Believe it or not, there are signs things could get better soon. And when they do, truck guys are the ones who'll need to be ready to get to work. Truck people have the experience required for these tasks, the enthusiasm for the work, and the proper tools to help get them done.
There are some reasons to be optimistic. First, not long before this issue went to press, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke spoke before Congress about the economy, stating that, while it's in a "severe contraction" now, if what the Obama administration, Congress, and the Federal Reserve are doing bring back some financial stability, "the recession will end in 2009 and 2010 will be a year of recovery." While there are a lot of things that have to go right for that to happen, that it's even possible is something to be happy about.
Second, the stimulus package could cause the creation of many jobs for truck guys (and please understand, when I refer to "truck guys," that includes women, too). Not to go to too deeply into what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 entails, here are some items that will be funded--and this is only a small sampling of the opportunities that are coming (the package is 407 pages long):
• Construction, repair, and improvement of agricultural buildings, plus maintenance projects
• Building watershed and floodplain easements
• Grants for rural water, waste water, and waste-disposal programs
• Construction of research facilities
• Improvement and repair of military facilities
• Upgrading and improving water-related infrastructure (including along the Mississippi)
• Building new fire stations
• Maintenance, rehabilitation, and restoration of Bureau of Land Management facilities, property, roads, and trails
• Upgrading Veterans Administration medical facilities
• Building and upgrading bridges, roads, and highways
• Improving airports and other FAA facilities
• Building high-speed rail service
These projects, which will be a mix of federal and state funds, are going to need truck guys to make them happen. All these projects will require raw materials and building materials to be hauled, construction to be done, and, in some cases, fairly serious off-roading (especially when it comes to doing work on BLM land). They're going to need people with the right expertise in these positions, and ideally, with the right equipment. And truck guys are just the ones to do the work.
This transition to a post-recession United States (and the potential impact truck folks will have on the rebuilding of this country) is what inspired us to make a big part of this issue about work trucks. When the time comes that these promises of money translate into jobs, truck guys will be called upon to get back to work. And we're here to tell you that when that time comes, the trucks are ready, too.
In this issue, you'll find a buyer's guide that focuses on half-ton work trucks. Half-tons do the majority of the work across the country. And while many of us would love to have the topline dually with leather and power everything, that isn't all that realistic right now. Plus, when it comes to having a truck built for hard labor, it needs to be something that can get beaten up, worked hard, and really used. This guide will show you what half-ton options are available from GM, Dodge, Ford, Nissan, and Toyota. And when it comes to standard equipment, we discovered that you get more than you might think. While most do have roll-up windows and vinyl benches, two manufacturers' work trucks come standard with V-8s, all come with automatics, and one base model is an extended cab. If you and/or your company are looking for something smaller than a full-size, check out the section that covers pricing and data for compact work trucks.
If your jobs require more serious capability, read our first look at the 2010 Ram Heavy Duty. Dodge revealed its new heavy-duty trucks at the Chicago auto show earlier this year. This is only the beginning in this category. We've already seen spy shots of the Ram's competitors (Brenda Priddy caught the next-generation Ford Super Duty, seen on page 12) and by 2011, all three will most likely be all new.
We're happy to report that good things are happening with vans, too. There's the upcoming Ford Transit Connect (story on page 46), the right van for people who don't have the space or budget for a full-size van, yet can't get enough real function out of a minivan. This has been a long time coming. When did the idea of the downsized van, the minivan, change exclusively into that of the kid carrier? I understand that's where the volume sales are, but it's left a significant segment of the market without the right vehicles. Nissan is also planning to bring a downsized van, based on the NV200 concept, to the U.S. If this segment becomes hot, we could see more small, work-biased vans.
When it's time, the truck makers have the right vehicles ready to do the work. And when called to duty, truck guys have the enthusiasm, the know-how, and the experience needed to get America moving again.