A year in review: 2024

It’s been a busy year for the commercial vehicle industry. As we reflect, I am proud to have shared our journey marked by resilience, innovation and growth. Together, we have faced challenges, achieved remarkable milestones and continued to lay the foundation for a promising future.

Over the past year, I hope you’ve taken advantage of some of the benefits of NTEA membership. Let’s take a look at some highlights from 2024.

Events

• Work Truck Week^® continues to grow. A verified 15,790 industry professionals from 29 countries and all 50 U.S. states gathered March 5–8 at Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis for Work Truck Week 2024, breaking the previous year’s attendance record of 14,885. Work Truck Show exhibit space was sold out, with 536 companies filling the exhibit hall and New Exhibitor Pavilion with the latest commercial vehicles, equipment and technology.
• Held during Work Truck Week 2024, Green Truck Summit featured intensive programs on clean energy trends for commercial vehicles and operational insights for vocational truck fleets.
• NTEA held its 2024 Executive Leadership Summit in September in Plymouth, Michigan — offering a forum to explore important commercial vehicle trends, forecasts and insights.
• NTEA brought together the upfitter community with chassis manufacturer technical and engineering experts in Sandusky, Ohio, for Commercial Vehicle Upfitting Summit.
• In October, NTEA opened registration for Work Truck Week 2025, scheduled March 4–7, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Education and resources

• The Business Conditions Survey Report was released to survey participants in the first and third quarters of 2024. This resource helps distributors and manufacturers better anticipate the upcoming market and gain insights into expectations regarding hiring, sales levels and business strategies.
• In February, NTEA launched a new edition of its Commercial Vehicle Certification Guide to capture the latest regulatory information in the U.S. and Canada. The Guide offers a representation of compliance mandates and implications facing work truck industry companies in North America.
• In March, NTEA released the 17th edition of Truck Equipment Handbook, the industry’s most comprehensive pocket guide for commercial vehicle components and equipment.
• The Association unveiled spring and fall editions of the U.S. Commercial Vehicle Market Report – Powered by Commercial Truck Trader, NTEA and S&P Global Mobility. This industry report delves into the details, data and trends around the life cycle of commercial vehicles.
• NTEA, in collaboration with Lincoln Electric Company and National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3), held Work Truck Industry Welder Certification Program Train-the-Trainer sessions in April and November. This initiative provides companies with access to a consistent training curriculum they can utilize to train welders within their organizations.
• Announced in third-quarter 2024, the 25th edition of Annual Manufacturers’ Shipments Survey Report offers the industry a data source to estimate market size in terms of dollars and units for 50 product lines.
• In September, NTEA released the Canada Regulatory Compliance Guide: An Essential Resource for Producing Commercial Vehicles for the Canadian Market. This new guide, along with NTEA’s Commercial Vehicle Certification Guide, is designed to serve as a resource for Canadian and U.S. multi-stage manufacturers navigating the regulatory compliance landscape in Canada.

Government advocacy

• As governments pursue regulations to create a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) future, this year has demonstrated many of the challenges to this transition. NTEA continues expressing to legislators and regulators that future ZEV work trucks must be available, capable and cost-effective.
• NTEA has begun positioning Federal Excise Tax (FET) repeal as part of the transition to ZEVs. Based on technology that could eventually eliminate gas and diesel as a transportation fuel, the tax revenue generated must be reevaluated. NTEA expects Congress to consider tax legislation in 2025 that would provide an appropriate avenue to address the FET issue.
• Catalytic converter theft has been a major problem for the commercial vehicle industry. NTEA supports legislation to address the issue. The Preventing Auto Recycling Theft (PART) Act would require parts marking and recordkeeping that would reduce thefts. NTEA is working to include specific truck parts such as diesel particulate filters and diesel oxidation catalysts into the legislation.
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) jointly proposed automatic emergency braking (AEB) rules for heavy trucks. NTEA is working with the agencies to increase understanding of how the bodies and equipment installed on the chassis may conflict with originally installed sensors. NTEA is similarly working with Transport Canada on these issues.
• In October, NTEA and the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) filed a lawsuit challenging the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which includes an end to combustion truck sales in 2036. NTEA is concerned that this rule, in conjunction with the already approved Advanced Clean Trucks rule, will negatively affect the future availability of work trucks in California and possibly other states.

On behalf of the Association’s Board of Directors and NTEA staff, I wish you a happy holiday season and look forward to seeing you in 2025.