Sterling just unveiled the Bullet this week. We all know what it is - but you now have a different place to buy it. Still it looks pretty sharp and is supposed to be pretty nice. http://www.sterlingtrucks.com/SterlingBullet/
I was under the impression that sterling WAS a ford heavy truck. I knew that they were bought out by either Volvo or Freightliner.( I think) that looks ALOT like a Dodge 1/2 ton or 1 ton. which reminds me of a TV comerical I seen this year that showed the entire Dodge line, and at the end of the line was a Sterling Tractor are they a division of dodge/chrysler?
The Sterling Bullet is a Dodge truck with a Sterling grill I was hoping for a different look. Sterling is a part of the German company which also has Dodge.
Daimler Chrysler is the parent comany for Dodge/Crysler/Jeep as well as Mercedes. Daimler's heavy truck line is Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star. Daimler bought the L-line from Ford and Sterling was born. They also owned American LaFrance fire truck for a while, but that was recently spun off. Daimler also purchased Detroit Diesel. At this point I think most Detroit's are re-badged Mercedes engines. The Bullet looks to be on the Dodge 4500/5500 chassis. Dodge is jumping into the F-450, F-550 market. From what I heard the truck is pretty robust. Volvo owns Mack. Peterbilt and Kenworth are owned by the same parent company (Paccar) and International is a stand-alone comany. I imagine International will merge with somebody at some point in time as they are the smallest player in the busniess and just won't have the resources to keep up.
I don't know about in your part of the world but International went belly up down here and were bought by FIAT (IVECO) in 1992.
I think it will be good for the competition. Sterling will just be another outlet for companies allowing them to run a full sterling fleet all the way down to their small equipment and have one dealer and one service dept. -Eric
Squizzy, I did not know they pulled out of Australia. Wheather you like thier trucks or not, from a corporate standpoint they aren't in the best position. They haven't declared earnings since 2004 and were recenly kicked off the NYSE for those reasons. Will they have to find a merger partner eventually? I don't know. I don't think Daimler or Paccar would take it, though it may appeal to Volvo. I hope they get their act together soon before things get worse for them.
International has some pretty impressive sales figures in the United States. Especially class 7 trucks. There seems to be a lot of them on the road. Price has a lot to do with that though. I'm not a big fan.
International definitely has led the class 6&7 market for a long time, though they are last in class 8. I grouped some of the numbers. Class 7 International: 34.96% Daimler: 32.88% Paccar: 12.58% Class 8 Daimler: 34.71% Paccar: 24.79% Volvo: 21.22% International: 18.79%
Lars, International are still available here just they are owned by IVECO. See the International link on the IVECO site here: http://www.iveco.com.au/ The ACCO is supposedly a legend truck here....there was a lot of them around...I'm not sure legend describes the thumb busting wrist breaking screaming sweatboxes I used to drive but they got the job done. We used to have a standing joke about Inter/ACCO maintenance plan....you always knew what to do...start rebuilding at the front...and by the time you got to the back it was time to start at the front again. Currently their automatic models sell well to the local councils for garbo trucks and the like. The IVECO influence hasn't done them any harm from what I hear....they have introduced a new concept to the International cab...its called "comfort" in the form of a seat that is actually better than a milk crate, and non-automatic disassembling dashboard. Also you don't actually need two pairs of ear defenders to drive them anymore. Yeah...I'm a big ACCO fan
Squizzy, you should contact ACCO cause with the praises you're givving them they might have a job for you. SQUIZZY spokesman for ACCO!:falldownlaugh
Yeah well...I don't want to give them too bigger wrap Seriously though, they were built in Australia and sold all over the southern pacific. Millions of miles and billions of tonnes I'd say have been covered by International ACCO's and you can't argue with that. There is even a book "Acco an Aussie Icon". The Army used to have a fair swag of Internationals too...so not all ex-soldiers that are hard of hearing are from artillery!