Many Names, Fewer Choices

摘要

Sometimes less is necessary. The seemingly fast-fading recession reined in spending and rendered waste from many corporations, including those that build trucks. Tight money and new government regulations have weeded out several slow-selling models, leaving room for more successful and useful vehicles. There remains a truck or tractor for every purpose, if not every preference. Options lists have been pared by growing "strategic alliances" among builders of heavy tracks and component suppliers, while consol- idation of ownership has accelerated in recent years. These developments have pushed Class 8 manufacturing toward "vertical integration," where a truck builder makes or controls most of the parts that go into his vehicles. Buyers of light- and medium-duty trucks take it for granted, but surveys show most heavy-truck customers don't like it.