TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA & Canada - Truck maker Volvo upbeat on

Stockholm,Sweden -Reuters, by Patrick Lannin and Hans Peters -Dec 22, 2010: -- Truck maker Volvo has seen an improved result in North America and increased its market share, an executive was on Wednesday quoted as saying...  Volvo saw demand dry up during the 2009 downturn, but this year it has recovered strongly...   Volvo's North American truck operations chief Dennis Slagle said that the Volvo brand of trucks had 13 percent market share in the U.S. market in October and November, which was an improvement he thought the company could maintain...  Together with Volvo's Mack brand, the company had a market share of 23 percent, making it the number two in North America. The biggest gains have come in the long distance truck market...  He said Volvo had also been increasing the share of trucks with its own engines, which are more profitable... (Photo from needsspeed.blogspot: The 2010 Volvo FH16 700 Trucks)

* USA - Navistar’s 4Q Earnings Drop; Truck Revenue Jumps

Warrenville,ILL,USA -Transport Topics -22 Dec 2010: -- Navistar International Corp. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit fell 55% from a year ago, on higher costs of a new labor agreement...  Revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 31 rose 2% to $3.37 billion, boosted by higher truck segment sales. Net revenue for the truck segment rose to $86 million, from $5 million a year ago... The truck segment reported a full fiscal-year profit of $424 million, up from a 2009 profit of $147 million. Commercial units sold by the company’s U.S. and Canada Class 6-8 truck and school bus businesses rose 11% in 2010...  Navistar said the quarter’s results were in line with its projection that it would deliver more than 17,000 2010-emission compliant vehicles in the United States and Canada... Navistar projected total truck industry retail sales for Class 6-8 trucks and school buses in the U.S. and Canada for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2011, will be in the range of 230,000 to 250,000 units...

* USA - Emissions targets ‘cost jobs in US’

Chicago,ILL / New York,NY,USA -Financial Times (UK), by Hal Weitzman and Jeremy Lemer -December 19 2010: -- Strict environmental controls are costing US manufacturing jobs, according to the head of one of the country’s biggest truckmakers...  In an interview with the Financial Times, Dan Ustian, chief executive of Navistar, the US’s biggest manufacturer of medium-sized trucks by sales, said vehicle emissions targets were set with little consultation with industry...  Mr Ustian said the approach encapsulated how the administration of President Barack Obama was “anti-business”...  The US Environmental Protection Agency implemented truck emissions reductions of 95 per cent between 2007 and 2010. The Obama administration has recently announced plans for further reductions of 10-20 per cent between 2014 and 2018...

* USA - Bendix delivers 100,000th ESP system

TRUCK ELECTRONIC STABILITY PROGRAM

Elyria,OH,USA -Fleet Owner -Dec 23, 2010: -- Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems recently delivered its 100,000th Electronic Stability Program system... “Reaching this milestone, while a significant achievement for Bendix, is also a major step forward in helping fleets and their drivers improve safety on our roads,” said Fred Andersky, director of marketing-- controls... Bendix ESP is a full-stability technology that addresses both roll and directional stability...   The full stability system recognizes and mitigates conditions that could lead to a rollover or loss-of-control situation on both dry surfaces as well as a host of other road conditions, including snowy and ice-covered surfaces, according to Bendix...

* Canada - Cooking with gas !! 50 Peterbilt trucks powered with LNG fuel system

Abbotsford,B.C.,Canada -Hooked Up/Truck News, by James Menzies -24 Dec 2010: -- Vedder Transport just announced it is buying 50 Peterbilt trucks powered by Westport's liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel system...  The trucks are Peterbilt Model 386s with Westport's HD natural gas system. They'll be making deliveries in southern B.C., primarily serving food-grade bulk customers, the fleet announced. Where fueling infrastructure exists, natural gas-powered trucks are proving to be a viable option in regional applications...