Cat to keep on trucking in Aus

Cat U.S. decision has no impact on Australia and New Zealand

The long-term future of Cat trucks in Australia and New Zealand will not be impacted by the recent decision of Caterpillar Inc. to discontinue production of its vocational models in North America.

Caterpillar launched its first vocational truck in the North American market in 2011, working with Navistar on the products' design and build. Last year, the company announced its intention to begin independently designing and manufacturing its vocational truck products at the Caterpillar plant in Victoria, Texas.

However, last week the company announced it would not go ahead with the production of trucks at the Victoria plant.

"Remaining a viable competitor in this market would require significant additional investment to develop and launch a complete portfolio of trucks, and upon an updated review, we determined there was not a sufficient market opportunity to justify the investment," said Ramin Younessi, vice president with responsibility for Caterpillar's Industrial Power Systems Division. "We have not yet started truck production in Victoria, and this decision allows us to exit this business before the transition occurs."

North American vocational models have never been available in the Australian and New Zealand markets and are built on an entirely different cab and chassis platform than the CT610 and CT630 on-highway units sold in Australia since 2010.

For Australia and New Zealand, Caterpillar’s announcement to end production of North American vocational models will have no effect whatsoever.

"It is business as usual for Cat truck dealers in Australia and New Zealand," said Glen Sharman, director of sales, marketing and business development in Australia.

Since the launch of Cat trucks in Australia in 2010, the range has been extensively expanded with purpose-built models such as the spacious CT630LS, the CT630SC specifically engineered for B-double duties and most recently, the roadtrain triples-rated CT630HD.

"We can assure everyone, particularly current and prospective Cat truck customers, that Caterpillar’s announcement has no bearing on our business in Australia and New Zealand," Mr Sharman concluded.

Cat to keep on trucking in Aus

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