Global Commercial Vehicle Meeting 2014

The world’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty commercial trucks and engines called for further progress in regulatory harmonisation and closer cooperation among European, North American, and Japanese regulators in order to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel consumption associated with on-road freight transport.

Meeting in Tokyo, the chief executives of more than 10 global truck and engine manufacturers discussed key issues facing their industry, including fuel efficiency improvements, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, safety, diesel fuel specifications, and issues related to heavy-duty engine and vehicle regulation and certification.

Chaired by Mr. Susumu Hosoi, President of ISUZU Motors Limited and Chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association’s Heavy Vehicle Committee, this was the chief executives’ twelfth meeting to discuss global issues and recommend solutions to the critical challenges facing commercial vehicle manufacturers.

Summarising the meeting, Mr. Hosoi stated, “Heavy-duty engine and vehicle manufacturers are making clear progress in exhaust emission reductions and fuel efficiency improvements with sustained efforts.  We confirmed that accelerating efforts aimed at harmonisation of test procedures and standards are needed to further advance the global objective of  greenhouse gas reductions.  We also confirmed the need to continue to discuss safety measures. The best approach to reach this objective is for governments and industry to work together.”

Advancing the progress made at previous meetings, the chief executives discussed issues related to:

• Fuel efficiency improvements and reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• Safety measures;
• The development of a certification procedure for heavy-duty hybrids;
• Harmonisation of diesel fuel specifications and regulations; and
• Adoption of the worldwide heavy-duty emissions certification procedure (WHDC).

Points agreed on at this twelfth gathering of the industry leaders included:

• Early action on the introduction of globally harmonised fuel efficiency metrics and test procedures for heavy-duty vehicles;
• The need for further discussions on safety measures;
• To promote global harmonisation of heavy-duty hybrid certification procedures;
• The need for further discussions on diesel fuel specifications; and
• The need for global cooperation in expanding WHDC.

The leaders of the assembled companies a) emphasised the need for concerted global action for GHG emissions reductions; b) agreed to work with their governments not only to expand WHDC but also to support the United Nations in the establishment of a globally harmonised hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) procedure for use in heavy-duty hybrid certification; c) referred to the progress made so far in UN discussions on the development of global diesel fuel specifications, and d) confirmed the need for further discussions on safety measures.

 Agreeing to advise their regional secretariats to continue the activities of the joint experts meetings, they also affirmed that trans-national/trans-regional cooperative efforts between industry and governments toward global harmonization can serve to promote improvements for customers and the global environment.

Also attending this meeting were representatives of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA; the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association, EMA; and the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, JAMA.

Erik Jonnaert, ACEA Secretary General, extended an invitation to the chief executives to hold their 2015 meeting in Europe.