That is hilarious. Are they backing away from massive EGR so they can switch to SCR and say they always thought SCR was viable?

Yeah, sorta like Saddam welcoming the 101st Airborne to Baghdad as an example of their successful tourism campaign.

They can't just turn the tap on for SCR, for technical reasons, let alone the embarrassment factor. For the time being, they're stuck on the wrong track. Obviously, the situation Oliver brought to light demanded some kind of public rebuttal.

Lately, they've been yelling that they never had a problem with SCR, just with the Diesel Exhaust Fluid. Of course, this isn't true, either, and their endless vitriol has been captured for posterity on publicly accessible sites just for confirmation. However, they now appear to be hanging their hats on the "on-board" solution, which cracks diesel fuel into a catalytic substance and replaces the two-fluid approach used by everyone else. It's still "Selective Catalytic Reduction", just using a different way to get the catalytic material into the exhaust stream.

But, it's a long way off, and those pesky creditors and shareholders may not be willing to wait for the "next big thing".

You are so right, binderman. This has to be one of the more embarrassing situations for a company that has had more than its share of struggles in over 150 years. I have rather admired the folks at Mack, Detroit Diesel, and Volvo sticking it to Navistar when they get the shot just to keep the audience aware of the tactics.

And now that the EPA is wise to Navistar's game of stockpiling EPA07 ISX engines, the end game is going to be forced to be played sooner than Navistar had wanted. This critical flaw in Navistar's strategy was so risky with actually little reward. They could have advocated both SCR and EGR and offered themselves as the brand of technology choice. Instead, they have branded themselves as the proponents of delay, confusion, deception, and incompetence.

Why anyone would trust anything that comes out of their mouths is quite amazing.

I’ve been in the trucking industry for 18 years now and until the last 6 months I had thought I’d seen and heard it all.

Navistar and Hebe, (Mr. Smoke and Mirrors himself), with microphone in hand, politician smile, and American flag on lapel have tossed so much propaganda and miss-information in front of their own, long time loyal customers regarding their EPA strategy versus everyone else’s that it’s become more than comical and interesting to watch, it’s become sad. Sad for the poor small and medium fleet owners that are faced with making, probably, the most critical decision of their business career; which technology to buy into?

NO ONE wants SCR. NO ONE wants MASS EGR. But, the entire world wants the trucking industry to go green. Sooo… So be it. Remove any and all words, charms, and promises and we have two irrefutable facts. MASS EGR (Selective EGR sounds so much more sophisticated) does not meet the standards the world has put on our industry. SCR does.

Here’s where I feel sad. When I hear a small fleet owner looking to buy 35 tractors with MASS EGR and, while the purchase price is relatively the same to the SCR products, Navistar throws in a “trade-back” value to help seal the deal. For those that aren’t familiar with “trade-back”, it’s a guaranteed value the manufacturer will give you when you go to turn the unit back in at the end of it’s agreed upon life cycle. The caveat is another unit must be bought in exchange (this is usually reserved for the JB Hunts and Swifts of the world.) I have a friend that just received a proposal from his local Navistar dealer with a trade-back value of just over 50% of the original purchase price with FET... THAT”S PHENOMENAL!! “I can run a tractor for 4yrs/500k mile for $50,000? Sign me up!!”

Unfortunately, there is reality we have to deal with. These over-inflated values WILL put companies out of business in 4 years. The used truck market can not resell tractors with that high a value. What will happen is the new tractor price will be adjusted up to cover the difference between a real value and the one given 4 years prior… this is called an “over-allowance”. Now that $100k tractor is $130k taking into consideration the annual 2 ½ to 3% manufacturing increases. With our industry working on a “pennies per mile” basis, I know I couldn’t afford to absorb a 30%+ increase to my equipment cost in a single blow.

One also needs to stop and think of who might buy their used 4 year old tractor with a technology that is no longer around… In a close comparison, you can look at the current used truck market and see what a unit with a CAT engine is selling for. Who wants to buy a unit with an engine that is no linger being produced. The current market validates this!!

This is what Navistar is selling… false hope and a lot of blue sky.

I also heard there’s some development land for sale in Florida… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrCPXtmmmfA

Please stop listening to the “pitch” and run your business with your instincts that have probably brought you to where you are… Nothing is free in this world, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Just the fact, please!!

Navistar says the EPA is aware and agreeable to their '07 engine stockpiling plans for 2010 trucks, but that sure isn't what I'm reading. The EPA is aware, but clearly not in agreement.
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Navistar Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Ustian said the company's engine plans have been vetted by the EPA. "They're well aware of what we're doing," Ustian said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts. "Our transition engine build is consistent with what the EPA has outlined in the rule making."
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(DieselNet) A new federal regulation could keep Navistar from offering customers US’07 compliant 15-liter engines for use in the company's heavy-duty trucks in 2010.

The EPA explains in the preamble to the proposed regulation that under the rule, "an engine manufacturer who sells engines to a vehicle manufacturer cannot sell engines in a current model year for the purpose of having them installed in a future model year's vehicles when the engine sale is beyond that required to meet normal production lead time requirements."

The pending EPA rule prohibiting the stockpiling of pre-2010-emissions engines for later use raises the potential for International trucks to be left without a 15-liter engine option until Navistar completes work on its own 15-liter engine in 2011. That would trigger a drop in the company's second place share of the North American heavy-duty truck market since an estimated 60% of its heavy-duty trucks are sold with 15-liter engines.