Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/696225
Class 8 Feature F ollowing a personal best U.S. market share in 2015, Volvo Trucks says it wants to con n- ue to achieve growth in the North American market in the coming years and to con nue its push for greater I-Shi automated-manual transmission take rates among new truck orders. In an industry update spanning a wide range of topics Wednesday, May 11, at the company's New River Valley truck manufacturing plant in Dublin, Va., Volvo Trucks global boss, Claes Nilsson, and North American head Göran Nyberg said 88 percent of new Volvo truck or- ders in 2015 were spec'd with the com- pany's I-Shift automated transmission. That feat comes less than 10 years after the company introduced the transmission to the North American market in 2007. The take rate of its I-Shift AMT also coincides with another accomplishment the truck maker announced earlier this year: A record 12.4 percent retail market share. And though truck orders industry wide were "soft" in the first few months of 2016, the industry should still see net orders of roughly 250,000 in 2016, the pair said, following 2015's record showing. "We really want to be a technol- ogy leader," said Nilsson. "We have launched a number of features over the years which have been technology lead- ing. Right now we are very much focus- ing on some interesting areas of technol- ogy like platooning and autonomous vehicles. Of course we are continuing to work with alternative drive lines and [alternative fuels]." Connec vity, predic ve maintenance Volvo says the next technological step for truck makers and carriers them- selves, as end users, is enhanced con- nectivity and reaping the maintenance 8 July 2016 BestDriverJOBS www.bestdriverjobs.com By James Jaillet Nillson, left, and Nyberg, right Volvo Trucks leaders talk Volvos growth, new fuel economy regulations and more in industry update