Navistar to Seek 2010 Delay

By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Dec. 1 print edition of Transport Topics.

Truck and engine maker Navistar Inc. said it will take a “leadership role” in trying to convince Congress and the new administration to delay full implementation of 2010 heavy-duty truck engine emission mandates.

Navistar said it would back the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which Nov. 19 called for “the administration and Congress to push for a restructured timeline, phasing in the tougher standard to allow ample breathing room and to build confidence within the trucking industry.”

Navistar spokesman Tim Touhy told Transport Topics, “We’re ready to take a leadership role in this as a manufacturer in the industry, and we support OOIDA’s call.”

Navistar, which builds International trucks, has the second-largest Class 8 market share, behind Daimler Trucks North America’s Freightliner.

Until now, Navistar had not produced its own heavy-duty engines, but relied on independent manufacturers Caterpillar Inc. and Cummins Inc. Navistar recently completed its own heavy-duty engine factory and has begun to build engines in cooperation with German truck manufacturer MAN AG.

“We’re ready for 2010, but we think our customers need the right to choose between two clean-diesel choices in 2010 and 2011 — 2007 and 2010 standards,” Touhy added. “So yes, we’re prepared to go and talk to members of Congress and the new administration about setting up that option.”

Touhy said Navistar had commissioned a study by NERA Economic Consulting — cited by OOIDA in its Nov. 19 call for a restructured timeline — on how 2010 mandates may affect truck buying over the next two years.

Touhy said the new study found that “with the slowdown in the economy, the lack of available credit and a large price increase, [the industry] could be in a ‘no-buy, no-buy’ situation.”

“We want to see cleaner vehicles on the road and help the industry in a troubled time,” Touhy said. “This is the worst environment for trucking in 20 years.”

Navistar is the only engine manufacturer planning to use exhaust gas recirculation technology to meet the toughened 2010 federal emission standards.

All other engine manufacturers, including Cummins, which will supply 2010 engines to Navistar, have said they will use a different technology — selective catalytic reduction.

Navistar said recently that while its EGR engine was capable of meeting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 standards, it initially would design its engines to exceed the limits and use accumulated emission credits to comply with the standard, while fine tuning the engine’s performance.

Joe Suchecki, spokesman for the Engine Manufacturers Association, said EMA doesn’t “have any specific comments on what Navistar is doing.”

Suchecki noted that EMA had issued a statement Nov. 20 saying its members “are on schedule and ready to meet stringent 2010 emission standards for heavy-duty engines.”

“Manufacturers see lack of engine sales more of a function of the [weak] economy, and sales will be low no matter what happens,” Suchecki added.

Todd Spencer, executive vice-president of OOIDA, said, “It’s the worst possible time for the trucking industry to take on a high-stakes gamble with no known level of reliability of the technologies or return on investment.”

The chief executive officers of Volvo AB subsidiaries Mack Trucks Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America and a representative of Daimler Trucks North America rejected the Navistar-OOIDA call for a delay.

“Mack is fully on track with SCR, a proven technology that delivers significantly better fuel economy, benefiting customers and the environment,” Dennis Slagle, chief executive officer of Mack Trucks, told TT.

“Moving the goal post now is not necessary and unfair to those who have invested heavily and worked diligently to meet the clean air goals set out by the EPA,” Slagle said.

Per Carlsson, CEO of VTNA, said, “Volvo Trucks sees no reason to change the current timetable for US ’10. We’re prepared to meet these regulations as they stand today without the use of emissions credits. Extensive testing in North America and widespread experience elsewhere confirms that SCR is the optimal solution, providing significant fuel economy improvements and cleaner air.

“More than half a million trucks use SCR every day in Europe. In North America, Volvo Trucks has over 1.5 million miles of customer testing so far, with excellent results and operational experience,” Carlsson said.

“Daimler Trucks sees no reason to delay implementation of the EPA’s 2010 regulations for diesel exhaust emissions,” said David Siler, marketing director for Detroit Diesel Corp., Daimler’s engine manufacturer.

Paccar Inc., which in 2010 will build its first heavy-duty engines — based on engines by its European subsidiary DAF — did not respond to requests for comment. Paccar had announced earlier it would use SCR technology for EPA compliance.

Analysts said Navistar had little chance of delaying EPA’s standard.

“The incoming Obama administration ran on a platform of treating environmental issues very seriously, so that it’s a very low, low probability they’ll accept any delay,” said Eric Starks, president of FTR Associates. “If anybody would have delayed it, it would have been the Bush administration, but they refused to touch it.”

“That Navistar statement about using credits raises a red flag for me,” Chris Brady, president of Commercial Motor Vehicle Consulting, Manhasset, N.Y., told TT.

Brady added in 2002, “The [original equipment manufacturers] tried to use the business environment to delay 2004 emission-compliant engines, which did not work. I do not believe this argument will work in 2009.”