It seems only yesterday the only hybrid on any highway was a Toyota Prius or two. Now around where I live, you can see phalanxes of Priuses on any given day. On top of that, it seems everyone who makes anything that helps drive a commercial vehicle has got a hybrid offering of somes sort on the road or at least in the works.

This was driven home to me (no pun intended, honestly) recently when I got to witness an Allison Transmission “ride and drive” outside their headquarters in Indianapolis. It was not an elaborate event, at least not compared to some others held a few years back by this maker of automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles, but it was certainly geared to impressing potential customers.

There was an on-road and an off-road course so customers could experience how the automatics are designed to deliver “smooth power” no matter what the truck is doing– whether that be rolling in traffic or tackling a slope at a construction site.

Getting back to hybrids, in a chat with Steve Spurlin, recently named executive director of 3000/4000 Series & application engineering for the manufacturer, I learned that Allison is well along in fielding a full-blown hybrid electric drive system for transit buses, dubbed Ev Drive.

According to Allison, its Ev Drive can significantly enhance the performance of transit buses, suburban

coaches and articulated buses running in a variety of applications – whether stop-and-go city

traffic, operating over the road or in some combination of the two.

If hybrids can be found now in passenger cars, pickup trucks, medium-duty trucks and transit buses, how much longer till they find their way into heavy-duty rigs? Don’t better on it not happening sooner than later.

Back in the year of our nation’s Bicentennial, senior slump in the waning days of high school was relieved a bit by a substitute history teacher who apparently took great joy in teaching us Catholic school boys and girls a few select “swear words” in Chinese. To this day, I have no idea if his claims of Cantonese scholarship were true or, if so, what he taught us meant what he said it did or actually translated to something like “You are a soggy egg roll!”

Thirty-one years later, China– the People’s Republic of, that is– is still a Communist dictatorship but it has emerged as an economic force to be more than reckoned with. Certainly, we can all hope that as the more “green” rolls in the less “red” it will become. But given how the Chinese government crushed the Tiananmen Square protests back in ‘89, the day China becomes a democracy may be yet another century off.

In the meantime, one thing is damn sure: More Chinese goods– and of higher and higher value and complexity– will make their way to our shores. News reports of recalled toys have informed us that something like 90% of the toys now sold here are made in China. And a visit to any chain store or souvenir shop for that matter will clearly show that most stuff of any sort that costs less than 10 bucks is made there too.

But what many Americans don’t realize is China is also making bigger stuff for export too. Major appliances are here already– and, yes, cars are next. Consider this piece from Forbes.com about how the Chinese OEM Chery recently rolled its millionth– yes, millionth– vehicle off the assembly line.

As noted by the Forbes reporter, thanks to deals with Italy’s Fiat and Iran’s Khodro, the Chinese firm has vowed to double the number of its offshore plants in three years. And under the terms of an earlier deal, Forbes reports, Chery-made Chryslers will soon reach the U.S. and be priced “at around half of the current price of Chrysler’s cheapest model.”

It may start with bread-and-butter cars like a Chery hatchback but you can be sure Chinese-made sedans and SUVs will follow– not to mention pickups and on up the GVW scale. There could well be a Chery in your future. No matter how foreign that may sound right now.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge in this space the outpouring of support I and the other members of the FleetOwner editorial & art staff have received from persons near and far in response to the tragic passing of Terry Nguyen, our beloved friend and colleague, whom we lost two weeks ago.

Everyone on FleetOwner has mentioned receiving phone calls, emails, cards and letters expressing sincere condolences. These kind words have come to us not only from all quarters of the U.S.-Canadian trucking industry but literally from the four corners of the globe– truly a witness to the positive impact Terry had in his short time with us.

I know each of us on FleetOwner has been deeply touched by these gestures of sympathy and have been honored to convey them to Terry’s family and friends.

Thank you.

“No worries.” I can’t tell you how many times my young friend– 21 years my junior to be exact– said that to me over the past three-and- a- half years as we worked together. And I know if he saw me now, he’d say it to me again, calming me down and lifting me up at the same time, were he still here among us. But sadly, terribly, Terry Nguyen lost his life to the fury of an ocean at the still tender age of 27 less than a week ago, on the afternooon of June 1st. Now it’s up to me to breathe life again into that line for him and above all to tell you a little something about the wonderful guy who had served so terrifically as the FleetOwner web editor since early in 2004. I only hope I can do his memory justice.

When Terry joined our merry band at FleetOwner, I didn’t know what to expect. He was our second web editor ever and back then, in February ‘04, some of us ink-stained types (me, anyway) still weren’t all that comfortable with the online world we were being asked to embrace alongside our familiar print environment.

I was charged in part with showing Terry, who was just a few years and jobs out of college, the editorial ropes. I pretty much had to cover everything from what cost-per-mile is to what a private fleet is with sidetrips to such arcane stopovers as journalistic style and, of course, why male FleetOwner editors are almost always clean-shaven.

Terry took me all in his calm stride– the bad-mood mornings, the better afternoons, the insane way I can only write well under withering pressure or late at night. Very soon, and faster than anyone I have met before or since, Terry grasped what our readers are about and what kind of information they need as well as how to get it for them. And that he did like a terrier. A very well-mannered terrier but a terrier none the less. I can’t tell you how many Washington big shots and trucking kingpins he interviewed or at least got a meaningful comment out of, often getting what he needed from them to meet a deadline before many of us had had our second cup of coffee.

Yes, I may be a veteran journalist but I learned so much from watching him, getting a refresher course in journalistic gung ho that I now treasure. Indeed, before long I found he was as much mentoring me as I him.

In fact, I would not be writing this blog entry– even have this blog to write in– were it not for Terry’s low-key encouragment that I could make it happen with, yes, “No worries.” And low key is key. Terry was not one to yell, let alone raise his voice above a conversational level. Yet we all heard him, even the several members (me included) of the staff who are more than a little hard of hearing. Maybe that’s because he always spoke quietly yet confidently, sure of himself without ever being cocksure.

That, I think, is one of the main reasons– along with his gentlemanly kindness– that he was so well liked and will be remembered fondly long after many blowhards yet to be born have come and gone.

Here you see Terry in a shot cropped from a photo of he and a friend posing (I’m pretty sure) outside the White House on a vacation trip he made to D.C. Terry loved to travel and his travel always meant visiting friends and family. When he got back from a trip, I was always astonished not by what he saw, but how many people he managed to see! By the way, that’s his trademark cap he’s wearing– the one he wore (but only outdoors) nearly every day.

He was on such a trip when his life was cut far too short. Terry was in Florida for a few days of vacation with a couple of college buddies after the Memorial Day weekend. The details are sketchy but after lunch on Friday of that week the fateful decision to go swimming was made. Churning beneath the Atlantic surf off Delray Beach were rip currents, which can challenge even the most experienced swimmers. I don’t know who went in first or who knew what about the rips running that day, but my understanding from local news reports is that all three went in and all three came out only with the help of lifeguards. His two friend survived the ordeal, thank God, but Terry could not be revived.

This is the point in the story where Terry would join in and say, “No worries” then somehow add a few words to the effect that everything will turn out as it should. And it always seemed to. Till that day.

If you knew Terry, or even if you just liked hearing about him, please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers as they struggle through tough days ahead.

As for my colleague and dearly missed friend, to paraphrase the old Irish blessing, I believe Terry is now safely resting in the palm of God’s hand. And there he indeed has no worries.

When Teddy Roosevelt wanted to project the United States as an emerging world power a hundred years ago, he sent 16 new battleships– all painted white– and their escorts on an around-the-world cruise that over 14 months and some 43,000 miles made 20 port calls on six continents.

Now that was showmanship. Unfortunately, such grand gestures as the “Great White Fleet,” as it became known, won’t carry the day anymore. TR was out to show the world that the U.S. Navy was capable of operating anywhere and history tells us he succeeded.

Teddy’s big show came to mind when I read about another big fleet that’s been launched. But this one is out to demonstrate the width and breadth of an OEM’s latest truck lineup.

Peterbilt didn’t dub its project the Greet Pete Fleet but, hey, they sure could have. They opted to call it the “Models of Innovation” demonstration program and it is one massive show-and-tell.

Pete calls the program “an unprecedented campaign designed to provide existing and prospective customers the ability to test and evaluate a new 2008 model-year Peterbilt in the customers’ operation.”

The 130- unit fleet comprised of every ‘08 Pete model, including aerodynamic,” traditional,” vocational and medium-duty trucks, will be distributed throughout the OEM’s US/Canada dealer network.

“Peterbilt’s ‘Models of Innovation’ demonstration program will let our customers witness first-hand the company’s broad lineup of trucks equipped with the latest technologies enhancing fuel economy and driver comfort. They are built to exceed our customers’ expectation for the best in class quality, styling and low cost of operation,” noted Bill Jackson, Peterbilt gm.

Given the proliferation across the industry of entirely new truck models as well as variants— many developed especially due to changes wrought by new emissions regs– it would in my opinion be a smart move by all OEMs to copy this stratgey right out of the Peterbilt playbook.

Let the fleets roll!

Who doesn’t at least weigh a bit more heavily those household appliances– we’re talking refrigerators and other energy hogs here– adorned with the catchy EnergyStar label before plunking hundreds or thousands down to buy a machine that will consume gobs of electricity right before your eyes for likely years to come?

Well, I do anyway, even if I am never quite sure how much that fancy label will save me! But I am not running a business let alone a fleet of trucks so ROI is not as important as just replacing the worn-out clunker that expired on the kitchen floor before the ice cream melts or the dirty dishes start stacking up.

I have a strong suspicion that the EnergyStar label has been a boon to applicance marketers who, let’s face it, don’t have a whole lot to distinguish their products with other than handsome price tags.

I don’t feel quite the same can be said about heavy-truck OEMS, whose products are still very much distinguished by how they are put together and how they “feel” on the road–helping to make both owners and operators often fiercely loyal to one brand or another.

Nevertheless these manufacturers aren’t about to overlook a new means to power up their marketing. That’s why it’s no surprise to me that the Environmental Protection Agency has begun certifying ‘07 truck and trailer models as fuel effcient under its SmartWay program.

EPA said that the initial crop of SmartWay trucks– which includes those made by Freightliner, International, Kenworth, Mack, Peterbilt, and Volvo– can cut fuel consumption by 10 to 20%. EPA claims it plans to set more ambitious performance targets for SmartWay-recognized tractor-trailer combinations and other vehicles, such as delivery vans, in the future.

Still, I doubt many fleet managers will end up buying their trucks the way the do their household appliances. On the other hand, there is a nifty advantage of the SmartWay truck certification. EPA says truckers who buy this new equipment and are members of the SmartWay program will be able “to proudly display a logo on their qualified big rigs.”

That means fleets will be able to get some marketing mileage out of this program– that SmartWay decal will help tell the world how fuel-efficient and thus environmentally friendly your trucking operation is.

No one who knows me would mistake me for a motor-head. I am way too “mechanically challenged” to ever get that moniker bestowed on me. But, hey, I love cars and trucks and other mobile machines as much as any other true-blue, red-blooded American.

After all, I grew up on a steady diet of the Car and Driver magazines my big brother Brian–a bona fide car nut who successively owned a Z28, Chevelle SS, and Triumph TR6 in that Last Really Fun Decade, the ’70s– brought home month after month after month.

I should add it was not only the glorious car pix and the gloriously irreverent tone throughout that drew me to that enthusiast’s bible but the quality of its writing. I particularly recall –30-odd years later– the sublime prose of Englishman L.J.K. Setright. But the book was also home back then to such master wordsmiths as humorist Jean “The Christmas Story” Shepherd, comic genius Dick “The Smothers Brothers” Smothers, and the irrepressible Brock “Cannonball Run” Yates. Too bad all their Car and Driver stuff is not online– now that would be a trip to Surf City!

I don’t know who invented that staple of automotive journalism, the media ride-and-drive event, but I can tell you that back in the day Car and Driver ran the most illuminating and often hilarious road test reports.

And if you’re still with me (blog entries are supposed to be “short” but there’s no statutory definiton of that term so don’t sue me) that brings me to what this entry is all about: the recent eye-opening and, I gotta say, fun ride-and-drive for the brand-new ‘07 Sprinter put on by Chrysler Group Communications. While I’m at it: a tip of the cap to Dodge’s Bryan Zvibleman, Randy Jones and their commercial vehicle communications team and to commercial-vehicle marketing manager Pamela Niekamp for hosting the event. They were showing off the capabilities of the Dodge Sprinter but this DaimlerChrysler “Eurovan” is also available here in the U.S. badged as a Freightliner. Read “Sprinter plant up and running”

Over the past 26 years I’ve been on my share of ride-and-drives of everything from pickups to big rigs on closed courses and open roads here and in Europe but the recent spring day spent driving Sprinters over hill and dale was such a cut above other such events it registered with me, well, as quite the grip-and-grin.

The Southern California setting for this road trip didn’t hurt. The members of the mostly trucking press on hand took turns behind the wheel of about 11 Sprinter cargo and passenger vans, piloting them much of the morning and part of the afternoon over well-plotted routes that included mountain switchbacks, country roads and, of course, freeways.

The vans were either powered by a new 3.0-liter V-6 diesel or a new 3.5-liter V-6 gas engine and driven through a 5-sp automatic transmission. I drove both diesel and gas jobs and both powertrains were plenty quick off the mark and had no trouble going up the coastal mountains (big hills, really) or passing at (or above) posted speed limits on the freeway. It should be noted none of the vehicles were loaded but they gave all indications they were packing plenty of power to spare.

Other than different wheelbases, body lengths and roof heights, the biggest difference among the Sprinters was their seats and exterior colors. That’s because part of the Sprinter marketing approach is to roll these trucks out nicely loaded with a long list of standard features.

As evidenced by the ride-and-drive, these range from very impressive side mirrors with integrated wide-angle lens to the incredibly impressive new Adaptive ESP (electronic-stability program) system that includes sensors to take into account vehicle payload during braking and steering maneuvers.

In fact, the real clincher of this event was the special course laid out for us on a parking lot at the Ventura County Fairgrounds specifically to show off what the Adaptive ESP system does to boost the safety quotient for any Sprinter driver.

The handiwork of Stuttgart, Germany-based Thomas Kunzelmann, manager of technical product & media support for DaimlerChrysler AG, the course consisted of a high-speed slalom, a skid pad turning circle (complete with a water tanker to keep wetting it down), more high-speed slaloming and then the grand finale– or coup d’etat as it first looked– a high-speed “deceleration” lane.

Thomas was kind enough– actually he did seem to be enjoying himself rather well– to take each willing participant through the course with himself at the wheel.

Once the smoke off the tires blew away, he then welcomed us into the driver’s seat. Then, from the passenger seat (did I mention he was a brave fellow?) , he directed his guest through the course, explaining all the while the idea was to “get the feel of how the system will work” to keep the Sprinter stable, upright and on course in the face of the kind of evasive maneuvers that might be needed to prevent a horrific collision.

I have to admit I was a little busy with both hands on the wheel to take notes on my own performance, but I am pretty sure I got through the initial slalom run without taking out any cones. The skid pad was so much fun — sorry, but I did not look at the speedo– that I went around the slippery circle one, two, three times before exiting for the next slalom stretch. Then came the big finish. Upon stopping it as Thomas directed,I found the Sprinter again aimed square at a building behind a little array of cones.

OK, Thomas said, speed up to 55 MPH and then slam on the brakes to see how the Sprinter will stop in a straight line– and without going past the final cones. Despite having been right next to Thomas when he pulled this stunt not so long before, some of my natural caution (good sense?) came back as that building down yonder got closer and closer. I think I may have hit 45 or so before I slammed on the brakes.

Not quite a stunning performance to report, I admit, but then I don’t know the Sprinter “inside and out” as I was assured Thomas does. On the other hand, I did hop out of the cab with a very good sense of what that system can do– keep you and others safe even in very adverse driving situations.

Final driving impression: I’ve been told it took a while to wipe the grin off my face.

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, International Truck and Engine Corp. has been doing quite a bit of product re-branding lately. Back when they decided (or had to) jettison the “Harvester” from their name, they tried renaming the company (but not the trucks and engines themselves) Navistar International.

That did not fly too well in trucking circles although few can argue “Navistar” is not a good name for a truck company whereas, let’s face it, “International” is pretty darn generic.

So they moved onto calling the truck- and engine-making operation International. The truck and engine models got that name as well while Navistar was reserved for the holding company.

The latest move on the branding chessboard is to keep that all in place but to start ditching the aged numeric series designations in favor of such snappy and descriptive monikers as ProStar, TranStar, CityStar, DuraStar, PayStar and WorkStar.

I say keep it up! I could never keep the numbers straight (whether International’s, Peterbilt’s, Kenworth’s or whoever else’s) that tell you which truck model series is meant to do what. Plus what’s wrong with trucks, work tools that they may be, coming with a bit of built-in (badged-on?) personality right off the factory floor?

By the way, it’s only been recently I’ve stopped hearing fleet owners call the trucks “Harvesters” and that may be due more to a changing of the generational guard than any hotshot marketing.

Now if only someone could bring back the Brockway Husky…now that was a truck name!

Baseball has its World Series and the basketball powerhouses have their March Madness but trucking’s big show is four days on the cusp of Spring at the sprawling Fair & Exposition Center that’s but a short hop from the downtown of one of America’s greatest river cities, Louisville, Kentucky.

Indeed it is time to again head gladly South and indulge in porkchop sandwiches and other local delicacies as we in the industry press corps ( yes, that’s what we who aim to keep you informed on all things trucking generally call ourselves– you most certainly won’t catch any of us referring to ourselves as the “media”) endeavor to get to every booth we can and attend every scheduled and unscheduled press event possible during the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS).

This year, MATS– open to the public from March 22-24– is expected to be a tad subdued given how trucking’ s suppliers keep telling us we’re in a rough year. That’s thanks to the robust pre-buying so many fleets did last year to avoid ‘07 engines and the not-so-robust economy the whole country is enduring this year. Of course, everyone reminds us in the same breath that ‘08 and ‘09 will be real barn-burners as the pre-buy ahead of EPA 2010 will be one for the record books. We can’t wait

Nevertheless, truck OEMs slating news (not “press”) conferences include most of the usual suspects: sister firms Kenworth and Peterbilt, International, and Volvo– but not its corporate sibling Mack. But conspicuous by its absence from the scheduled events will be the Freightliner Group (Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star), which opted not to hold its almost-as-traditional-as-Thanksgiving news conference held every Thursday morning for as long as I can recall. Freightliner had a big presence at other recent shows, including NTEA’s Work Truck Show earlier this month. I can only guess the North American arm of DaimlerChyrsler’s global truck operations has nothing it feels compelled to formally share with the ink-hungry this time out.

Whatever news breaks at MATS, you can be sure to find it first on fleetowner.com, which will be updated daily with reports from the squad of FleetOwner editors, including yours truly, who will be covering the show.

See you in Louisville– or see you on the web!

“Excuse me while I kiss the sky…” Excuse me but all the hybrid engine talk– not to mention the actual trucks powered by hybrid engines that were on hand– floating around the NTEA’s Work Truck Show in Indy earlier this month, brought Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” straight back to my brain.

The good news for trucking– and the environment– is hybrid trucks are here and more are coming. Many more. The bad news for truck fleet owners and managers is now you have to start walking, talking and dreaming hybrid. That is if you want to save fuel and be an environmental hero.

But first things first. Just in case you somehow thought a hybrid engine just replaces a gas or diesel one the way an automatic or automated transmission drops right in place of a manual, let me disavow you of that notion but fast.

Hybrids work. But they are not simple and, above all, one size does not fit all. There will be a steep learning curve for truck buyers to be sure. To get a taste of how far hybrids have come– and an inkling of how much you have to learn– check out this report that was part of our direct-from-the-show NTEA coverage: http://fleetowner.com/management/news/hybrids_steep_learning_curve/index.html