Paul L. Vikner, president and CEO of Mack Trucks since 2001, will leave that post on April 1 and join the Mack board of directors as vice chairman. Dennis R. Slagle will succeed him at Mack’s top executive post, according to a company announcement today.

Slagle is currently president and CEO of Volvo Construction Equipment North America, another North American operating subsidiary of Mack’s parent the Volvo Group.

Slagle has headed the construction equipment group since 2003 and previously served as president of its largest North American dealer, L.B. Smith Inc. He will move from the Volvo construction equipment headquarters in Asheville, NC, to Mack’s Allentown, PA, headquarters. The press release announcing his appointment noted that “Mack holds a very strong position” in the construction truck market.

Vikner’s appointment as Mack president and CEO in 2001 was his third return to the truck manufacturer, where he began his career in trucking in 1972. Following executive positions with Iveco Trucks of North America and Isuzu Trucks of America, he rejoined Mack in 1995, eventually serving as executive vp-sales and marketing before briefly retiring in 2000.

In his new role on the Mack board, Vikner will also continue to serve as an adviser to the Volvo Group. He has been a member of the Volvo Group Executive Committee since 2003.

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The price of diesel fuel hit a record Friday — and gasoline prices are leaping so fast they could set records next week.

Rocketing retail fuel prices are the result of the week’s $100-a-barrel crude oil prices and tight supplies as refineries switch to producing costlier summer-blend, clean-air gasoline that’s required by federal regulations.

The nationwide average price for diesel Friday was a record $3.541 per gallon, according to data collected daily at more than 85,000 fuel stations by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and published by travel organization AAA.

That’s a jump of 3.8 cents a gallon overnight and 7 cents in two days, huge moves in a universe where a penny is considered significant.

The nationwide average for regular-grade gasoline Friday was $3.115, up 2.9 cents overnight and 6.2 cents in two days. At that rate, the average price by the middle of next week would break the record $3.227 set May 24.

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THE City Council will be conducting its own investigation into the controversial purchase of the City Government of 10 dump trucks the same day the City Legal Office assured the public of an impartial probe on the issue.

Councilor Alex Paglomutan filed a resolution seeking a formal inquiry on the dump trucks deal.

Councilors Catalino Alisbo and Celia Flor also filed separate resolutions requesting the city mayor, Bids and Awards Committee and City Legal Office to submit the entire bid documents for the council’s perusal.

Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue on the other hand filed a resolution asking all resource persons in the deal to submit all pertinent documents.

Batapa-Sigue however clarified that her resolution is not only for investigation purposes, or a check and balance to the City Legal Office’s investigation, but basically in aid of legislation.

Batapa citing Councilor Greg Gasataya said the allegations of irregularities in the dump trucks deal are so serious that it is not enough to check on alleged overpricing, but to evaluate the whole bidding process including possible loopholes and avenues that could be circumvented by anyone.

“I want long term solution and safeguards so that these allegations would not be repeated again in the future,” she said.

The councilor also stressed, “the people are already tired and sick of all the reports and exposé of alleged scams and corruptions in the government that everything the government does is subjected to suspicion.”

“It’s time also for us in the city to draw more solid and long term measures against graft and corruption, big or small,” she concluded.

Ford Motor Co. is launching its new F-150 next year, but it can’t get to market soon enough.

Ford ended January with 32.5% of the sales in the full-size truck segment, down 1.2 percentage points compared with the same period a year earlier. That was the biggest decline among the competitors in the large truck category, which is one of the big profit centers for automakers. While the Ford F-Series has been the best-selling truck model for 31 years, the Chevrolet Silverado trailed the F-Series by just 5,000 trucks in January. Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Tundra picked up 4.8 percentage points of share in the month, for 9.5% of the market.

Coming up: Ford prepares to launch another round of buyouts of its hourly workers.
Couple win auto show wedding

Most people go to auto shows to pick out a car. One couple is going to the Chicago Auto Show to make a stronger commitment.

Chrysler chose Jackie Rohner and Blake Humphrey of Rock Island, Ill., from 63 entries to get married at the auto show. The couple — she’s a schoolteacher and he’s a firefighter — win a Dodge Journey, and Chrysler sprang for a wedding reception and, of course, a Journey cover band.

“If we have experienced and accomplished so many great things in less than a year of dating, we can’t wait to see what, together as a married couple, we can accomplish in a lifetime,” Rohner said in her entry letter.

Coming up: Chrysler readies launch of Dodge Journey crossover.
Site for motoring memories opens

Want to post a picture of that 1968 Camaro you drove in your younger days? Have a story about working at a General Motors plant?

GM has opened up its “Wiki” site at its GMNext Web site that allows the public to share stories about the first 100 years of the world’s largest automaker.

Users must register their e-mail on www.gmnext.com to make submissions, then click the Wiki tab at the top. From there, users can post a picture, write a submission or read other submissions.

GM said all submissions are moderated to assure they follow the rules listed on the Wiki, but accuracy is overseen by the user community and subject matter experts.

Japan’s shipments of construction machinery may rise 9 percent to a third straight annual record next fiscal year as building and mining booms in Asia drive demand for earthmovers built by Komatsu Ltd. and its rivals.

Shipments of excavators, tractors, cranes and other construction machinery may climb to 2.6 trillion yen ($24 billion) in the year starting April 1, according to estimates released by the Tokyo-based Japan Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association today. Shipments in the year ending March 31 may reach 2.4 trillion yen, 15 percent more than the previous year.

China’s effort to develop its hinterland, oil-funded construction booms in Russia and the Gulf nations, and mining projects in Southeast Asia have countered the housing recession in the U.S., the world’s biggest market for earthmoving equipment. The demand has prompted Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Japan’s biggest makers of earthmoving machinery, to expand factories and boost production.

“There hasn’t been any change in the strength of demand from emerging markets,” Hiroo Shimada, chairman of the association, said today at a press conference in Tokyo. “We will allocate a shortfall in demand from North America to growing markets.” Shimada is also chief executive officer of Kobe Steel Ltd.’s Kobelco Construction Machinery Co. unit.

China, Russia

Exports may advance 12 percent to 1.8 trillion yen next fiscal year, as China, Russia and the Middle East make up for a 5 to 10 percent decline in demand from North America, Shimada said. Domestic shipments may increase 2 percent to 806.5 billion yen.

The group represents 76 companies, including Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd., a venture between Peoria, Illinois- based Caterpillar Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., and Kubota Corp., the world’s biggest maker of mini-excavators.

Worldwide demand for excavators, used in civil engineering works and mining, may grow 9 percent to about 215,000 units in the year starting April, helped by demand from emerging markets, according to an estimate by Tokyo-based Hitachi Construction, the world’s biggest maker of giant excavators.

The company that developed one of the first mid-sized sport utility vehicles and brought you an ad campaign with a fibbing salesman says it will stop selling new passenger vehicles in North America.

Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Wednesday it will end distribution of its sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks starting Jan. 31, 2009.

The Japanese company blamed the move on General Motors Corp. ceasing production for Isuzu of the Ascender sport utility vehicle and i-290 and i-370 pickup trucks.

“It has always been our intention to remain in the U.S. market,” Terry Maloney, Isuzu president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “However, we were unable to secure any commercially viable replacements for these vehicles.”

Isuzu spokesman Chip Letzgus would give no more details about the decision Wednesday, saying the company was still talking to dealers and employees. He said Isuzu will likely release further details later this week.

Isuzu sold only 7,098 vehicles in the U.S. in 2007, down nearly 18 percent from the previous year, according to Autodata Corp.

The company said in a statement that it will back its products and dealers for years to come, honoring all product warranties and roadside assistance programs.

Isuzu will offer all current U.S. vehicle dealers the chance to stay on as service-only dealers, the company said.

“Isuzu will discontinue the sales of vehicles only. Our parts and service operation will remain fully functional,” Maloney’s statement said. “We expect the vast majority of our dealers will continue as service-only dealers.”

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not comment on Isuzu and said the company has not made an announcement on whether it will stop producing its vehicles. The Detroit-based GM makes the Ascender at its plant in Moraine, Ohio, near Dayton, and the pickups are manufactured at a factory in Shreveport, La.

The Ascender is a mid-sized sport utility vehicle similar to a Chevrolet TrailBlazer, while the two pickups are similar to the mid-sized Chevrolet Colorado.

John Rogin, who owns Detroit-area Isuzu, Suzuki and GM dealerships, said he was blindsided by the news Wednesday. He said Isuzu vehicles have always been reliable and have a cult-like following among some owners.

Rogin said Isuzu was at its best when it focused on innovative, high-volume products like the Isuzu Trooper, which was one of the first midsize SUVs on the market in the early 1980s. But Trooper sales plummeted in 1996 when Consumer Reports said the Trooper was dangerous and prone to tipping.

Isuzu Motors America Inc. said Consumer Reports rigged testing on the Trooper, falsified documents and used “driving stunts” to make it appear the vehicle was vulnerable to a rollover, but the damage was done. Consumer Reports stood by its testing, and Isuzu said it lost $244 million in sales and damage to its reputation.

“They suffered an unfair mortal wound because of that,” Rogin said.

Rogin said the company also was hurt when it stopped distributing cars in the U.S. in 1993 and became fully truck-based.

Isuzu became a household word in 1986 with a popular ad campaign featuring the lying car salesman Joe Isuzu, played by actor David Leisure.

Isuzu made outrageous claims about vehicle performance even as his statements were contradicted and corrected in captions at the bottom of the commercial frame.

“It gets 94 miles per gallon city, 112 highway,” he said in one early commercial as the subtitle flashed: “He’s lying. 34 mpg city, 40 highway.”

The campaign was discontinued in 1990.

Isuzu and other small Japanese automakers were hurt badly by the rise of Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia, which took much of their sales of small sport utility vehicles and cars, said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting firm IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids.

Recently, Isuzu relied on GM products in slow-selling segments, leading to its demise here, Merkle said. Since its products essentially are GM’s, customers will be assured that they can get parts and service, Merkle said.

As Isuzu exits the competitive U.S. market, Merkle said he will miss the clever Joe Isuzu ads.

“I always like to get a little chuckle,” he said. “Maybe somebody else can hire him.”

Maritime life and commerce are practically in our blood in these parts, but a lot of locals somehow don’t see what a boon port operations are to Hampton Roads.

They don’t see the many thousands of local jobs — some on the waterfront, others nearby, and more in big distribution centers in Isle of Wight and James City counties — or the $16 billion the ports add to the region’s economy.

They see trucks. Big trucks. More than 800,000 of them a year, hauling containers into and out of the ports.

And they don’t like what they see. It takes a well-informed imagination to see those trucks for what they are: the rolling sign of an industry that is a vast and central contributor to the area’s prosperity.

Trucks are easy to blame when you’re stuck in traffic in Hampton Roads. And stuck in traffic is too often a fact of life, and certain to get worse before relief comes in more lanes of highway, bridge and tunnel. Particularly as port traffic is expected to grow significantly.

So here’s an idea, just waiting for a politician or business leader to champion: Get some trucks off the roads during the time the rest of us are on them. Reduce the number of trucks when people are going to work and school and the dentist and the store.

How? Shift some port-related truck traffic from peak to nonpeak hours.

The port of Los Angeles and Long Beach has shown that such a system can be effective. Their key: a $100-per-container fee imposed on trucks leaving or entering the port weekdays between 3 a.m. and 6 p.m. The money goes to pay for second shifts on the docks, where container ships are loaded and unloaded, and at the terminal gates, where trucks enter and leave the port.

That economic incentive has shifted 40 percent of the port traffic to off-peak hours in L.A. and Long Beach. Next time you’re on Interstate 64, imagine two out of five trucks gone.

And there are environmental benefits. With less congestion, there are fewer vehicles idling, which cuts down on pollutants and greenhouse gases.

Shifting port traffic would change the way a lot of people do business. Terminal operators, truckers and shippers would see work hours and workers shifted. Distribution centers and warehouses would need to operate overnight.

Making it work in Hampton Roads would have to involve those stakeholders and find ways to help them manage the downside.

Maybe we could get the advantage of something that worked for California: Wal-Mart and Target helped make the change work when they added night shifts to receive cargo at their big distribution centers.

Jerry Bridges, executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, says he can foresee the possibility of an off-peak program in Hampton Roads in the next few years. But it won’t happen by itself.

In California, the legislature used a big stick: Facing congested ports and unhappy voters, the lawmakers threatened to force the port to extend its hours. So the business stakeholders came up with a system of their own.

Hampton Roads will also need a catalyst. How about business and political leadership, rather than a threat from Richmond?

It may not be simple, but it’s an obvious winner. On one hand, any reduction in traffic congestion will pay off for the area’s economy and quality of life. Under the best scenario, the projects to streamline port traffic — the third harbor crossing and an improved Route 460 south of the James — are years off. Spreading out the hours of truck traffic could make those years a little easier.

And on the other hand, it would be a public relations coup for the port and for regional transportation planning. A demonstration of the port’s wish to be a good and accommodating neighbor could soften negative feelings about this essential part of our economy. Those feelings, amplified when irritation about trucks combines with lack of understanding of how the ports benefit us all, have hampered the region’s ability to solve its transportation problems. They have fueled a sentiment that the public shouldn’t have to ante up for projects that will aid the ports. They helped kill a referendum to fund regional road projects in 2002, and today they fan the flames against the new Hampton Roads Transit Authority and the road projects it will build, especially those that will directly serve the ports.

Fewer trucks when the rest of us need to be on the roads. Traffic that flows better. Less pollution. Less anti-port sentiment interfering with necessary projects, and the taxes, tolls and fees to pay for them. All could be the benefits of a program to move truck traffic to the off-peak shift.

A TOY dump truck, that could break into small pieces when dropped, has been recalled amid fears it could pose a choking threat to young children.

South Australia’s commissioner for consumer affairs Mal Hemmerling said more than 2000 of the plastic trucks were sold nationally through The Reject Shop outlets.

Safety inspectors from South Australia’s Office of Consumer and Business Affairs detected problems with the truck during a product safety campaign targeting stores selling toys intended for children aged under three.

The truck was subjected to a number of tests and failed to meet mandatory safety standards.

“The safety standard requires that toys intended for children in this age group do not contain small parts and will not easily break into small parts if dropped,” Mr Hemmerling said.

“Children can be boisterous with their play, particularly if playing with trucks, so it is essential that these toys are soundly constructed so that they will not easily break into small parts.

“Small pieces of the toy can be hazardous for young children if ingested or inhaled.”

The truck was priced at $10 and first went on sale in October last year.

Mr Hemmerling said The Reject Shop was the sole importer and distributor of the toy and had removed all stock nationally and issued a recall.

Anybody who bought one of the trucks was urged to return it to the place of purchase for a refund.