Transportation: Making It Big–and Small

Even more than the automakers, whose 1966 sales are off to a roaring start, U.S. truck manufacturers thrive on good times. As the economy grows, demand for trucks to haul everything from flowers to forge castings grows even faster. In 1965, for the fourth consecutive year, the U.S.’s 14 truck manufacturers expect to shatter records by turning out 1,500,000 vehicles and running up a 10% sales increase. Last week International Harvester, the industry’s third largest company, announced that its truck sales have surpassed $1 billion for the first time, thus making Harvester the first company outside the passenger-car field to exceed that mark. Most truck companies are running as much as four months behind on deliveries.

No Harm from Piggybacking. With 37% of the truck market, Chevrolet easily leads other truckmakers in sales, is followed by Ford and Harvester. The two hottest sellers are the Mutt and Jeff of the industry: the small delivery truck and the huge tractor-trailer. Chevrolet’s 61 models have cornered 78% of the small-truck market, which has mushroomed until it now accounts for 76% of all truck sales. The light trucks have even inspired some leisure-time cousins: small, rugged vehicles that are designed for camping, recreation and family hauling. To satisfy this market, Chevrolet has introduced the Chevelle El Camino, Ford has brought out a Ranchero on a Falcon chassis and a rugged, all-purpose Bronco roadster. Harvester is pushing its Scout, and Kaiser has a strong-selling civilian model of the Jeep.

The market is equally strong in the big-truck field—dominated by Harvester, White Truck and Mack—in which volume is lower but individual price tags vastly higher. Most orders come from interstate freight lines and are for huge tractor-trailers. Railroad piggybacking has not harmed this market as truck makers feared it would. Railroads still need trucks to haul trailers off freight cars and on to destinations; besides, trucks are still the most economical carriers for runs under 500 miles.

The heavy-truck companies are developing increasingly sophisticated new equipment. Chevrolet showed off a turbine engine last week at the Manhattan convention of the American Trucking Association, though the current high cost of turbines may delay their widespread introduction for some time. Trucks are now equipped with air conditioning, pushbutton windows, transistor radios, bucket seats and adjustable steering wheels. Most big trucks carry beds with innerspring mattresses for the alternate driver; companies are planning to add bathrooms, pantries and even TV before long.

No Kicking Tires. Unlike the auto industry, in which buyers crowd into showrooms to kick tires and slam doors, the truckmakers rely on aggressive bell-ringing salesmanship. The fleet owners, the largest of which are A.T. & T., Hertz and REA Express, account for 30% of all sales. They care less about chrome than about axle ratios and operating costs, unlike auto buyers insist on vehicles that will easily run 400,000 miles without major overhaul. All the salesmen’s calls and painstaking demonstrations for show-me truckers are worth the effort, however. Depending on optional equipment, truck sales run as high as $130,000 per vehicle, with commissions to match.