Equipment

The Used Truck Association has named Marty Crawford, an Atlanta-based dealer for Arrow Truck Sales, as its president.

Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. lowered its 2008 sales and profit forecast, due to “significant declines” in demand.

Truckload carrier Celadon Group said it paid $24 million to acquire the truckload, intermodal and brokerage businesses of Continental Express.

Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. said Friday it would cut “at least 500 jobs,” or 3.5% of its workforce, by the end of the year, due to “the continued deterioration in the U.S. economy and many other key markets around the world.”

ATLANTA — Meritor WABCO demonstrated its new automatic braking system for heavy-duty trucks that is integrated with its anti-lock braking and stability control systems. Executives said the system can cut accident rates, especially rear-end collisions, which account for nearly 20% of all truck-involved crashes.

The number of U.S. Class 8 trucks on the road at the end of the third quarter dropped by 17,000 from a year earlier, the first year-to-year decline since research firm R.L. Polk & Co. began reporting on truck fleets in 2003.

There are signs that the rise of global tire imports to the United States is beginning to slow as the economy weakens and costs increase.

NAVTEQ announced last week that it will acquire T-Systems Traffic GmbH, a German traffic data firm.

Navistar International Corp. will use federal emission credits to enable its new Class 8 engine to meet 2010 federal emission standards, although the engine could be set up to comply with the regulation without the credits, a Navistar executive said.

U.S. Class 8 truck sales rose slightly in October, while the total number of vehicles sold over the first 10 months of 2008 still was 14.4% below 2007’s anemic levels, according to data from WardsAuto.com.