TRUCKMAKERS NEWS WORLDWIDE * Germany - Daimler Naming Judge as First Woman to Management Board

(Photographer: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images German Constitutional Court judge Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt)

Stuttgart,Germany -Bloomberg, by Chris Reiter -Feb 9, 2011: -- Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes- Benz cars and trucks, plans to appoint Christine Hohmann- Dennhardt, a constitutional judge, to its management board as early as next week, two people familiar with the situation said... Daimler, the world’s largest truckmaker and second- biggest manufacturer of luxury cars, has had periodic brushes with regulators... The company faces questions this week by Paris judges leading a nearly five-year-old probe into insider trading at European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., according to a person familiar with the case... Daimler’s offices were raided by European Union investigators last month over possible antitrust violations by European truckmakers... Last year, two Daimler units pleaded guilty to violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as part of an agreement with prosecutors to resolve allegations the German carmaker paid bribes to foreign officials. As part of the deal, the automaker agreed to pay $93.6 million to settle a criminal probe and $91.4 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...

* Australia - New line-up of Mack Trucks to hit the road

Sidney,Australia -Transport and Logistics News -10 Feb 2011: -- The Mack Trucks':  Metro-Liner, Granite, Trident, Super-Liner and Titan will all be taking to the streets in cities and towns across the country painted in colours that reflect the Australian landscape and the pride Mack has in being able to offer high quality locally engineered and manufactured vehicles... In addition to stronger, cooler running engines, Mack Trucks introducing its home-grown mDRIVE. This pure-bred automated manual transmission has been designed and engineered to seamlessly integrate with the new MP8 SCR engine in order to create a highly efficient, powerful driveline, with customised software that can provide application excellence in construction or on road environments... The combination of MP8, mDRIVE and Mack steer and drive axles provides operators with the peace of mind of an all-Mack driveline...

* South Africa - Hyundai restructures truck division as it looks to expand

(Picture Hyundai's refreshed HD Mighty range)

Johannesburg,SA -Engineering News, by Irma Venter -10 February 2011: -- Hyundai Automotive South Africa (HASA) is in talks with its Korean supplier, Hyundai Motor Corporation (HMC), to develop a right-hand drive version of its H160/H170 truck, able to carry an eight- to ten-ton payload, for the South African market...  HMC manufactures a range of trucks at its Jeonju plant, in South Korea, but only the small HD65 and the HD 72 trucks are available in right-hand drive versions and, therefore, in South Africa...  HASA marketing director, Stanley Anderson, says that South Africa was, up to last year, HMC’s only right-hand drive truck customer...  Today, its Jeonju plant builds 107 600 trucks a year, 17 400 buses and 152 000 engines...

* UK - Workers face hearing tests

Sandbach,Sttafordshire,UK -This is Sttafordshire -11 Feb 2011:  --  More former employees of Sandbach truck-makers Foden are today finding out if they are in line for compensation after suffering hearing loss...  Hearing tests are to be carried out at a solicitors' firm to assess whether they have grounds for a claim...  Attwood Solicitors of Stoke is already acting for more than 60 workers from the former factory...  The firm says Foden's insurers have now agreed payment should be made to ex-workers who suffered from tinnitus and other hearing conditions as a result of exposure to noise while at work...   Audiologists will be on hand to carry out tests and advise potential claimants...