Industry Seeks Consensus Over Engine Incentives

ajor players in the trucking industry are trying to forge a consensus over what financial incentives they will ask Congress to provide to encourage the use of cleaner-burning diesel engines as the effective date of new federal pollution rules draws nearer, officials said.

Several of the largest truck equipment manufacturers have agreed to use American Trucking Associations as the focal point for their drive to get incentives to help reduce the higher costs of the next generation of heavy-duty engines, beginning in the fall of 2007.

“We have all decided to use the ATA as a venue to field our cause and bring . . . [incentives] to the attention of Capitol Hill late this year or early next year,” said Rainer Schmueckle, chief executive officer of Freightliner LLC, the largest U.S. heavy-duty truck manufacturer.

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