Cowan Sticks With Navistar From Bad Times to Good
LAS VEGAS — A marketing video by Navistar Inc. demonstrated the company’s interest in regaining the business of over-the-road fleets by including extended visits with drivers from J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Cowan Systems — all members of the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada.
Dennis Morgan, president of Baltimore-based Cowan, also made it here for the Sept. 30 event to unveil Navistar’s new linehaul tractor, the International LT. If Navistar CEO Troy Clarke is in the market for a new best friend, he would do well to consider Morgan.
Cowan, a dedicated contract carrier, was a major buyer of Navistar’s ProStar tractors when the Lisle, Illinois, truck maker was melting down for being unable to meet the January 2010 regulatory standards for emissions.
The carrier has 1,250 power units for transporting consumer goods, especially beverages, and about 55% of them are Navistar Internationals. The 2012-2013 models “were very problematic with lots of unscheduled downtime and poor fuel economy,” Morgan said. Spending 12% of their time in the shop for repairs was typical, he added.
Clarke’s turnaround effort has changed the original equipment manufacturer significantly.
“It’s a night-and-day difference,” Morgan said, with the downtime rate dropping below 5%. “I didn’t think they could do it,” he said.
Morgan said he likes to trade his trucks after three or four years of usage, after rolling up about 400,000 miles. He said Cowan is switching its standing order for new ProStars over to LT day cabs.
Navistar Senior Vice President Jeff Sass is hoping to find more people like Morgan. In charge of sales and marketing for the OEM, Sass sent out his regional vice presidents to work the event, order pads in hand.
Sass announced three incentive programs to move new LTs:
• Sixty-month walk-away leases.
• Sixty-month purchase loans at 3.79% annual rate.
• $1,000 off on truck parts for cash buyers.
