National Truck of the Year 2013 Nominees Announced

The American Truck Dealers (ATD) has announced the names of nine commercial trucks that have been nominated for the 2013 ATD Commercial Truck of the Year. This is a prestigious national award that recognizes the best truck entries in the heavy-duty and medium-duty categories across the country.

Nominees

The nominees in the heavy-duty (Class 8) category include Kenworth T680 76-inch Sleeper with PACCAR MX Engine, Cascadia Evolution (with Detroit DT12 transmission), Peterbilt Model 579, and Western Star 4700SF. The nominees in the medium-duty (Class 3-7) include Isuzu Reach, Kenworth K370 Cabover, Ford F-650, Hino 195h, Isuzu Reach, and the Peterbilt 337 Extended Day Cab.

Selection of Winners

The annual award will be presented on February 10th, 2013 during the ATD Convention and Expo in Orlando, Fl. The ATD traditionally gives recognition in both heavy-duty and medium-duty truck categories. Once again, the ATD convention will be held at the same time with the convention and expo of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) from February 8th to the 11th, 2013.

The winners will be decided on the basis of a rigorous selection process. The panel of five journalists will evaluate and test drive the trucks at ADESA Las Vegas. The panel of judges includes Tom Berg, chief judge, Heavy Duty Trucking, David Kolman, Fleet Maintenance Magazine, Paul Hartley, owner and writer of AddMedia, Jack Roberts, Commercial Carrier Journal, and Jim Park, Heavy Duty Trucking. The categories in which the trucks will be judged include safety, driver satisfaction and innovation and design.

More Good News for the Industry

Orders for trailers in the month of August have gone up by 15 percent compared to the previous year, as per the data released by ACT Research. This is a positive sign for the trucking industry, and it shows a reversal of a recent trend of decline in the industry but the future does not bode well and it is nothing like it should be. If the taxes and the regulations were not so burdensome, this industry would be taking off by now and would be in full steam mode. That is just not happening. Moreover, the data has also fuelled hopes of a strong fourth quarter but only strong compared to other poor numbers in a recession that does not want to end. This quarter traditionally performs better than other quarters each year.

Moderate growth is also expected in the trucking equipment business but it could be a lot brighter and sharper if change comes to America in November. The Equipment and Leasing Foundation has stated in its latest quarterly update report that growth in transportation equipment investment is expected to remain above 15 percent over the next three to six months. The foundation has also stated that the growth in other areas such as construction equipment and industrial equipment investment is likely to remain relatively lower than the growth in transportation equipment industry. Either way, America is barely moving forward when it should be producing jobs and opportunities at a much more prolific rate.