Research Triangle Park, NC - Presented by the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association, the annual Heavy Duty Dialogue conference provides an exceptional industry outlook on the global, domestic on and off-highway commercial vehicle industries. The conference will be held January 23, 2012, 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM at The Mirage in Las Vegas, immediately preceding Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week ’12.
Heavy Duty Dialogue’s outstanding program will address several areas within the Commercial Vehicle Industry. Topics to be discussed include the Global Economic Landscape, considerations for Manufacturing Near-Shoring, the Global and North American Truck and Trailer Outlook for OEM and Aftermarket, the Global Off-Highway Vehicle Outlook and an update on major legislative and regulatory issues in the US and abroad, as well as a perspective on doing business in major emerging markets.
Next Gen Publishing
Akash Passey, MD, Volvo Buses India, has history on his side. The effort is to keep the momentum going.
So it’s been a momentous decade for Volvo as you have detailed in the column that you penned for this magazine last month. It must have been quite a journey for you on a personal level as well...
The Hindu Business Line
Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, has commercially launched DOST in the Kerala market. Competitively priced between Rs 3.79 lakh and Rs 4.38 lakh (ex-showroom Kochi), depending on the variant, DOST will be sold through a modern dealership network with brand new infrastructure, which will grow to 60 main nodes by the end of the current fiscal.
Dr. V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Hinduja Automotive; and Chairman, Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain Ltd, said that the company is targeting sales of about 55,000 units of the commercial vehicle nationally by 2012.
IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis
Increasing focus is being brought to bear on loans granted by the United States Department of Energy (DoE) to two upstart electric vehicle (EV) automakers, Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive. Together, the two have received nearly USD1 billion in low-interest loans from the US government, and politicians now think that this may not have been such a good idea, following the recent issues with loans being made to upstart solar system maker Solyndra. That company recently failed despite receiving government loans, due to competitive conditions that were well known and brought to light by industry analysts, but which were either ignored or intentionally disregarded, and which are now subjects of congressional investigation.
Attention has turned to whether Fisker and Tesla should have received those loans, given that their business plans and testimony before the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) both indicate that they will not be profitable for some time.
TruckPro Vendor Letter
TruckPro, Inc. is pleased to announce that Harvest Partners, LP, a New York-based private equity firm, together with the senior management of TruckPro, have signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in TruckPro from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. with an expected closing date in the next few weeks. Reflecting its confidence in the team and the prospects for our business, the Oaktree funds will maintain a significant ownership stake in the company.
Established in 1981, Harvest has over 30 years of experience in financing organic and acquisition-oriented growth companies in the distribution, manufacturing, energy, consumer/retail, business services and healthcare industries. Harvest has significant previous experience building successful distribution businesses and plans to support TruckPro’s existing management team with significant capital to fund the company’s organic growth and acquisition strategies. Please visit Harvest’s website at www.harvpart.com for further information about Harvest and its existing portfolio.