LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mack Trucks displayed two new suspensions, one for highway tractors and another for heavier vocational vehicles, here at the Mid-America Trucking Show.
The company also said it is more optimistic about its own sales prospects than for the industry as a whole.
Mack and sister company Volvo Trucks are predicting very minimal growth in this year’s North American heavy-duty sales over last year, to 250,000 from 249,000.
For its own business, Mack has long been a large vendor to the construction and housing industries, which are finally starting to rebound after being severely battered by the recession.
Company President Kevin Flaherty said orders for concrete pumps have doubled year-over-year.
The new Twin-Y air suspension is aimed at highway tractors such as the Pinnacle, while the mRide spring suspension will go on vocational vehicles, Mack said.
Executives said the Cummins Westport ISX 12G natural-gas engine is the company’s power plant of choice for heavy-duty trucks using natural gas, but Mack is keeping an option on Volvo’s D13-LNG engine, due out next year, if demand for it is abundant.
