New Light & Medium Duty News

[fuzzymoomoo]

Ive seen one transit ambulance. Long frame tall body.

[rmc523]

Ive seen one transit ambulance. Long frame tall body.

 

I think I've seen one as well.

[twintornados]

I saw a Transit full size chassis cab with an open bed service body on it and ladder racks....similar to this picture but not as big....closer to a T-250 size with single rear wheel.

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by twintornados

[7Mary3]

http://www.autonews.com/article/20180726/MOBILITY/180729807/daimler-mercedes-mobility-reorganization

[twintornados]

http://www.autonews.com/article/20180726/MOBILITY/180729807/daimler-mercedes-mobility-reorganization

.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-daimler-results-restructuring/daimler-to-split-business-into-cars-trucks-mobility-units-idUSKBN1KG1FK

 

So, Ford does it, everyone is up in arms....Daimler does it, it's all good....

[7Mary3]

.

So, Ford does it, everyone is up in arms....Daimler does it, it's all good....

 

It's a different scenario. Ford gave up on their heavy truck business, Daimler's is so strong they are spinning it off into it's own corporation.

[twintornados]

 

It's a different scenario. Ford gave up on their heavy truck business, Daimler's is so strong they are spinning it off into it's own corporation.

.

I was referring to their autonomous unit....

[Bob Rosadini]

Check this out;

Ford Trucks Press Release / July 27, 2018

Our "heavy" trademark, Ford Trucks, held a ceremony at our global commercial truck R&D center in Istanbul, Turkey, where we developed an all-new tractor specifically designed to be the new leader in international long-haul transport.

Over a five-year period, some 1,200 Ford Otosan engineers went to work creating a cutting edge new heavy truck capable of meeting and exceeding the demands and expectations of both Turkish and global market customers.

Ford Trucks' new heavy truck delivers high performance with a 13-litre 500 horsepower engine, while the 2.5-meter wide cabin width and advanced technologies focused on providing the comfort of home to long-haul operators, features that will redefine the standards in the premium heavy truck segment.

The official launch of the new truck will take place at the international IAA commercial vehicle show in Hanover, Germany in September.

"Our engineering and production capability is our strength to stand out in the global competition", said Ford Otosan General Manager Heydar Yenigün.

"In 2010, Ford Trucks took its first step in returning to the world stage with a true global market heavy truck platform", said Yenigün. "In Turkey, the Ford Truck brand completed the establishment of a world class dealer network. At the same time, we began establishing and strengthening the Ford Trucks brand in international markets. In addition to the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, we continued our growth with the opening of dealers in Eastern Europe. Today, Ford Trucks is operating in 40 countries around the world, with that number rising to 50 countries by the end of 2020."

Ford Trucks' global growth strategy and competitiveness, our willingness to continuously invest in cutting edge R&D and production capabilities enables us to stand out from the competition.

Proprietary design is one of our strengths. With the new Ford Cargo, Ford component content has reached 89 percent.

Ford Otosan's proprietary 13-litre "Ecotorq" powertrain, developed in 2016 at a cost of US$100 million, reflects Ford Trucks competence to move to the next level.

Our new "big block" Ecotorq engine is already gaining the appreciation of customers in Europe with its impressive performance and low fuel consumption.

The truck's drive axle, which entered production in 2015, was developed by Ford Trucks engineers.

This year at a cost of $57.8 million, Ford Trucks began development of a proprietary automated manual transmission (AMT). Development is scheduled for completion in 2019, allowing us to use our own transmissions from 2020. With our own proprietary transmission, our Ford Trucks content rate will rise even further.

We have not only invested in new product, but also in our testing and production facilities. Ford Trucks opened a European level heavy truck test center adjacent to our Inönü, Turkey plant. Now, most testing previously done in Europe can now be carried out in our own facilities.

We have also upgraded our paint shop with the latest technologies, at a cost of US$17.5 million.

In addition, we improved production efficiency with a new cab production line utilizing the latest global manufacturing processes.

"In the long haul segment, Ford Trucks has been a proven leader for decades", said Yenigün, saying: "Our continuous product and plant investments have rewarded us with a leadership position. With the launch of the 2016 model year, our redesigned series of vocational trucks became indispensable in Turkey's rising construction sector. From the largest projects to the toughest construction site conditions, we have become the truck of choice throughout Turkey with a 39 percent market share"

In the Turkish domestic truck market, our overall market share has reached an all-time high of 17 percent, and that number continues to rise.

Ford Trucks goal is to become a global leader in both the long-haul and vocational segments. In September, we will introduce our new heavy truck range to the world at the Hanover international IAA commercial vehicle show in Germany, which reflects the depth of our international growth strategy.

We have launched more than 60 dealers and service points in Russia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe in preparation for our new heavy truck launch. Our slogan, “Ford Trucks and You – Sharing the Load", sends a clear message to our customers that we understand their needs and work demands.

Ford Cargo launched in Turkey among seven European brands. Today, Ford Trucks aims to become a so-called European brand with an all-new world class product.

Ford Trucks Deputy general manager Serhan Turfan said the new Ford Cargo is all about comfort, efficiency and technology. "We have reimagined every detail. Our new truck is a success with the strength and performance of tests in very demanding climatic and terrain conditions. The modern design language, based on prestige and power of our new tractor, offers a combination of professionalism and innovation. Comfort, efficiency and technology are the most important features of our product. Our new cabin, reaching 2.5 meters wide, promises users the comfort and freshness they need on a long road. With its 500 horsepower engine, our new heavy truck brings new levels of efficiency to the transport industry. The appeal of Ford Trucks, our ability to deliver improved fuel economy, and lower maintenance costs and operating expenses, will greatly reduce the cost of ownership. And importantly, we focused on future technologies. With "ConnecTruck", we enable customers to integrate their tools, customers and the entire outside world. With map-assisted speed control, multimedia system, and new technologies supporting both driver convenience and fleet managers, Ford Trucks will be viewed as an optimized product for maximum profitability."

.

1200 engineers! I wonder what the pay rate is in Turkey!

[tbone]

How do you achieve the following without competing in the USA, a very large heavy truck market?

 

Ford Trucks goal is to become a global leader in both the long-haul and vocational segments.

 

Is this a suttle hint there could be a run at the US without directly saying so?

[Bob Rosadini]

How do you achieve the following without competing in the USA, a very large heavy truck market?

 

Ford Trucks goal is to become a global leader in both the long-haul and vocational segments.

 

Is this a suttle hint there could be a run at the US without directly saying so?

Well I would start to believe it when I see evidence of these 9-13 liter engines showing up here and when I see the Turks come up with a heavy conventional. Supposedly the Turkish operation is the home of Ford's world wide heavy truck engineering. We just don't seem to be a part of that world.

 

And 1200 engineers? How about it some of you old time Ford insiders-when HN-80 was created, how many engineers were involved in that effort? My bet is the "1200 engineers" goes down to guys working on the assembly line.

 

Hope I'm wrong and we will at least see a serious effort to get back in the vocational class 7 and baby 8 market in a serious way.

[7Mary3]

On one hand, it's nice to see that Ford is at least somewhat involved in the world heavy truck market. On the other, I just wish it wasn't through a joint venture with a company located in a hostile country holding Americans hostage.

 

At some point, if conditions do not improve, I think Ford will reevaluate their business in that part of the world:

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-07-27/turkey-is-in-a-vicious-cocktail-so-avoid-its-assets-goldman-says-video

[tbone]

Yes, I dont disagree. Things are not stable there. Since Erdogans crackdown, things have become more treacherous there.

[Bob Rosadini]

Agree with the concerns about the political climate in Turkey. Then again, I often think about the huge investments Ford, Navistar, Daimler etc etc have made in places like Mexico.

Never been there but I get nervous when I hear comments like.."well that plant is not located in a volatile region of the country".. Okay-not "volatile"..... TODAY!

 

And is our huge commitment to China any safer in the long term?

[Bob Rosadini]

Didnt Ford have an in-house hydraulic hybrid system they were testing some time ago that is similar to this? I was surprised it never materialized as I thought the concept was good. Perhaps Ford was working with this company back then, but I dont recall.

My memory says they were working with Parker-Hannafin-maybe wrong but that is the name that comes to mind

[Bob Rosadini]

Update..latest HDT mag shows Hino ahead of Ford in class 7, Ford way ahead of Hino in class 6 coming in second after Freightliner. Freightliner must be afraid the boys in the northwest logging corner would go bonkers if they dropped Western Star with only YTD sales of a mere 2284 units! Ford manages to eke out a win over Ram in class 3 thru 5. One thing I've noticed is that every class 4 or 5 flatbed tow ruck is a Ram!! I haven't seen any other brand!

Joe- Look at YTD numbers-Hino seems to me is trending upward. And I think their entry into class 8 is going to just ad to the positive feeling buyers have about them.

 

I've seen a few rollbacks on the new SuperDuty chassis. Around here it is a pretty even split Ford and Ram for class 3-5

Big Jerr- Dan distributor is near me-looks like a fairly even mix of Dodge-Ford when it comes to class 4-5 Boom lifts. As for roll backs I would say Hino seems to be the predominant chassis that goes through this place. See some 550's and 650's as well as a mix of Internationals and F'liners

 

Class 4/5 is going to get tougher, the new Chevy medium duty is well priced and GM has gone out of their way to make the truck 'upfit friendly'. Same will hold true for the International version. Still, it's a big market and I expect Ford to have a large share even with 2 additional competitors.

 

Something I have noticed is that in my area most of the ambulances/light rescue squads are Ram 5500's, and they are being fitted with aftermarket full air suspension on the rear axle. That's an expensive upfit, and the new Chevy will offer rear air suspension as a factory option.

 

Don't worry, Western Star is going nowhere. Ever priced one of those things?

For sure the competition has gone up a notch. As for the ambulance market, I see more new Ford 450/550's but Dodge is becoming more visible. Boston EMS was big into the previous generation GM's, then when GM pulled the plug on those, International took over for a while-but all the new ones are Fords. I did see the news footage of one of the California school shootings and I see what you mean out there-lot was full of Mopars.

 

Not sure fi your comment on Western Star was a positive or negative. I will say more and more dealers around here are stocking heavy WS tandem and triaxle chassis for the construction/logger markets. Don't hear anything but good comments about them.

[rmc523]

Someone posted these over at FIN:

 

[akirby]

Is that the new SVT model???

[twintornados]

Someone posted these over at FIN:

 

 

.

Man, I wish Ford would bring that over and/or build that here....game changer for sure, it would put Class 8 on its ear.....

Edited July 30, 2018 by twintornados

[rmc523]

.

Man, I wish Ford would bring that over and/or build that here....game changer for sure, it would put Class 8 on its ear.....

 

Haha, paint it red and put it in a Transformers movie :P

[Sevensecondsuv]

.

Man, I wish Ford would bring that over and/or build that here....game changer for sure, it would put Class 8 on its ear.....

What makes you do sure of that? 20 years ago cab-over tractors were a common enough sight on the interstates, but nowadays you rarely see them. I don't drive over the road for a living, but those that do (or at least the fleet buyers/managers anyways) definitely seem to prefer the conventional cab setup.

[hwyman3]

 

For sure the competition has gone up a notch. As for the ambulance market, I see more new Ford 450/550's but Dodge is becoming more visible. Boston EMS was big into the previous generation GM's, then when GM pulled the plug on those, International took over for a while-but all the new ones are Fords. I did see the news footage of one of the California school shootings and I see what you mean out there-lot was full of Mopars.

 

 

 

 

City of Baltimore was getting Internationals, then went to Ford, the last couple of years they have gone to Rams.

[hwyman3]

What makes you do sure of that? 20 years ago cab-over tractors were a common enough sight on the interstates, but nowadays you rarely see them. I don't drive over the road for a living, but those that do (or at least the fleet buyers/managers anyways) definitely seem to prefer the conventional cab setup.

 

 

One of the big reasons for Cabovers years ago was due to maximum vehicle length laws. Once those were relaxed, that pretty much spelled the death of cabovers in the US

[bzcat]

Someone posted these over at FIN:

 

 

The current C-series for comparison purpose.

 

 

And the rebadged JMC version

 

[351cid]

What makes you do sure of that? 20 years ago cab-over tractors were a common enough sight on the interstates, but nowadays you rarely see them. I don't drive over the road for a living, but those that do (or at least the fleet buyers/managers anyways) definitely seem to prefer the conventional cab setup.

Today's trucker isn't interested in COE designs. I'm a 30 year veteran of running 48 states & the 6 lowers of Canada. No way any American driver would want to drive this more than 100 miles.

 

There are more cabovers coming back on the road, but they are all pre 2000 model year since they are exempt to the latest clusterf*ck known as EDL (electronic logs). Of the driver's I've talked with about their classic trucks; they all are short haul.

[fordmantpw]

Today's trucker isn't interested in COE designs. I'm a 30 year veteran of running 48 states & the 6 lowers of Canada. No way any American driver would want to drive this more than 100 miles.

 

There are more cabovers coming back on the road, but they are all pre 2000 model year since they are exempt to the latest clusterf*ck known as EDL (electronic logs). Of the driver's I've talked with about their classic trucks; they all are short haul.

 

Curious as to what is wrong with the COE? Is it the short wheelbase and worse ride? Crash safety? I honestly don't know, that's why I'm asking.