PLUS

It’s all about priorities   By William E. Davis
There’s been a lot of talk about the Obama Administration finally getting behind a long-term federal highway program, with an extra $50 billion in spending to prime the pump, but talk is cheap…the priorities of the spending plan are the most important thing and we got a preview of those priorities recently.  

Update on new tax law  By Glenn Gelman, Glenn M. Gelman and Assoc.
September 27th, President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The new law allows a 50-percent first-year bonus depreciation option, but it only extends through December 31, 2010 (just a few months left). The law is retroactive to January 1, 2010.

AND MORE!

A Cat by any other name…
There’s been quite the furor over a couple of widely published pictures of the much anticipated Cat branded truck that is a product of the Caterpillar/Navistar NC2 deal. The pictures show a yellow and a black painted tractor and the caption says one is for sale in Australia, the other in North America. The astounding thing is that they were on the Internet within hours, I got the information from Australia – naturally – and then from the
United Kingdom, Canada, the U.S., industry colleagues – you name it.

So let’s get one thing straight from the
start: There’s a lot of interest in what the Cat truck will be. Another thing to remember is that most likely both trucks pictured were built in the NC2 plant in Australia – an old
Cat plant that once built motor graders. And finally, the trucks, which are based on International’s ProStar cab, are over-the-road trucks and are right-hand drive, will undoubtedly be for sale in Australia – not here in the United States.

The NC2 agreement gives Caterpillar access to privately branded trucks to sell in all
markets around the world and represents a major opportunity for both Cat and Navistar.
These are the first to be seen in public with the Cat branding.

What we’ll get here
The trucks that are likely to be sold here will be based on International’s PayStar –
what we oldsters recognize as the 5000-Series with the old aluminum cab. Engines are
promised to be the 13 liter (and maybe even the 11-liter) International MaxxForce diesels
to EPA 2010 emissions certification. The engines are derived from the German MAN
D20 antecedents and the MaxxForce15, which is based on Cat C15 iron. All engines have
Navistar-designed top ends and are reported to be all cooled exhaust gas recirculation technology to meet EPA 2010.

The trucks for North America will almost certainly be sourced from Garland, Texas,
where Navistar builds the on-/off-highway International PayStar. Interestingly, if you go
to the Navistar website for this model, the downloadable brochure still refers to the
truck as the 5000-Series! Cat dealers are eagerly awaiting the trucks to get back some of the trucking service business that was lost when Cat pulled out of the highway engine market in 2008. Navistar dealers, meanwhile, are furious that their OEM is building competitive trucks that are merely badge-engineered 5000-Series units to be sold by Cat equipment dealers, which will be able to offer a one-stop shop to Cat equipment
customers.

But it won’t all be smooth sailing. The MaxxForce 15 was promised for October this
year and the word from a recent analysts press event at the Navistar engine plant in
Huntsville, Ala., is that this engine is not ready yet. Even the 13-liter MaxxForce, which is the white hope for the International-branded over-the-road trucks appears to be having its
share of difficulties getting from the end of the production line and into the hands of
dealers. Comments from the Navistar leadership indicate there are thousands of completed
MaxxForce engine equipped trucks in a build-and-hold status while quality issues are dealt with.

You have to congratulate the Australians. At least they have managed to build a couple
of trucks and let them out of captivity, at least long enough for an enterprising photographer to catch these images.

By Steve Sturgess, consultant, speaker and writer in the heavy-duty trucking industry.