FlowBelow Aero Partners With Kenworth, Expands Distribution to Mexico
LAS VEGAS — FlowBelow Aero Inc. announced Kenworth Truck Co. will offer its AeroKit as a dealer-installed option, and it has expanded distribution of its tractor-mounted aerodynamic products into Mexico.
The company made the announcements here Oct. 4 at American Trucking Associations' Management Conference & Exhibition.
Kenworth, a unit of Paccar Inc., will now include AeroKit as a dealer-installed option on its fuel efficient T680 package, installing it between the tandem axles, along with a fairing directly behind the rear drive axle.
Also, FlowBelow formed a strategic partnership to offer its product to carriers in Mexico through Mexican distributor Andromeda Business Solutions S.A. de C.V. based in El Marqués, Querétaro, it said.
“Mexican carriers are demanding better fuel economy because of how critical the efficiency of their trucks is within a competitive market,” Captain Fausto Velazquez, president of Andromeda, said in a statement.
Also, distributors, dealers and installers are now established in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec to meet growing demand following fleet testing and initial adoption by Trans-West of Lachine, Quebec, in May that sparked adoption by other Canadian fleets, it said.
“All of our sales to fleets retrofitting or just spec’ing on new trucks has been because of the return on investment,” Josh Butler, president of FlowBelow Aero, said during the press conference. “The environmental factor comes into play with some decision-makers but usually it’s just the economics.”
He said the distribution in Mexico could encompass kits on 2,000 to 3,000 trucks in the next six months.
“We are already slated to have it delivered from the factory if they order trucks. But it does require a team of people to represent the product and push the product. You just can’t rely on it being available,” he said.
Mexico is not as large a market as the U.S. market, he added, “but it’s large enough for us to dedicate resources to it.”
Overall, more than 20,000 trucks are already equipped with its technology, and he said about 90% of them use “the complete solution. When you add fairings to wheel covers, you 3X the total savings.”
The company website said AeroKit will reduce fuel consumption by more than 2%, according to test procedures and fleet trials.
Sales now are split about equally between factory- or dealer-installations and from aftermarket customers, but Butler said he expects that to shift within five years to 80% to 90% of the units installed on new trucks, “depending on the truck market.”
That would lower the price of the units, he said.
“All factory builds are minimalist, nothing but the holes you need. So the price to the end user is actually a little bit less. Also, our system replaces the existing mud flap hanger, so there is an additional savings,” he said.
