Todd Bloom, president and chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, shared his medium-duty market insight with Fleet Equipment. 

When it comes to challenges facing users and manufacturers of medium-duty trucks, it’s important to understand that we operate in a different arena than our heavy-duty counterparts. In our world, economic, regulatory and technology issues can be quite different, and require distinct approaches. The first difference can be seen in the economy’s impact on the medium-duty truck market. Unlike heavy-duty, over-the-road operations, which can measure growth using relatively straightforward data like freight tonnage, the medium-duty market is made up of a variety of segments with different formulas for success.

When it comes to challenges facing users and manufacturers of medium-duty trucks, it’s important to understand that we operate in a different arena than our heavy-duty counterparts. In our world, economic, regulatory and technology issues can be quite different, and require distinct approaches. The first difference can be seen in the economy’s impact on the medium-duty truck market. Unlike heavy-duty, over-the-road operations, which can measure growth using relatively straightforward data like freight tonnage, the medium-duty market is made up of a variety of segments with different formulas for success.

New regulations are also impacting medium-duty trucks. Our customers, while struggling in some cases to balance the return on investment in green vehicles with environmental stewardship, are faced with new types of choices. Hybrids are proving to be commercially viable for some types of operations. Natural gas powered models, which can now take advantage of an improving infrastructure, can provide an acceptable ROI for other types of fleets.

Medium-duty trucks are far more advanced today than ever before. Import and domestic manufacturers alike struggled through a period of growing pains associated with 2008-2010 engines, but ultimately came to understand the technologies needed to meet a higher level of emissions standards.

Today, we are working to refine products further, to use mandated onboard diagnostics to better monitor vehicles and help ensure they are even more efficient and reliable than in the past. Data from on-board systems is now providing information that allows fleets, dealers and manufacturers to anticipate issues. That capability leads to a lower cost of ownership, especially from fuel consumption and maintenance expenses, as well as more uptime.

While it’s easy to feel the pressure on many fronts, there is ample reason to be incredibly optimistic about the state of the medium-duty truck industry. The economic growth we saw in 2013, we believe, will continue this year. We will also continue to find innovative approaches to regulatory challenges and develop vehicles that perform more efficiently and reliably for longer periods of time.

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