Utility Bodywerks - Manufacturer of RV Hauler Beds
 
by: Truckinfo.com

Differences in gas mileage among medium-duty trucks could translate into savings of more than $2,000 per truck per year, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 U.S. Medium-Duty Truck Engine and Transmission Customer Satisfaction Study released Monday.

The study finds that there is an annual cost difference of about 18 percent between those medium-duty truck engine makes with the highest gas mileage and those with the lowest. This may translate into an annual savings of approximately $2,100 per truck-or $36,000 annually for a fleet of 17 trucks (the average number of trucks per fleet).

Engine makes with the highest reported gas mileage average 9.3 mpg, compared with the industry average of 8.4 mpg. Further, more fuel-efficient trucks typically score 50 points higher in overall engine satisfaction (based on a 1,000-point scale) than trucks with lower fuel efficiency.

"Fleet owners that purchase a truck with an engine that is very fuel-efficient can have a real competitive advantage in terms of their overall operating costs," said Todd Markusic, senior director of the commercial vehicle practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "With some fleets exceeding 100 trucks, saving a few thousand dollars each year in fuel costs per truck may have a considerable impact on the bottom line. Although some fleet owners may be tempted to purchase gas engines given that gas prices are currently much lower than diesel, a more fuel-efficient diesel engine will ultimately lead to much lower annual fuel costs."

The study, now in its third year, measures customer perceptions of 2009 model-year Class 5, 6 and 7 gasoline and diesel engines. Eight factors are measured to determine overall engine satisfaction: engine reliability and dependability; accessibility to components for service/maintenance; engine warranty; control module (ECM); maintaining speeds on grades; average fuel economy; vibration at idle; and acceleration when fully loaded.

Hino Trucks engines rank highest in customer satisfaction for a third consecutive year with a score of 822 on a 1,000-point scale and perform particularly well in engine reliability and dependability, average fuel economy and accessibility to components for service/maintenance. Paccar (774) and General Motors (769) follow Hino in the rankings.

The study also finds the following:

* Among the 27 percent of customers who experience an engine problem, satisfaction is 126 points lower, on average, than among those who do not experience an engine problem (661 vs. 787, respectively).

* Ten percent of customers indicate experiencing a fuel problem. On average, satisfaction among these customers is 134 points lower than among those who do not experience a fuel problem.

* Customers indicate that engine problems caused one unscheduled period of downtime, on average, during the past 12 months. During these periods, downtime averages approximately two days.

The 2010 U.S. Medium-Duty Truck Engine and Transmission Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 1,255 primary maintainers of one-year-old conventional cab medium-duty trucks. The study was fielded between June and August 2010 .



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By Light & Medium Truck
Retail customers bought 1.2% more goods in October than in September, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

The sales rate was the biggest gain since March and greater than estimated by economists, Bloomberg News said. 

Stock gains over the past two months and growing employment may give a boost to consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, in coming months, Bloomberg said. 

The gains were led by auto sales, which grew 5%. 

Non-store merchants, which include Internet retailers, sporting goods and building material stores were among the other categories that showed increasing demand, Bloomberg said. 
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BY BRENT SNAVELY
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

While sales of cars and trucks in the U.S. continue to be more sluggish than expected, automakers -- especially the Detroit Three -- are enjoying the largest increase in average transaction prices in more than five years.

Industrywide, consumers spent an estimated average of $29,217 on a new car or truck from January through May -- an increase of $1,057, or 3.7%, compared with last year, according to estimates provided by Edmunds.com. Edmunds' estimate is based on a sampling of data from about 40% of U.S. dealers.

But, the Detroit Three are outpacing the industry's gains -- giving the automakers an opportunity to improve profit margins. Edmunds says average transaction prices increased 5.5% for Chrysler, 4.3% for Ford and 3.8% for General Motors.

Thomas King, senior director at J.D. Power and Associates, said the recent financial collapse, which helped the automakers restructure and close extra plants, helped automakers reduce production and cut incentives.

"In the past, you had manufacturers focusing a little more on improving volume and reducing prices to get that volume," King said.

Now, King said automakers have embraced a more disciplined approach that represents a fundamental "change in the dynamic of the industry."

New technology While the underlying reasons for the transaction increases are somewhat different for each automaker, they generally include inventory reductions, reduced incentives, a demographic shift among buyers this year and consumers deciding to buy new technology and options.

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Ford Utility Bodywerks
By DAN STRUMPF and BREE FOWLER
AP Auto Writers 
 
NEW YORK (AP) -- A top Ford executive expects industrywide U.S. auto sales to rise for the first time in more than two years this month, thanks largely to the government's Cash for Clunkers program.

Sales may have risen as high as 13 million units on an annualized basis during August, Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, told reporters on Friday.

Retail sales at Ford Motor Co. in August have already surpassed last year's levels with a weekend still to go, he said. Ford's sales in July rose 2.4 percent.

"Overall, we thought it was a very, very successful program in jump-starting sales," Fields said of the clunkers program, which enticed drivers to trade in gas guzzlers by offering big rebates on new, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

Automakers are scheduled to report monthly sales on Tuesday. Many analysts are forecasting a year-over-year increase for an industry that has taken a beating during the recession, although year-ago levels were already depressed.

Cash for Clunkers offered a strong jolt to sales. The program, which formally ended on Monday, spurred 690,114 new sales at a taxpayer cost of $2.88 billion, according to the Department of Transportation.

Ford was one of the top gainers from the program. The Ford Focus compact car and Escape crossover were among the top sellers, though Japanese automakers sold more vehicles than U.S. companies.

Fields estimated about 30 to 40 percent of clunkers sales were "truly incremental," meaning that they came from consumers who had no plans previously to buy a car. The rest, he said, came from people who were going to buy a car later on.
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