New RP Seeks To Standardize Model Year
Start of a vehicle "model year" would be greatly limited under a recommended practice approved by the Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations. The RP would simplify vehicle maintenance by requiring that a model year correspond with the calendar year it's numbered for, and restricting its beginning to no sooner than the previous Dec. 1.
TMC's RP 532 would end the practice of launching "next year's models" almost 12 months ahead of the calendar year – for example, introducing 2008 models in January 2007, which some manufacturers are now doing. The current practice results in multiple introduction dates, which confuse and complicate maintenance, the RP says.
However, like all of TMC's recommended practices, the new RP will be voluntary, and neither manufacturers nor customers would have to follow it.
Few will, predict manufacturers quizzed by HDT, because following the RP would cut trucks' residual values. For instance, trucks legally titled as 2002s even though they were built in March 2001 makes them '02s for valuation purposes, and boosts their prices by hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars.
As one marketing representative commented, maintenance managers might like a more accurately defined model year, but financial people in their companies won't. And buyers of used trucks realize that the vehicles are often older than their declared model years, but like the idea of owning something that seems newer, and will benefit, too, when they go to sell their trucks.
That aspect of current practice – misleading or not – is not mentioned in the recommended practice's brief, one-page text. Standardization of what constitutes a model year and preciseness in managing a fleet are.
"The purpose of this RP is to develop a standardized model year introduction date that all applicable suppliers will follow, so that the industry can have a defined point in time when model years change," the RP states. "This will allow fleets to streamline benchmarking practices, develop accurate life-cycle costs for both equipment and components, and better maintain a safe and efficient operational environment."
Adoption of the RP would allow a fleet to have all its trucks titled in the same way, making comparisons among different groups of vehicles easier and more meaningful, backers of the document believe. They include its originator, Mike Jeffress, vice president of maintenance at Maverick Transportation in Little Rock, Ark.
The RP is needed, its text states, because federal law now allows a model year to cover almost two years – the calendar year itself, plus as much as one day less than the previous year. Thus a manufacturer can begin selling vehicles titled for next year as soon as Jan. 2.
Under the new RP, trucks built up to Nov. 30 of 2006 would be titled as '06s, and could be titled as '07s no earlier than Dec. 1. None of those built starting in January could be called '08s until next December. This would upset the practices of many truck builders, who normally begin the next model year from January to July of the previous year.
Model-year pull-aheads are beginning this month, as some builders are titling vehicles with EPA '07-compliant diesels as '08s to differentiate them from '07-model trucks with pre-'07 diesels. For example, Ford is titling as 2008s its redesigned Super Duty F-250, F-350 and F-450 trucks, which went into production in mid-December with both new diesels and current gasoline engines.
However, General Motors will continue titling its new gasoline-powered GMT 900 series light-duty Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra pickups as 2007s until the traditional production and model-year changeover this summer. New-series "heavy duty" GMT 900 pickups with EPA '07 diesels due out soon will probably follow the same practice, as GM is differentiating the old 800 series pickups still being sold with a "Classic" label.
Kenworth and Peterbilt will title their EPA '07-powered heavy trucks as '08s, though they will not begin coming off the line until February or later. Both diesels and trucks have been extensively redesigned to comply with new federal emissions rules, but they'll not be produced until stocks of pre-'07 diesels are depleted. So for a short time trucks will be of current design and carry '07 titles.
This is true of many builders, whether they title their trucks as '07s or '08s. Some purposely ordered extra so-called "pre-compliant" diesels to push production of less costly trucks as far into the New Year as possible and to forestall the expected downturn.
The federal regs allow some manufacturers to phase in the new diesels during the coming year, so the Jan. 1 effective date for the engines is not absolute. Thus Ford will build its E series vans with pre-'07 diesels until this summer, and continue titling them as 2007s. GM will do likewise with its G vans until redesigned replacements debut this spring.
–Tom Berg,
Senior Equipment Editor
