Everyone knows there are Volvo cars and there are Volvo trucks, but who knew both got rolling nearly at the same time? The whole thing started back in the 1920s when one-time economist Assar Gabrielsson became sales manager of Swedish industrial powerhouse Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF) where he bumped into former colleague Gustaf Larson and they hatched a plan to turn SKF into a global automaker.
The company's first passenger car left the factory 80 years ago last month and was followed the next year by its first truck, the 28-hp. Series 1. The pioneering partners agreed “SKF” just wouldn't do as a vehicle nameplate and decided instead on the Latin term for “I roll,” which, surprise, is “Volvo.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
Fleet names we love
Got It Express
-Louisville, KY
The proof is in the pudding or, in this case, the numbers on the weigh-in scale as Celadon Group reports 73 of its employees have lost nearly 1,000 lbs., thanks to a weight-loss program tied to its Highway 2 Health wellness initiative. After completing a 12-week on-site Weight Watchers course, 54 employees at headquarters in Indianapolis lost 704 lbs. An additional 19 employees in Kitchener, ONT, lost 257 lbs-bringing the total to a whopping 961 lbs.
“I can't express how proud we are of every employee who has participated,” notes Celadon chairman & CEO Steve Russell. “With an average weight loss of 13 lbs. per person, we are all sharing in the excitement of their results.”
Not too cheesyIt's always football season aboard, “Packer Pride,” a rolling tribute to the Pride of Green Bay owned by Jack and Mary Norton out of Knapp, WI.
“For insurance firms to offer trucking companies discounts for safe operations, they want three years worth of hard information to look at. Basically they are saying, ‘Show me the data.’”
— Richard Beyer, director of technical sales, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems
Kenworth Truck Co. has scored the 2007 Industry Innovation Award presented by the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute for its Kenworth T800 liquefied natural gas (LNG) truck along with its Southern California dealer Inland Kenworth, Clean Energy and Westport Innovations.
The collaborative effort honored by the award involved Kenworth T800s, being placed into the port markets of Los Angeles and Long Beach, that are equipped with Westport Innovations' LNG fuel system installed on Cummins 15-liter engines.
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