Class 8 truck makers said they are paring away the number of component suppliers and shifting to integrating modules and systems with their chassis instead of simply assembling parts.

Trucking could get swept up in new federal rules aimed at aftermarket parts used to change the exterior lighting systems on automobiles, American Trucking Associations said.

Schneider Logistics has begun receiving 1,200 new trailers from Xtra Lease in an effort to cut costs in its deal with General Motors to service GM’s parts operation. Schneider provides transportation for GM and will save by using trailers from one source, Xtra said.

Reflecting carriers’ optimism about the business outlook for trucking, several truck and engine makers recently pointed to a stabilizing market for their products, more orders, higher build rates and gains in new customers as reasons they believed business should improve through the end of the year and into 2004.

Mileage on heavy-duty diesel engines designed to meet the October 2002 emissions requirements is accumulating to the point that maintenance issues have become a major topic for discussion at the first-ever meeting in Canada of the Technology & Maintenance Council, organizers said.

Truck makers DaimlerChrysler AG, Paccar Inc., and Volvo AB said in their latest earning reports they relied on improvements in their financial services and better efficiency to fight a continuing slump in Class 8 truck sales.

Sales of Class 8 trucks in September were off just 4.4% from the soaring levels of a year earlier, when buyers were loading up on new rigs ahead of a tightening of federal diesel engine emissions requirements that were about to go into effect..

Citing the success of the first Diesel Engine Emissions Summit in June and industry interest in such programs to help prepare for tougher federal rules on truck exhausts, organizers said they would hold a second summit next March.

Fleet executives who reported in February that their initial heavy-duty diesel engines with new emissions controls were performing largely as advertised and without any technical surprises repeated those cautiously optimistic endorsements as the one-year anniversary of the Environmental Protection Agency’s tougher emissions standard approached.

Two major trucking suppliers and a leading carrier said they are seeing improvements in their segments of the industry, citing in separate reports increased freight volumes, remarketing opportunities for used trailers and a growing acceptance of the reliability of new diesel engines.