World truck impractical
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THE "WORLD TRUCK" is a good achieved in practice according marketing director at Cummins.
He told CM that in practical terms, manufacturers could not offer the same vehicle worldwide because of various local restraints, both political and technical.
Mr Armstrong mentioned that in many markets it is impossible to import without a high percentage of local content and this restriction went against the basic concept of the World Truck.
He suggested however that there is a market for a standard basic design with a lot of options to tailor the vehicle to the individual requirements of the local market.
Mr Armstrong emphasised that "the trick is to have the most expensive components as standard" with the engine as the obvious example.
Currently the Cummins 14litre engine is manufactured in the USA, Japan, UK, Brazil, India, China, South Korea and Mexico, which Mr Armstrong claimed would be a useful asset for reaching local content requirements.