Mack Trucks on Monday at the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition in San Diego announced a new option for Anthem models – an extended chassis fairing.
Integrated with the truck’s existing fairings, Mack’s Director of Product Strategy Roy Horton says the new option directs air more smoothly around the rear axles to improve fuel efficiency by up to .5%.
The extended chassis fairings can be combined with Mack’s advanced HE+ efficiency package, which includes the Mack MP8HE engine, Mack mDrive automated manual transmission and additional aerodynamic enhancements, to maximize fuel efficiency of Anthem models. Combined with the new extended chassis fairings, the HE+ package delivers up to 10% improved fuel efficiency, while achieving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay designation.
Featuring integrated steps, the extended chassis fairings also help improve the driver’s access to the back-of-cab area for tasks like connecting and disconnecting trailer air supply lines.
The new fairing option is currently available for order.
Outlook on 2020
Last year was a banner one for truck orders and while this year has fallen far short of that level of excitement, Mack’s Senior Vice-President of North American Sales and Marketing Jonathan Randall still forecasts industry truck sales of 325,000.
“I think coming into this year we were expecting something like 300,000 to 310,000 units,” he said. “We are seeing some cooling off. The economy is normalizing, but there’s nothing that shows us from a retail standpoint that we’re not going to hit that number (325,000 units).”
Retail sales continue to drain a backlog that has been built over the last 12-16 months and as the calendar turns to 2020, Randall says Mack sees a lot of opportunities in refuse and construction segments as on-highway sales are expected to drop.
“We’ll return to a more typical demand next year,” he said, “but even as we drop, it’s still going to be a pretty good market overall.
Long haul trucks make up about 49% of Mack Trucks’ retail this year and Randall expects that to slide slightly to 43-44% next year.
