Smaller fleet operators, specialized carriers,
and owner operators tend to prefer Mack or Peterbilt and Kenworth
products. Larger fleet operators and public agencies tend to
prefer the lower cost Freightliners, Navistar,
and Ford products. There are also regional preferences with truck
drivers within the United States.
On the East Coast,
where routes were traditionally shorter, and because the trucks
were made there, many drivers preferred Mack Trucks. While on
the West Coast,
the drivers preferred Peterbilt, Kenworth, and Freightliner.
White built a new factory in California in the early 1960s, with long-haul
trucking company Consolidated Freightways.
The entity, which became White-Freightliner, then just Freightliner,
catered directly to western fleets that wanted a lighter-aluminium cab
and frame, and traveled longer-straighter distances without stopping.
Drivers more concerned with safety than with fuel-economy preferred
the heavier Peterbilts and Kenworths. Kenworth and Peterbilt,
which had started out as heavy-duty trucks for hauling logs,
forest products, and steel for shipyards on the West Coast, anticipated
the need for these lighter long-distance trucks. |
