Prices for International trucks equipped with MaxxForce 11 and 13 big bore advanced exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) diesel engines will increase $8,000 with next year’s emissions-mandated change, while prices for trucks equipped with the MaxxForce 7, DT, 9 and 10 will increase $6,000, Navistar announced Tuesday, July 28. The company also announced that Qualcomm’s Mobile Computing Platform 100 Series (MCP100) is now available to customers through International Truck dealers.
Truck price increases will come in the form of a nondiscountable surcharge applied to each vehicle’s base price. “Meeting stricter EPA emissions levels in 2010, unfortunately, comes with a higher price,” said Jack Allen, president, Navistar North American Truck Group. “Though we have given our best effort to minimize costs related to the robust design and development of 2010 MaxxForce engines to ensure pricing is manageable for our customers, prices will increase commensurate with our technology path and our effort to remain competitive in the marketplace.” Navistar says its MaxxForce advanced EGR engines feature advancements in fuel injection, improved air intake management, improved electronic calibration and proprietary combustion technology.
While not all of Navistar’s competitors in the Class 8 segment have announced pricing yet for their own trucks equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), those that have been announced have been in the range of $9,600 to $10,000. Navistar also argues that the acquisition cost with its advanced EGR solution is the only additional cost that customers will incur as opposed to the diesel exhaust fluid and additional maintenance and weight required with competitors’ SCR solutions.
In a conference call with industry journalists on July 28, Allen responded to competitors’ claims of superior fuel economy, saying those claims are based solely on a Class 8 on-highway truck operating in optimal conditions. “Our competitors are focusing on Class 8 highway almost exclusively in developing their solutions and expressing the adequacy of their findings,” added Jim Hebe, senior vice president of the North American sales operation. In some vocational medium-duty vehicles, there will be improvements in fuel economy, Allen said, adding that fuel economy of the engine itself is only 35 to 40 percent of the total solution.
Allen also responded to some claims that advanced EGR would increase underhood temperatures and reduce engine durability and reliability. On the contrary, Navistar will be using a two-stage EGR cooler that will produce cooler air than the current engine, he said.
As part of the strategic alliance between Navistar and Qualcomm first announced last September, customers can take advantage of the added support they get through a combination of International’s dealers and Qualcomm’s customer support network, and they also can finance Qualcomm hardware through Navistar Financial Corp. along with their International truck purchase.
“Selling this product and associated services through our dealers improves ease of business for our customers and extends this capability to fleets of any size,” said Ramin Younessi, group vice president of product development and business strategy for Navistar. “This is just the first step, but an important one, in our evolving telematics strategy with Qualcomm.”
Designed for the transportation and logistics industry, Qualcomm Transportation Services incorporate industry-specific capabilities and features designed to integrate seamlessly with back-office systems. The MCP100 features an integrated color touchscreen and remote control device with advanced in-cab text-to-speech capability designed to improve safety and productivity by allowing drivers to listen and replay messages, eliminating the need to pull over and stop the vehicle to read a text message. A sampling of the available services, reports and alerts designed to optimize fleet operations include Automated Arrival and Departure, Hours of Service, Navigation, idle time, excess speeding, over RPM, vehicle faults and fuel tax reporting.
