Volvo Delivers 100,000th Truck Featuring I-Shift Transmission
VTNA said April 6 the VNL 670 highway tractor was sold to Montana-based Watkins & Shepard Trucking, which provides truckload and less-than-truckload transportation.
The manufacturer has been selling I-Shift AMTs in North America since 2007. Volvo has been urging its customers not just to buy its trucks, but also to spec them with a Volvo engine and transmission, now a popular strategy among many heavy-duty truck makers. The company statement said that in 2015, 83% of the VTNA trucks sold included an I-Shift.
“When we first introduced the I-Shift, many said that it would not be successful in this market,” said VTNA President Göran Nyberg. “Yet thanks to the significant efficiency, performance and productivity benefits the I-Shift delivers to our customers, we’re celebrating the delivery of the 100,000th I-Shift-equipped truck.”
Volvo’s world headquarters are in Sweden and its North American operations are based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company makes trucks in Dublin, Virginia, and has an engine-transmission plant in Hagerstown, Maryland.
W&S CEO Ray Kuntz is a former chairman of American Trucking Associations.
