Medium-Duty Truck Suppliers Reshape Distribution Choices

More than new equipment, more than electronic commerce, more than the continued growth of the medium-duty market in the United States, the story in trucks now, for 2001 and probably for the next decade is the changing world truck order.

Alliances, mergers and acquisitions are creating a complicated international network of truck manufacturers and suppliers. Cash-rich companies are buying smaller businesses to fill some niche need or to dominate a market. Companies that are not buying are merging and inking partnership deals with former competitors in an effort to get a foothold in a new market or outmaneuver and out-muscle a third competitor.

While the deals themselves make interesting news because they dramatically illustrate the reliance of national economies on international trade, for the U.S. truck buyer the issue is a little more personal. Eventually, these deals will influence the choices truck fleet managers and buyers make here in the United States.

When looking for the reasons and possible future direction of the commercial truck production sector, it may help to look at the past.

For the full story, see the Oct. 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.