Here's news of AB Volvo's plans to restructure its currently ailing North American operations.
No real surprises; effectively, both VTNA brands - Volvo and Mack - will share a common head office, and production of each brand will be based in one factory apiece. Perhaps most significant is the announcement of a $50 million investment in order to install a new engine block machining line at Hagerstown, a move which, says Volvo, 'would complement the Group's global capacity in the engine field, and reduce logistics costs and exposure to currency fluctuations.' More to the point, given Cummins volte face yesterday in terms of adopting SCR, we rather assume that demand for Volvo's proprietary engines may well be spurred on by a bit of warranty-based encouragement.