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By Jim Pasquale, Vice President Sales & Engineering, Transportation Business Unit, at TTI, Inc.

I spent the last several months visiting several commercial vehicle manufactures here in North America and one thing is certain; there is a semblance of confidence and optimism unlike years past.

Class 8-type truck manufacturers in the United States, Canada and Mexico currently are assembly trucks at a daily rate of 1,145 units. It is expected to expand to 1,218 units per day which would put the 2011 output at 242,310 units from 170,553 units for all of 2010 ? a significant 42.1% increase. However, many OEMs consider this rate to be unsustainable due to capacity constraints from a wide array of tire and chassis component suppliers. The bottom line is that there is market demand for new trucks and OEMS are working closely with these suppliers to increase their production capacity.

Another interesting statistic which was recently released is that global sales of medium and heavy duty hybrid electric vehicles are poised to reach volumes of more than 100,000 per year by 2017. It is predicted a 47 percent year-over-year increase for the heavy alternative powertrain sector, which currently accounts for less than 1 percent of total medium and heavy-duty sales. As fuel prices continue to increase, truck manufacturers have responded by expanding their offerings of alternative drivetrains to help reduce emissions and fuel usage by trucks.

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