THE NUMBER 1 RESOURCE FOR VOCATIONAL TRUCK FLEETS
The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in December fell to 25 mpg — down 0.2 mpg from a revised November value, according to Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, researchers from the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).
UPS has announced it has reserved 125 Tesla Semis, the new electric Class 8 truck that was recently unveiled by Elon Musk.
PepsiCo is the latest large fleet to make a significant investment in the recently announced Tesla Semi electric heavy-duty truck, reportedly ordering 100 vehicles.
New-vehicle sales through the first six months of 2017 are expected to be down 2.3%, and high quality off-lease vehicles may be part of the reason why, according to Kelley Blue Book.
The commercial vehicle market in 2016 was a tug of war between gaining medium-duty and declining heavy-duty sales, according to IHS Markit. Next year, medium-duty sales may be high enough to offset those losses.
Sales of Ford’s medium-duty F-650 and F-750 trucks have increased 59% year-over-year through August, the best year-to-date sales through August since 1997, according to Ford.
New analysis from R.L. Polk says the commercial van segment in the U.S. is growing as it splits into two categories, full-size and compact, where once only the full-size category existed. The company said this is due to the arrival of a number of new models in the marketplace.
There will be dramatic changes in new-vehicle purchasing processes, remote vehicle diagnostics, increasingly “smarter” vehicles, and next-generation online fleet management systems powered by fleet-specific social media.
The jaw-dropping events of the past six months have made an indelible impression on many fleet managers. The very real possibility that two of the Detroit 3 could quickly (and unexpectedly) enter into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, along with some fleet management companies not accepting new-vehicle orders, has caused some corporations (especially those sole sourcing) to reassess sourcing strategies.
When fuel prices crossed the $3.25 per gallon threshold, fleets began looking for ways to downsize vehicles or opt to four-cylinder engines.This trend is reinforced by corporate sustainability initiatives and/or fuel spend/GHG reduction programs. The shift to four-cylinder engines is broad-based and includes many of the nation’s largest fleets. One consequence to this increased demand for four-cylinder models is that fleets have increased their purchases of import-badged vehicles.