Emissions driving consolidation

"One of the most important business issues we must overcome is emissions," said Claes Claeson, Volvo Truck Corp.'s director of media relations, in an interview with reporters here. " Emission control is one of the drivers of consolidation because no one manufacturer can succeed with this without having enormous international muscle."

"The problem for global manufacturers is that the emission rules in Japan, the United States, and Europe all require different cycles and measurements to reduce NOx and particulates from diesel exhaust," he explained. "That makes it more expensive for us as manufacturers to comply with them."

Claeson added that truck OEMs would rather have those countries take a more unified and global approach to developing emission rules, rather than on a nation-by-nation basis.