This year, FleetOwner and its partner publications expanded onto all major podcast platforms with the Fleet Lead.
The Fleet Lead comes from journalists with FleetOwner, Fleet Maintenance, Bulk Transporter, and Trailer Body-Builders, conducting real conversations with industry leaders about top fleet issues.
Here are the Fleet Lead's top episodes of 2025, sharing insights from OEM executives and shop owners alike.
10. The future of electric truck adoption is dimmer
The electric truck market faces big changes this year. State and federal incentives are dissipating in the wake of the Trump administration's disruptions.
ACT Research analysts Lydia Vieth and Ann Rundle explain the current market and regulations, as well as their projections for future electric truck adoption, battery technologies, and beyond.
Listen to the episode in the media player below.
9. How Peterbilt is juggling new vehicle platforms, waiting on the freight recession
Peterbilt is finishing out 2025 with a strong lineup—but, just like every other industry stakeholder, they're also waiting to see how the market shifts on alternative powertrains, as well as looking toward the end of the freight recession.
To drill down on how fleets can manage their business needs while still operating in plenty of unknowns, Jake White, director of Product Marketing for Peterbilt, sat down to discuss the company's model 579 and 579 EV and how their customers are responding to the various powertrains available to them.
Listen to the episode in the media player below.
8. ATRI, A&M transport talk top fleet concerns
ATRI has published the industry's top 10 concerns. Top of the list: The economy.
Rebecca Brewster, president of the American Transportation Research Institute, and Andy Owens, president of A&M Transport, discuss the top 10 concerns fleets have at the American Transportation Associations' annual management conference.
Listen to the episode in the media player below.
7. Volvo's autonomous roadmap
People in the trucking industry predicted that autonomous trucks would be running in 2019—then it was 2021, 2024... What's the holdup? Sasko Cuklev, head of on-road solutions of Volvo Autonomous Solutions, details the company's strategy for commercializing autonomous trucking and its development of an autonomous ecosystem: digital integration, infrastructure, first responder training, and more.
Listen to the episode in the media player below.
6. Trucking's year in review: Uncertainty
The Fleet Lead’s editors share a retrospective on 2025 and a look ahead to 2026, focusing on the industry’s latest problems: freight demand and regulatory uncertainty.
Featuring John Hitch from Fleet Maintenance, Josh Fisher from FleetOwner, Kevin Jones from Trailer Body Builders, and Jason McDaniel from Bulk Transporter. Listen to the episode in the media player below.
5. Calling plays for mobile maintenance
In the age of convenience where everything is delivered, even commercial vehicle maintenance comes on wheels. But why would a shop decide to go mobile? In this episode, John Hitch interviews Kevin and Kyle Coltrain, who just launched Coltrain Onsite Fleet Care earlier this year. The brothers are drawing on their family's maintenance and football roots to run their company like a winning team.
Listen to the episode in the media player below.
4. Hendrickson's 'Beyond Suspensions' strategy
Hendrickson is a manufacturer and supplier of medium- and heavy-duty suspensions, axle and brake systems, tire pressure control systems, and other products to the global commercial transportation industry.
Hendrickson’s VP of marketing, Jeff Sass, talks about the company’s "Beyond Suspensions" strategy, American manufacturing, an aftermarket myth, and beyond. Listen to the episode in the media player below.
3. Volvo Trucks on the freight recession, fleet survival, and the bottom line
Volvo Trucks North America launched its new VNL and VNR models in the middle of the prolonged freight recession. While OEMs don't choose the market conditions when they develop a new truck, Peter Voorhoeve, president of VTNA, points to the bright side: the models' fuel efficiency can be a critical tool for carriers' bottom line.
In this episode, Voorhoeve talks about fleets' equipment acquisition strategies, the current environment of uncertainty, and electric vehicle adoption. Listen to the episode in the media player below.
2. Great Dane's secret to 125 years is focusing "on the right thing"
To reach 125 years, trailer manufacturer Great Dane continually adapted and innovated to remain a leader in the transportation space—and kept focused “on the right thing,” as its leaders would say.
In this episode, President and COO Rick Mullininx and EVP of Sales Chris Hammond highlight the company's history, key milestones, and future vision. Listen to the episode in the media player below.
1. New ATA chairman on drivers, tanks, regs, and trucking's future
ATA's latest chairman and Groendyke Transport's CEO, Greg Hodgen, thinks of himself as an optimist, while others call him a realist. But both perspectives are on display in this episode of The Fleet Lead, where Hodgen and Bulk Transporter Editor Jason McDaniel sat down for a frank conversation about the transportation industry, with a special focus on tank trailers.
From discussing the shortage of drivers versus qualified drivers to tort reform and beyond, McDaniel and Hodgen cover the spectrum of realism to optimism in trucking while looking ahead to 2026. Listen to the episode in the media player below.
Along with these articles, FleetOwner publishes several popular annual features that garner attention throughout the trucking and transportation industries. These include our annual looks at the largest commercial transportation systems in the U.S., the FleetOwner 500: For-Hire and FleetOwner 500: Private Fleets.
Our annual profiles of women in the industry, Women in Transportation 2025, were published this summer. Each year, FleetOwner recognizes the transportation operations of private fleets with the FleetOwner Private Fleet of the Year award. This fall, we expanded and rebranded our annual New Models into the 2025 FleetOwner vehicle guide, our largest-ever look at the next generation of heavy-duty, medium-duty, light-duty, and alternative-powered trucks and vans.
We put a bow on the year with the 2025 Trucking By the Numbers feature, an info-graphical look at the facts and figures that make up the trucking and transportation industries.
To view what's ahead for FleetOwner in the new year, please check out our 2026 Media Kit.
About the Author
Jeremy Wolfe
Editor
Editor Jeremy Wolfe joined the FleetOwner team in February 2024. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with majors in English and Philosophy. He previously served as Editor for Endeavor Business Media's Water Group publications.