'98 Year in Review: Equipment

The 21st century arrived early as heavy-duty truck manufacturer Freightliner and trailer builder Wabash National unveiled the Argosy, a tractor-trailer combination marketed as a “safety concept” vehicle.

The 90,000-pound design put a 58-foot trailer with three axles behind a redesigned, low-profile cabover to haul up to 13 % more cargo while meeting current federal bridge axle-weight requirements (3-16, p. 14).

Because the combination needs federal approval to operate at the higher weight — 80,000 pounds is the cap for nonpermit operations — Freightliner President James Hebe has visited lawmakers to explain the advantages of the design.

Freightliner’s was but one of several new truck offerings for the year. Sterling Truck Corp., formerly Ford’s heavy-truck division that Freightliner purchased in 1997, officially entered the market with a distribution Class 8 chassis.

Bering Truck Corp., in partnership with Hyundai Motors of South Korea, announced plans to offer 12 models of trucks from Class 3 through 8, while Japanese manufacturers American Isuzu Motors and Nissan Diesel America introduced new models of medium-duty trucks.

Federal mandates requiring antilock brakes on most new trucks and trailers will go into effect this year, part of a larger presence that government took in the equipment market.

Overshadowing everything was the settlement between six diesel engine manufacturers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the emissions certification of their products.

For the full story, see the Jan. 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.