Announces Shift Toward Air Quality

Improvement Initiatives Powered by Natural Gas, Electricity and Alternative Fuels

SAN PEDRO, Calif.,USA -BUSINESS WIRE -Oct. 12, 2005 -- $20 Million in current budget year funding will now be used for purchasing non-diesel line haul trucks and cargo handling equipment... Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioners today were briefed on a new plan to repurpose two of the Port's major air quality improvement initiatives in pursuit of purchasing road haul trucks and in-port cargo handling equipment that run on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric power and other alternative fuel sources (as available), such as hydrogen fuel cells and bio fuels...

Secutity II - USA - INL Homeland Security Award

Pocatello,ID,USA -NBC/KPVI -Oct 11, 2005: -- Over the past two years, scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory have been perfecting an explosive detection system for use at home and abroad... The system and its inventors just received a homeland security award in Washington D.C. on Monday... The Christopher Columbus fellowship foundation honors cutting-edge innovations that make contributions in the area of homeland security... The system uses high-energy neutrons to determine the presence of explosives hidden in cargo trucks that enter buildings and military bases...

Security - USA - OSI Systems gets order for screeners

HAWTHORNE, Calif.,USA -Business Week/AP -Oct 12, 2005: -- Rapiscan Systems, a division of security and medical monitoring company OSI Systems Inc., said Wednesday that it received a $6.6 million order from the federal government for screening equipment... The undisclosed government agency ordered multiple Rapiscan Gamma Radiographic Detection Systems for use in screening trucks, cargo containers and vehicles at border crossings. The Rapiscan system screens for weapons, explosives, weapons of mass destruction, drugs and undeclared goods, the company said...

Engines - USA - Cummins and Dongfeng Motor Co. to Develop New Heavy-Duty Engine Platform in China

COLUMBUS, Ind.,USA -The Auto Channel -Oct. 14, 2005: -- Dongfeng Cummins Engine Company, a 50-50 joint venture of Cummins Inc. and Dongfeng Motor Company, has begun development of a 13-liter heavy-duty truck engine designed to serve the high-end of the truck market in China... The fully electronic engine, which is expected to be ready for production in 2009, will feature a power range from 400 to 545 horsepower and is designed to be used in heavy-duty trucks above 40 tons gross weight... The engine will take advantage of Cummins industry-leading technology that will make it capable of meeting future emission standards in global Heavy Duty markets...

Insurance - USA - Truckings' loophole may be difficult to close

Hartford,CON,USA-WTNG/AP, Oct. 14, 2005: -- Insurance officials say there is no easy fix to a loophole that allows commercial trucking companies to operate without liability insurance... Insurance companies cover commercial vehicle fleets differently than every-day drivers and cannot begin notifying the Department of Motor Vehicles whenever a liability policy lapses... State lawmakers are hoping to change state law during a special session this month or next requiring insurers to notify the DMV. But lawmakers are being told that the issue is too complicated and may require more study...

Testing - USA - In shift, DHS chooses cluster plan for Customs system tests

Washington DC,USA -Government Computer News, by Wilson P. Dizard III -14 Oct 2005: -- The Homeland Security Department’s Customs and Border Protection agency has decided to expand testing of its automated manifest system for trucks crossing the border in clusters around the country, in a measured approach to rolling out a key part of the massive Automated Commercial Environment virtual border system. CBP said it chose the cluster strategy to boost efficiency and centralize training. The agency added that the test would later be expanded to include ACE’s commercial trucking participants at all land border ports, and eventually will include all modes of transportation. CBP said in a Federal Register notice issued today that it had chosen to expand the truck manifest test system from its initial pilot site of Blaine, Wash., to seven ports in Michigan this month...

Recalls - USA - Toyota recalls Prius

Detroit,Mich,USA -Detroit Free Pres -Oct 14, 2005: -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it is recalling 75,000 Prius gas-electric hybrid cars because their engines can stall due to an electrical problem... Involved in the recall are some 2004 and early 2005 model year cars. They've a gas engine as well as a battery-powered electric motor that can run separately or together to save fuel... In affected vehicles, dashboard warning lights might come on and the gasoline engine shuts down. The vehicle's electric motor continues operating in a limited capacity, so drivers can steer to the side of the road. The gasoline engine might start working again if the driver restarts the vehicle...

Moving - USA - Ford names its first female executive vice president in its 102-year history

Detroit,Mich,USA -Detroit Free Press/AP, by Dee-Ann Durbin -14 Oct 2005: -- Ford Motor Co. named its first female executive vice president in its 102-year history, as part of a series of moves to boost flagging North American operations... Anne Stevens, 56, was named executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Americas, a new job that makes her one of the highest-ranking women in the auto industry... She previously was Ford's group vice president of Canada, Mexico and South America, and joined the company in 1990... Stevens will be in charge of product development, manufacturing and purchasing in the Americas...

Scandals II - USA - New SEC Chairman, Christopher Cox, brands Royal Dutch Shell reserves debacle a European "fraud"

Another one .... On a par with the Enron and WorldCom ... and sum...

USA -mondaq(subscription)/ShellNews.net/by Alfred Donovan -11 Oct 2005: --- Burson-Marsteller wins Royal Dutch Shell Plc global PR account: triumph or poisoned chalice?... In view of recent reports about its new client, Burson-Marsteller may be wondering if it has been handed a poisoned chalice... 11 out of a 15 member Board of Directors of the new unified company Royal Dutch Shell Plc are tainted by what the incoming Chairman of the US Securities & Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, has branded as a fraud (the Shell reserves debacle)... He has described the fraud as being on a par with the Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, Tyco, Vivendi and Parmalat scandals... Aad Jabobs, (non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, his deputy Lord Kerr (the senior independent Director), Jeroen van der Veer (CEO), Malcolm Brinded (Executive Director for Exploration and Production), Rob Routs (Executive Director, Oil Products and Chemicals), plus non-executive directors, Maarten van den Bergh, Sir Peter Burt, Sir Peter Job, Wim Kok, Jonkheer Aarnout Loudon and Lawrence Ricciardi, are ALL tainted by the reserves fraud... All are named Defendants in a US Class Action lawsuit brought by the UNITE National Retirement Fund and the Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund... The suit accuses Shell executives of breach of duties to shareholders, abuse of control, mismanagement, fraud and unjust enrichment...

HOS - USA - Revised hours-of-service regs started Oct. 1

USA - Land Line Magazine - Oct 2005: -- In spite of petitions for reconsideration, the revised hours of service went into effect Oct. 1... Along with that implementation, truckers will now have to navigate changes to the sleeper-berth provision to meet the 10-hour off-duty requirement... Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Annette Sandberg announced the revised hours-of-service regulations Aug. 19... In the revised rules, off-duty time can be split four different ways:
- 10 consecutive hours of sleeper-berth time;
- 10 consecutive hours of off-duty time;
- A combination of 10 consecutive hours of sleeper-berth and off-duty time; or
- 10 hours of off-duty time by combining two separate periods of sleeper-berth or off-duty time that total at least 10 hours.
As of Oct. 1, if truckers choose to the fourth option, one period must be at least eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth... The second period must be at least two, but less than 10, in the sleeper berth, off-duty time or both. The second period may be taken either in or out of the sleeper berth. However, the trick here is the two-hour portion of the split does not stop the 14-hour on-duty clock... These changes to the hours-of-service regulations have generated three major petitions asking that the regs be reconsidered and further revised... And, ATA was scrambling at the last minute, asking Congress for a delay in the implementation of the rules, but that did not happen...

Strike - S.Korea - Restive truck drivers walk off their jobs

Seoul, S. Korea -JoongAng Ilbo English News -Oct 14, 2005: -- A dump truck drivers' association representing 4,000 haulers walked off the job yesterday, demanding the government subsidy promised to truckers last year and a change to load limits they say cut into their livelihoods... The drivers of concrete mixer trucks may join the walkout; their union proposed a partial strike beginning Oct. 20... The freight truckers' association will vote Monday and Tuesday on its own strike to demand better working conditions and fuel subsidies from the government... A ministry official said, "It is not easy for us to come up with a good solution because an oversupply of trucks and oil price hikes make truckers' lives difficult." ...

Justice II - USA - Truck driver who falsely obtained license sentenced

CHICAGO,Ill,USA -wavy -13 Oct 2005: -- A truck driver whose accident in Tennessee killed a Virginia family of four has been sentenced to prison for lying to a grand jury about how he obtained his license... Forty-six-year-old Nasko Nazov of Downers Grove, Illinois was sentenced yesterday to ten months in prison and two years of supervised release... Nazov admitted that he falsely claimed to live in Wisconsin when he applied for a commercial trucking license in 2003... Prosecutors say Nazov still faces reckless homicide charges in Tennessee...

Taxes - Costa Rica - Nicaragua Imposes Tax on Tico Truckers

Costa Rica -Inside Costa Rica -13 Oct 2005: -- Although Nicaragua denies it, the revival of a 20% tax on Costa Rican truckers is related to the conflict between Costa Rican and Nicaragua over navigation righs of the San Juan river... Costa Rican drivers are understandably upset because the duty is being levied on their trucks and not those of the other Central American countries that pass through Nicaragua... Costa Rican imposes a similar tax of 8.5% tax to all foreign truckers...

Justice - New Zealand - Trucking boss pressured drivers to work excessive hours

New Zealand - stuff.co.nz -14 Oct 2005: -- A former trucking company manager who pressured his drivers to work excessive hours pleaded guilty today to criminal nuisance... The charge against Garry Malcolm Belsham in New Plymouth District Court followed the death of a driver four years ago... Frederick Turereao Gillies, 56, had driven his milk tanker 15 hours with less than three hours rest when he crashed and died in Taranaki at 10.30pm on September 24, 2001... Truckies are legally allowed to drive 11 hours each day, with a rest break after five hours at the latest... Belsham, manager of Hamilton's Shuttle Tankers (Bulk) Ltd at the time, now lives in New Plymouth and no longer works for the company... He escaped jail but was given 200 hours' community work and ordered to pay $5000 to Mr Gillies' family...

Bankruptcy - USA - New Law

Bankruptcy filings surge as law looms - Mass. debtors seek protection before complex, costly change

Boston,Mass,USA -The Boston Globe, by Robert Gavin -Oct 13, 2005: -- Struggling debtors are rushing to file for bankruptcy before Monday, when a new law that makes it more complex and costly to gain protection from creditors goes into effect... In the first 11 days of October, more than 2,500 new bankruptcy cases were filed in Massachusetts, compared to 464 during the same period a year ago, according to the clerk's office at US Bankruptcy Court in Boston. More than 1,000 new cases were filed over the long Columbus Day weekend alone... The new law, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in April, represents the first major overhaul of the bankruptcy code in more than a quarter-century. Pushed by banks, credit-card companies, and retailers, the changes make it harder for higher-income families -- in Massachusetts, a family of four with income of $85,000 or above -- to wipe out debts through bankruptcy; require debtors to seek credit and financial counseling, for which debtors have to pay; and boost filing fees...

Impressive - USA - Say hello to the world’s biggest production pickup truck

USA -Four Wheeler, by Ken Brubaker. Photography: Ken Brubaker -13 Oct 2005: -- Jaws dropped when International Truck and Engine trotted out the enormous CXT four-wheel-drive pickup last fall. Even jaded truck people were astonished by the sheer size of the testosterone-oozing machine. Instantly, International cemented bragging rights that they now manufacture the world’s biggest production pickup truck. There’s no doubt that this semi with a pickup bed casts a domineering shadow over even the tallest street-legal four-wheel-drive rigs.

Heritage? - Italy - A scandal at Fiat

NY,USA -GrandPrix.com -Oct 13, 2005: -- The Fiat empire has suffered a series of humiliations in recent years as the company has struggled to compete in the super-competitive automotive world. The empire, which includes Ferrari, is currently headed by former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who was called by the Agnelli Family in after the death of Umberto Agnelli in May last year. The original plan was for the empire to come under the control of Umberto's nephew Giovanni Alberto (the son of Gianni Agnelli - the man who led the firm from 1966 until his death in January 2004) but he died of a rare cancer in 1997. Agnelli's son Edoardo never seemed likely to take the role and committed suicide five years ago by jumping off a motorway viaduct. This left the family with no-one to run the empire and so Montezemolo was appointed and the process began to groom John and Lapo Elkann (the sons of Agnelli's daughter Margherita)... The more dashing of the two was Lapo, vice-president of the company, in charge of brand management. He has been in the spotlight recently as Fiat tries to rebuild its image and increase its sales... Alas, the 28-year-old was rushed to hospital earlier this week after an apparent drug overdose in an apartment owned by a 50-year-old transsexual in the back streets of Turin...

Tests - UK - M42 Lorry ban

The acid test

UK -Google Groups/uk.rec.driving, uk.transport, by Conor -10 Oct 2005: -- Day one of the overtaking ban on the M42... SUCCESS...as long as you weren't in a car... End result summed up nicely by one Trucknet post: "Came back up the M42 from Cardiff this evening, all trucks in lane one, all cars in lane two, lane one running fine, lane two one long queue of cars all bunched up stop/go/stop/go" ... CHEERS Mr.H. Agency. That's one problem solved for us at rush hour... Wonder how long it'll be before they come to the same conclusion as they did in Newport with the overtaking ban on the M4...
Somehow I don't think the car drivers have the brains to get the point and it'll still be our fault...

Scheme - Holland - Govt to pay Motorists to leave cars at home

UK - Google Groups/uk.rec.driving, uk.transport, by Conor/Transport News Network.-11 Oct 2005: -- The Dutch government plans to establish a pilot scheme under which 1,000 motorists will be rewarded for leaving their cars at home during the morning peak hours... Selected car owners will be paid between ¤$2 and ¤$5 not to use their vehicles on the A12 motorway between Zoetermeer and The Hague from 7am and 9am. Some of the volunteers may receive a navigation system as a reward... The Department of Waterways and Public Work said last Friday that the trial will begin in the first half of 2006 and will cost ¤$300,000... A similar experiment will be carried out on the northern ring around Amsterdam... A special chip will be placed in the car to monitor whether the motorist is using it secretly to get to work... If the trial is successful, the government will consider introducing the reward system on a nationwide basis to cut traffic jams...

Taxes - UK - Foreign hauliers tax plan to fund lorry park

Kent,UK - Kent On Line, by Paul Francis -13 Oct 2005: -- Foreign hauliers could be forced to pay a special tax to help fund a lorry park near the M20 in Kent... Under a radical plan, county transport chiefs say a levy on the three million foreign lorries crossing the channel each year could pay for the construction of a lorry park to ease the problems caused when Operation Stack is implemented... Kent County Council says it wants talks with transport ministers and treasury officials to discuss if a lorry park tax, that could be added on to the price of ferry or shuttle tickets, would be viable... Operation Stack has been activated 18 times this year and has left Kent Police with an overtime bill of £123,000...

Jobs Advice - USA - For a begining trucks' driver

Tema: Good Starting Company?
Question: Just graduated from school...whats a good company to go with?

USA - Google Groups/misc.transport.trucking, by tscottme -5 Oct 2005: -- This is like asking "who is a good person to marry" or "what is a good meal to eat." A good company for me; won't go OTR for multiple weeks, pet must be allowed, no reefer or flatbed, weekly pay via direct depost, terminal near my house, etc., etc. might be perfectly unsuitable for you... You need to be able to choose between companies in light of your priorities... Some priorities would include a strong desire to work in or to avoid certain areas/regions. A strong desire to haul or avoid types of freight with or without driver load/unload. Another priority would be pay and benefits and possiblity of them allowing riders. Some drivers wouldn't haul Hooter's waitresses for a $1,000 per day if they had to drive one type of truck or another. Some drivers might not even know what make of engine is in their truck... It's my impression that new drivers grossly underestimate the importance of home-time whenlooking for their first job. If you are married or have kids, this is an even more important factor to consider... Your best options often happen if you are fortunate to live near an intersection of major interstate highways... Avoid Swift unless you personally know a long-time Swift driver and that driver is happy... Ditto CR England. If their work culture is compatible I would consider Schneider National. If you can fit in they will provide you with a good work routine and good training... The truth is that you may not know until you have begun working as a driver what factors are important and which factors you find are less important -- (NP: Many Thanks to...) Scott

TechnoNews - USA - Fuel Cell Vehicles

How They Work
USA - WebReport U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -Oct 2005: -- PEM fuel cells are the center of an integrated propulsion system-one that is radically different from conventional vehicle systems. The diagram below shows the basic components of a hydrogen-fueled FCV. Roll your mouse over each of the components in the diagram below to learn more (see: EPA's)... FCVs like the one above use pure hydrogen as fuel, stored onboard the vehicle in highly pressurized tanks. Other FCVs are designed to use a liquid fuel such as gasoline or methanol, which is stored in a conventional, non-pressurized tank. FCVs using these fuels also need a reformer-a fuel processor that breaks down the fuel into hydrogen for the fuel cell, carbon dioxide, and water. Although this process generates carbon dioxide, it produces much less than the amount generated by gasoline-powered vehicles... Fuel cell vehicles can also be equipped with regenerative braking systems that capture the energy usually lost during braking and store it in an up-sized battery...

TechnoNews - USA - Energy Efficiency

Save Energy
USA - EPA WebReport - Oct 25005: -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report that: Only about 15% of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank gets used to move your car down the road or run useful accessories, such as air conditioning. The rest of the energy is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies and idling. Therefore, the potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced technologies is enormous...

Save - USA - EPA Releases Fuel Economy for 2006

USA - The Car Connection - 13 Oct 2005 >:-] ... Japan's Big Two, VW and Ford are the big winners in the 2006 fuel-economy race, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)... The EPA says that, once again, Honda's Insight hybrid is the most fuel-efficient vehicle on the market at 60/66 mpg city/hwy. Toyota's Prius ranked second at 60/51 mpg, with VW's diesels and Ford's Escape Hybrid rounding out the list. Of note: Toyota's Corolla, which made it into the top ten most efficient vehicles list as the only non-hybrid gas-powered vehicle. Class-topping vehicles include the Escape Hybrid; Ford's Ranger; Pontiac's Vibe and Toyota's Matrix; the Honda Odyssey; and GMC's cargo vans. On the worst lists: Dodge's Ram and Durango, as well as various supercars from Ferrari and Bentley.

Study - USA - Owner Satisfaction With Class 8 Trucks Declines

As Fuel Economy Dips Below Six Miles per Gallon

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.,USA -PRNewswire -Oct. 12. 2005: -- Kenworth ranks highest in customer satisfaction for three segments: over-the-road, pickup and delivery, as well as for dealer service, while Volvo improves to rank highest for the vocational segment, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Heavy-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study... Now in its 10th year, the study includes responses from 2,429 primary maintainers of two-year-old Class 8 heavy-duty trucks. The study focuses on smaller fleets and owner/operators with an average fleet size of 53 trucks at a single location. The study also measures satisfaction with services received from an authorized truck dealer's service department... Kenworth ranks highest in the over-the-road segment, with particularly high satisfaction scores in the quality, engine, and sleeper factors. Kenworth also ranks highest in the pickup and delivery segment, receiving the top scores for all six factors that drive customer satisfaction... Volvo Trucks of North America ranks highest in customer satisfaction in the vocational segment. Volvo leads the vocational segment in the factors for quality, ride/handling/braking and interior... Kenworth ranks highest in dealer service, receiving particularly high ratings from customers in six of the seven factors that drive customer satisfaction: dealer attitude, dealer facility, service delivery, service initiation, service advisor and price. Peterbilt, which closely follows Kenworth in the service ranking, receives strong scores for service quality and service advisor...

Awards - USA - Schneider Logistics Names Barr-Nunn Carrier of the Year

USA -TruckingInfo -11 Oct 2005: -- Barr-Nunn Transportation has been named Carrier of the Year for a second year in a row by Schneider Logistics... On its web site, Barr-Nunn thanked its employees, saying, "It’s a special honor to be chosen as Carrier of the Year by such a preeminent company as Schneider Logistics, a recognized leader in providing integrated supply chain solutions. We draw on our strong network of transportation providers"...

Business - China - Schneider National, Trek Moving Into China

Green Bay,Wis,USA -wfrv/CBS 5 -Oct 12, 2005: -- The logistics unit of Schneider National has opened an office in Shanghai... The Green Bay company wants to build its consulting business in the growing market and manage movement of freight from China to the U-S... Schneider is one of the largest trucking companies in the U-S. Among its major customers is Wal-Mart, a huge importer from China...

Purchases - USA - Kerkorian Raises Stake in General Motors

DETROIT,Mich,USA -Daily Press/AP, by DEE-ANN DURBIN -Oct 12, 2005: -- Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has increased his stake in General Motors Corp. to nearly 10 percent, according to a company filing released Wednesday... Kerkorian acquired 2.1 million shares of GM common stock on the open market Tuesday, the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. The average purchase price for the shares was $26.98 per share, for a total purchase price of approximately $56 million... Tracinda is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., Kerkorian is the former owner of movie maker MGM and has a history of wrestling with automakers. He sued DaimlerChrysler AG after the merger between Chrysler Corp. and Daimler-Benz AG, saying the deal cost him millions because it wasn't a true merger of equals... Kerkorian may see GM as a prime target for a turnaround effort. The world's largest automaker, based in Detroit, watched its U.S. market share fall by 1 percent in the first nine months of this year. It lost more than $1.3 billion in the first half of this year and its credit ratings are in "junk" territory...

Settlement - USA - Bridgestone Firestone to Pay Ford $240 Million for Tire Recall

NASHVILLE, Tenn.,USA -kcbs/AP, by ROSE FRENCH -12 Oct 2005: -- Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire has agreed to pay $240 million to Ford Motor Co. to settle claims related to the tiremaker's 2000 recall of defective tires... Bridgestone Firestone, the North American unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., and Ford reached a settlement that will help cover the costs of the automaker's 2001 tire-replacement program, which followed the tire recall, said Saul Solomon, vice president and general counsel of Nashville-based Bridgestone Firestone...

Sales - China - Shanghai GM Sept sedan sales 31,719 units

Top seller in China for 6th month

BEIJING,China -Forbes/AFX (USA)/, by Derek Jiang/Xinhua Finance -12 Oct 2005: -- Shanghai GM, General Motors Corp's flagship China joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., said it sold 31,719 sedans in September, compared with 25,000 units in August and 29,500 units in July... The company said on its official website that the sales figure is number one in China. It has been leading the market since April... Statistics released earlier this year by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, show that Shanghai GM sold 252,109 sedans last year...

Production - India - New Firm to Assemble Trucks

Pithampur(Madya Pradesh,India -All Africa/The Nation(Nairobi, Kenya), by Geoffrey Irungu -Oct 11, 2005: -- The manufacturing facility of Elcher Motors is located in Pithampur(Madya Pradesh). The plant houses some top-of-the-line equipments, a robust infrastructure and has an annual production capacity of 30,000 vehicles... In India, Eicher Motors introduced the Canter six-tonne truck in collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. The trucks and buses it has been manufacturing range from five to 16 tonnes with 30 per cent market share in the 6-11-tonne segment (light trucks)... In the nine-tonne category, Eicher Motors has 50 per cent market share with over 300 authorised spares outlets in India...

Markets - Australia - Truck remains buoyant

Truck sales are showing little sign of softening in the face of high fuel prices

Australia -Australasian Transport News (subscription) -11 Oct 2005: -- According to the latest statistical data — which is featured on the ATN website for subscribers — the overall total sales look to be on course for a second consecutive year exceeding 30,000 vehicle sales... In the heavy duty sector Kenworth continue their domination at 22.7 percent of the total market... There is a strong battle looming for second place, seems to be developing between Volvo, Mack and Isuzu... Iveco and Freightliner are drifting off the pace a little as their market share decreases this month... Elsewhere, Isuzu look like returning as number one in the light truck segment after coming second to Hino for the last two years... It is still a tight race to the finishing line for the two competitors with a margin of only 87 trucks the difference... The introduction of the new N Series by Isuzu looks to have given it a welcome boost in the light duty market... Mercedes Benz has the jump on Ford in van sales for September with a massive 159 sales putting them just three units ahead fot the year...

Training Program - USA - Schneider National Shifts to Simulation-Based Training for its 15,500 Driver Fleet

Nation's Largest Trucking Company Gives Driver a Makeover

GREEN BAY, Wis.,USA -BUSINESS WIRE -Oct. 11, 2005: -- Schneider National Inc., a premier provider of transportation, logistics and related services, announced today that it will dramatically transform its driver training program over the next two years, incorporating MPRI's motion-based driver training simulator to better prepare drivers for situations on the road... MPRI, with offices around the world, is a global leader in the supply of ground vehicle and maritime simulation products and services as well as critical incident management and emergency response solutions... The shift makes Schneider National the largest, and one of the first, truckload carriers in the industry to incorporate simulation-based training fleet-wide...

Plan - Australia - Keep left on Vic roads under proposed

Australia -Supply Chain Review -10 Oct 2005: -- Trucks could be restricted to the left lane of highways in Victoria under traffic management systems being examined by VicRoads... VicRoads has confirmed it is examining European examples of trucks being forced to use the left lane to improve freight efficiency and traffic flow... Ted Vincent, VicRoads General Manager of Traffic and Transport Integration, says VicRoads will develop a communications plan prior to the introduction of the trial... "If this can be done in the coming months, the trial could be up and running early next year but our priority is to resolve the issues thoroughly, rather than quickly,"...

Rules - Australia - C&E laws cynical departure, say ATA

Australia -Supply Chain Review -10 Oct 2005: -- The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has again raised concerns over the compliance and enforcement laws, in particular the lack of access to a responsible steps defence for breaches other than at a minor level for drivers and operators... The ATA say it has supported the development of new laws, now implemented in Victoria and New South Wales with other states to follow, that recognise the role and responsibilities of off-road parties... ATA notes that the discussion paper released by Queensland Transport of the incorporation of the C&E model into Queensland law will allow access to a reasonable steps defence by drivers and operators for all levels of breach...

Jobs - USA - Truck driver shortage grows more acute

SEATTLE,Wash,USA -SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, by BRAD WONG Oct 10, 2005: -- A shortage of qualified drivers, largely in the long-haul market, is pinching the industry -- and raising the possibility of delayed goods and higher shipping costs... As cargo volumes at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma skyrocket because more and more imports are pouring in from Asian factories, a truck-driver shortage in Washington is becoming more acute. "Motor carriers are telling us every day that they have trucks parked up against the fence because of a lack of drivers," said Jim Tutton, vice president of Washington Trucking Associations, which represents 950 companies... To keep up with demand, Tutton estimates, the state will need about 10,000 to 15,000 new drivers in the next five years... But a trucker's life can be demanding and the pay isn't all that good, which is the main reason for the dearth of drivers... Long-haul schedules can require as much as a third of a driver's time away from home. For many truckers, pay is only given for miles driven and not for time spent waiting for paperwork to clear and cargo to be loaded... While average pay in the statewide trucking industry has increased 31 percent since 1995, that amount is about $37,000 per year, according to the state Department of Employment Security...

Study - USA - Overweight trucks cause $130 million a year in damage

Charlotte,NC,USA -The Dispacht Charlotte Observer/AP -Oct 07. 2005: -- Damage from overweight trucks cost North Carolina taxpayers nearly $130 million a year, according to a study by the state Department of Transportation... The study prepared by Judith Corley-Lay, the head of DOT's Pavement Management Unit, is the department's first attempt to see how much trucks that exceed the 80,000-pound limit cost in additional road maintenance. It relied on data gathered by the DOT for federal pavement studies... Gov. Mike Easley encouraged him to reduce damage caused by overweight trucks. He said Thursday he would work with lawmakers to eliminate some exemptions that allow overweight trucks to legally travel the roads...

Production - Canada - Toyota Breaks Ground in Woodstock

WOODSTOCK, Ontario, Canada -PRNewswire-FirstCall -Oct. 11 2005: -- Canadian PrimeMinister Paul Martin, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Toyota MotorCorporation President Katsuaki Watanabe and Toyota MotorManufacturing Canada (TMMC) President Ray Tanguay, broke ground today at thefuture site of a new Toyota plant... This will be the first new "greenfield" automotive plant in Canada in nearly 20 years... Announced in June, the Woodstock plant will be managed by TMMC inCambridge. It opens in 2008 and represents a CDN$800 million/US$650 millioninvestment. It will have the capacity to build 100,000 units annually of thenext-generation Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle and will employ 1,300 teammembers... "Our job here in Woodstock is to make this the best plant in the world bybeing environmentally friendly, efficient and producing the highest qualityvehicles," Tanguay said...

Changing Times - USA - There was a time when a job in an auto plant ....... Not anymore.

WJR Auto Report: Change in Detroit

USA - The Car Connection -12 Oct 2005: -- There's an old saying, "the only constant is change." And folks in Detroit better get used to the idea, whether they're designing cars, building them or running entire car companies. Few can ignore that fact anymore, not after Delphi, the world's largest automotive supplier, declared bankruptcy... There was a time when a job in an auto plant meant a well-paying, reasonably secure job. Not anymore. Not when manufacturers have to compete in a global economy... Things used to be even better if you worked on the white collar side, where pay was good, benefits better, and lifetime employment was all but guaranteed. These days, even management jobs are up for grabs. And that's going to be true all the way up to the most senior levels. The big challenge for Detroit is to learn how to operate in this increasingly lean environment. The Japanese competition has shown it can work. But: will the Big Three be able to apply that lesson at home?

GreenNews - USA - Truck stop offers an alternative choice of fuel

Statesville,NC,USA -Statesville Record & Landmark, by Anna Kaplan -Oct 8, 2005: -- Homer Prevette and Bob Brawley, owner and manager, respectively, of Homer’s Truck Stop on Stamey Farm Road, are working to make the station a center for alternative fuels and environmentally friendly choices for truckers and other motorists... They offer E85 and B20 fuels, which are an ethanol and gasoline mixture and a soy-based biodiesel, respectively. Soon, they will also offer IdleAire services, which provide electricity and telecommunication services to trucks so they don’t have to idle for long periods of time... But the appeal of IdleAire and alternative fuels goes beyond truckers... “There are two classes of people doing this,” Brawley said. “There are the educated people who are concerned about the environment, and the working class people looking for price.”...

History - USA - Jimmy Hoffa

The day Jimmy Hoffa didn't come home

Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Pat Zacharias -11 Oct 2005: -- The name alone stirs strong emotions and opinions. Was he a visionary union hero or brutal despot? Was he a labor crusader or a criminal?... On July 30, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa left his Lake Orion home for a meeting. Paroled from federal prison three years earlier, the former Teamster president had recently announced plans to try to wrestle back control of the union he had built with his bare knuckles from his protege -- now adversary -- Frank Fitzsimmons... Anthony Giacalone, a reputed captain of organized crime in Detroit, was supposed to meet Hoffa that day... Jimmy told his wife Josephine he would be home around 4 p.m. to grill streaks for dinner. After 39 years of marriage, she knew Jimmy would not be late... Witnesses saw him waiting in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in upscale Bloomfield Township. He never made it home...

Awards - USA - High-mileage man

Trucker logs 4 million accident-free miles

Meridian, MS ,USA -The Meridian Star, by Brian Kern -Oct 10, 2005: -- Four million road miles on American highways without an accident is a feat not many drivers have accomplished... Elwin T. ”Slim“ Pickens is one of 16 drivers in Roadway Express' 75-year history who've achieved the much-heralded, combined milestone of safety and distance... Roadway Express assigns them a "personal" truck... After 42 years of driving, Pickens said he may be ready to finally take his hands off the wheel...

Learning - USA -Students get trucker's-eye view

In 2004, 1,162 people were killed in traffic accidents in Ohio
MANSFIELD,OH,USA -Central Ohio News Journal, by Mark Caudill -11 Oct 2005: -- Chris Brady knows to be especially careful when driving near a tractor-trailer. He and the rest of his class from the Lew Petit Driving School took part in Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day... The Richland County Safe Communities Coalition teamed up with the American Trucking Association, local law enforcement and a professional truck driver to present lifesaving highway driving tips... Randy Broderick of America's Road Team, an elite group of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers, invited the class to sit in a tractor-trailer in the parking lot at West Park Shopping Center to gain a truck driver's perspective...

Bankruptcies II - USA - Corporate bankruptcies rise

Kane County,Ill,USA -Kane County Chronicle, by TOM BECKER/Bloomberg News -11 Oct 2005: -- Business bankruptcies rose almost 20 percent at the busiest U.S. courts last quarter as companies such as Delphi Corp. and Northwest Airlines Inc. sought protection from creditors before a new law will force them to accelerate reorganization plans... "Anybody that is thinking about filing a bankruptcy case would be crazy not to take advantage of the old law," said Kenneth Klee, a partner at Klee Tuchin Bogdanoff & Stern in Los Angeles who teaches business bankruptcy at the Univers ity of California at Los Angeles Law School...

You too? - Korea - Companies Keep Moving Factories Out of Country

Seoul,Korea -The Korea Times, by Kim Jae-kyoung -11 Oct 2005: -- A growing number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are leaving the country or relocating abroad due to high labor costs, land prices and other adverse factors in the business environment here... The exodus, mostly heading to China, has been accelerating the hollowing-out of the local manufacturing industry, contracting the local job market and weakening the nation's economic growth potential... According to a report submitted by the government to the National Assembly, the number of SMEs that relocated their headquarters or plants abroad since 1999 totaled 9,779, the report said... The SME sector has been the basis for economic growth, playing a major role in boosting the manufacturing sector by supporting large enterprises. But many SMEs faced difficulties over the past year, hit by the stronger won and high oil prices...

GreenNews - Germany - Automakers look to turbochargers

To help reduce emissions, maintain performance
MUNICH, Germany -AutoWeek, by WIM OUDE WEERNINK -8 Oct 2005: -- European carmakers and suppliers see gasoline turbochargers as another weapon in the battle to reduce emissions... By introducing turbochargers, automakers can offer smaller-displacement engines that consume less fuel and offer similar or better performance than today's comparable powerplants... Suppliers are still exploring whether new variable turbos will need particle filters and enhanced nitrogen oxide-reducing catalytic converters because of the high working temperatures of small turbo engines...

Bankruptcy - USA - Big Automakers May Be Saved By Filings

USA -Forbes, by Tom Van Riper -11 Oct 2005: -- Are General Motors and Ford Motor on the brink of becoming the next United Air and Delta Air Lines, the nation's legacy airlines --struggling with bloated pensions, tough-nut unions and high fuel costs-- learned the hard way that bankruptcy protection was the only realistic option to keep flying while they restructure?... America's big car companies, they're suffering from bloated pensions (including astronomical healthcare costs), tough unions and high fuel costs. They've had to resort to heavy discounting, including "employee price" specials, so that products would continue to move quickly enough to keep factories running... The pressure is mounting more quickly on GM, which just had its debt downgraded further into junk status by Standard & Poor's, helping to trigger a 10% selloff in the automaker's share price... Credit Suisse First Boston's analyst Christopher Ceraso said in a report that like the airlines, bankruptcy is what could potentially save the domestic automakers, but not before enormous losses for shareholders and employees... University of Maryland business professor Peter Morici, says the end of employee-price discounts will likely drop sales to about 4 million vehicles a year from 4.5 million, putting yet more pressure on the company's financial obligations. "GM is on a path to bankruptcy within five years," said... Also Bank of America auto analyst Ronald Tadross said in a report that the UAW's tough stance should "get GM to more seriously consider bankruptcy protection"... Tadross dropped his price target for GM all the way down to $18 a share from $32, while dropping his rating to "sell" from "neutral"... He set the odds of the company declaring bankruptcy at 30%, compared to 10% before the Delphi bankruptcy, estimating that the supplier's filing would add at least $6 a share to GM's retirement liabilities...

Answers - USA - QUESTION: What's a supplier?

ANSWER: A company that sells something to an automaker. Suppliers provide an enormous number of diverse products, from brakes to telephone service.

Detroit,Mich,USA -Detroit Free Press, by By Mark Phelan -Oct 10, 2005: ---
Q: Why do they matter?
A: Automakers could not build vehicles without suppliers. Suppliers produce parts that account for more than 70% of the value of the vehicles Chrysler builds, for instance. They also develop a lot of the new technologies car companies use to attract buyers, like antilock brakes and air bags. More than one-third of the 50 biggest companies in Michigan are automotive suppliers, and suppliers employ many thousands of people in the state and hundreds of thousands around the world.
Q: Why are automakers so dependent on these outside companies?
A: Because they can't be experts in every technology, and they get better prices and access to more new ideas by working with independent suppliers. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler used to build nearly all their parts themselves. The inefficiency of doing that led to their cars costing too much and having second-rate technology.
Q: First Visteon, now Delphi. Are all the suppliers in trouble?
A: No. It's mostly the big U.S.-based suppliers, because they depend heavily on GM and Ford for business and have heavy retiree costs. In addition to building fewer vehicles, Ford and GM often insist their suppliers lower the price they charge for parts in each year of a contract... There are many large suppliers that are profitable, for example American Axle, Borg Warner, Robert Bosch GmbH and Denso Corp...

Bankruptcy - USA - Delphi Move Could Force Industry Changes

USA - The Press Democrat/AP, by DEE-ANN DURBIN -Oct 10, 2005: -- Delphi Corp.'s bankruptcy could change the face of the U.S. auto industry, ratcheting up the pressure to produce cheaper auto parts overseas and forcing unprecedented cuts in union wages and benefits, industry analysts and autoworkers said Sunday... Delphi, the largest U.S. auto supplier, filed for bankruptcy Saturday and is expected to slash jobs and wages and close many of its 31 U.S. plants as part of its reorganization... General Motors Corp., Delphi's largest customer and former parent, said it might have to assume up to $11 billion in retirement benefits for Delphi's union-represented employees... James McTevia, a restructuring expert who is representing Delphi suppliers in the bankruptcy proceedings, said Delphi could set a new model for the entire industry by scaling back its hourly work force and its U.S. manufacturing capacity and giving lower wages and benefits to the workers that remain... "North America, Michigan and Detroit are no longer going to be the auto capitals of the world. The auto capital of the world is going global," McTevia said.

Study - USA - Total Value Study Puts Toyota , GM At Top

USA - The Car Connection - 10 Oct 2005: -- The tenth annual Strategic Vision Total Value Study released today shows that Toyota, GM and Honda are atop consumers' rankings in an annual look at which cars, trucks, and crossovers consumers perceive to give the best value for the dollar... Toyota ranked atop seven categories, spread out among cars and trucks nearly evenly... General Motors also placed highly in the survey, with four first-place winners among the categories... Ford ranked atop just one category, in comparison, while Chrysler had no first-place finishers in the survey... Honda was the top-rated, full-line carmaker with four vehicles topping their segments, while BMW also ranked atop four categories when the MINI brand is included... In one particular total-value metric, fuel economy, MINI and Scion were rated the top brands, while HUMMER and Land Rover were put at the bottom of the list... The Total Value Study surveyed over 69,000 2005 new-vehicle buyers who purchased their vehicles during the October 2004 to March 2005 time period. Buyers were asked an extensive array of questions about their complete ownership experience including buying, owning, and driving their new vehicles. They were then asked about factors related to their economic experiences and expectations (e.g., price paid, fuel economy, reliability and resale value)...

Trade - Philipines - Ford Group Phils. expects exports to hit $500 M in 2005

Manila,Philip. -The Manila Bulletin On Line, by BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT -8 Oct 2005: -- Ford Group Philippines expects its exports to reach $500 million this year from $455 million last year as it geared up production by doubling work shifts since last month at its plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna... Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. President Henry Co said the company’s exports were further boosted with the entry of Mazda into its group... With Mazda, the Ford Motor Group in the country is now exporting four models Ford Escape and Focus and Mazda models Tribute and Mazda 3 on completely built-up basis to five ASEAN markets, namely: Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia... It is also exporting to Vietnam on completely knocked down basis...

Recall - USA - Chrysler recalling about 583,000 vehicles

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.,USA -boston.com/news -Oct 7, 2005: -- DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said Friday that it would voluntarily recall about 300,000 vehicles with a potential defect that could prevent the driver from placing the transmission in "park"... Chrysler spokesman Max Gates said that a plug inside the transmission may be missing or improperly staked, potentially preventing the driver from placing the shifter in the "park" position. No accidents or injuries have been associated with the possible defect, he said...

Safety - USA - Ford questions industry effort on truck-car crashes

Officials: Automakersought end to talks

Louisville,KY,USA - The Courier Journal, by Jayne O'Donnell/USA TODAY -Oct 7, 2005: -- For three years, the auto industry has struggled to come up with ways to reduce the risks that trucks pose to cars in crashes... Collisions between the two types of vehicles often injure or kill car passengers because trucks are bigger... But Ford Motor Co. recently has sought to disband industry efforts to set voluntary standards for how automakers can reduce deaths and injuries, according to three automaker officials involved in the talks... The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents most top automakers, announced in 2003 that the industry had agreed to make the front ends of trucks and cars line up so collisions between the two would be less deadly...

Suspicious - Germany - Prosecutors launch probe against VW's former personnel chief

BRUNSWICK, Germany -AFP -Oct 7, 2005: -- Public prosecutors said that Peter Hartz, the former human resources chief of German car giant Volkswagen, was under investigation on suspicion of possible breach of trust in the bribery and corruption scandal at Europe's biggest car maker... Hartz's offices at VW had been searched and potential evidence seized... Hartz, who has strenuously denied any wrongdowing, resigned in July as the scandal at the car maker snowballed... Some reports alleged that the money had been used to pay for council members' pleasure trips to Brazil, stays in luxury hotels and even for visits to prostitutes... One of Hartz's co-workers, Klaus-Joachim Gebauer, who was in charge of organising the trips, is already being investigated by prosecutors for allegations of fraud and abuse of trust...

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31.10.05