BELLEVUE, Wash. — PACCAR’s Kenworth Truck Co. was recently honored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the prestigious Clean Air Excellence Award. Kenworth is the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to receive this accolade since inception of the award in 2000. The EPA recognized Kenworth’s outstanding innovative efforts and progress in developing advanced environmentally friendly vehicles.

“The general economy continues to struggle. Reasonable freight tonnage is being offset by challenging economic conditions resulting from depressed residential and commercial real estate construction, lower auto production, reduced capital spending by most industrial businesses and weak retailer sales,” said Tom Plimpton, PACCAR vice chairman. “Second quarter industry truck production in North America and Europe is estimated to be 5-10 percent lower than the first quarter with negative pressure on margins. PACCAR’s second quarter truck production reflects the lower industry output and the company’s truck segment gross margin will be lower than the first quarter. PACCAR continues to rigorously reduce operating expenses to align our business with the current market.” Plimpton added, “There is some encouraging news as national trucking companies are beginning to recognize the benefits of purchasing new trucks later this year as their current vehicles’ maintenance costs increase due to the aging of their fleets.”