Automotive Trucks information on net.

CHICAGO--International Harvester Co., here, and General Automotive Corp. (GAC), Ann Arbor, Mich., together will be attempting to secure government contracts for military tactical trucks now that they have agreed to jointly develop the vehicles.

Thomas Dougherty, vice-president of marketing for International Harvester's truck group, said the two firms will initially work together to attempt to win an Army order for 3 1/2-ton medium tactical trucks. While the funding for such vehicles has not yet been approved, Dougherty said early estimates show that the government is expected to purchase about 30,000 vehicles over three years.

Because the Army has not yet issued the specifications on such vehicles, Dougherty said it has not yet been decided whether existing components from either firm's equipment could be modified to fill such an order or whether all-new component designs would be needed.

He also said it has not been determined whether existing facilities from either firm would be used for production if contracts were secured.

"It would depend largely on the size of the contract. If we got a contract for 30,000 vehicles, we probably couldn't fill it with our present facilities and would need a separate plant. If we got a smaller order, we might be able to fill it out of our present plants," he said.

While there are no specific plans to seek other government contracts or to jointly produce commercial vehicles, Dougherty said the two firms hope the agreement will serve as a basis on which they could develop and produce other special vehicles, both military and commercial.

Ronald Markwood, vice-president and general manager of General Automotive's government products division, said he expects development contracts to be awarded toward the end of this year, with production beginning in 1986 or 1987.

Markwood said the bidding will be competitive. General Motor's Coach & Truck division, General dynamics Corp.'s Land Systems division and Teledyne Inc. are expected to be among other competitors.

The venture with Harvester is also part of GAC's effort to expand its presence in transportation markets. In other moves, the firm has increased its market share of transit vehicles and entered into the touring coach market.

John Maddox, marketing manager for the Flxible bus manufacturing operation of GAC in Delaware, Ohio, said the firm recently introdced the Star Coach, a touring bus the firm hopes to sell to long-distance bus firms, such as Greyhound. Maddox said the firm received an order for 20 vehicles from a Los Angeles firm that will be providing transportation during the 1984 Olympics there.

The busesare being built as part of a joint venture with Wahl International of West Germany. The bodies will be built at the GAC-Ireland facility in Shannon, Ireland. That facility was purchased from Bombardier Inc., Montreal, last August Finishing of thevehicles will be in the U.S. GAC will continue to manufacture double-decker buses for the Irish Transit Authority there.

A prototype model of the coach has been sent to the U.S. for marketing purposes and the plant is currently producing the vehicles to meet the first order, the spokesman said.

In its Flxible bus unit, which the firm purchased from Grumman Allied Industries Inc., the spokesman said GAC has increased its market share from 12 to 30 percent in the past year. Orders which the firm either received or put in the low bid for totaled 855 vehicles in 1983, an improvement over the 1982 level. The spokesman said he could not supply comparable 1982 data.

The company's claimed improvement in market share has been won as the field of competitors for the limited orders available has become more congested. In addition to General Motor's Coach & Truck Division and Flyer Industries Ltd. of Winnepeg, the spokesman said several new foreign and domestic firms have entered the market.

New competition comes from Gillig corp. of Haywood, Calif., which had concentrated its efforts in the school and small bus market and now is attempting to grow in the transit market; Neoplan Co., LaMar, Col., a new German-based competitor, and Bus Industries of America, Oriskay, N.Y., a division of Ontario Bus industries Ltd., Mississauga, Ont. Also, he said Volvo and Scania, both of Sweden, and M.A.N. Bus of Germany have increased their presence in the U.S. bus market.

GAC executives attribute their success to a newly designed lighter bus which they said is more fuel-efficient and results in a lower "life cycle" cost. GAC spokesman said the firm has received several orders where it was not the lowest bidder but where the cost of operation was low enough to make GAC the lowest cycle producer.

Flxible buses sold by Grumman to some transit agencies have been the object of criticism, suffering from cracks in under-carriages and door frames and, most recently, problems with steering mechanism among many buses in use in New York City. However, the spokesman for GAC said the company has notbeen affected by these problems, since Grumman corrected the defects in 1981 before selling the unit to GAC. As reported, Grumman has sued Rohr Industries, from whom it bought Flxible in 1978, alleging that Rohr did not inform it of design problems or of inadequate road testing.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:45 AM