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Continental Tire North America said it will boost prices up to 8% on all Continental and General Tire Brand truck tires in North America, effective Aug. 1.

Several General Motors Corp. plants idled by an 11-week strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings are set to begin operations soon, following a tentative settlement to the work stoppage, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Auto and truck component maker ArvinMeritor Inc. said late Tuesday it will institute a monthly surcharge for components due to rising materials prices.

Diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. is on pace for a fifth consecutive year of record sales and profits in 2008 and is poised for “significant further growth over the next several years,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tim Solso told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting Tuesday.

Ryder System said late Monday it has completed its acquisition of Gator Leasing, privately held company based in Miami.

The California Air Resources Board has confirmed to Transport Topics that Mack Trucks Inc., Cummins Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America have received certification that their heavy-duty engines meet California’s nitrogen oxide emission standards, providing users an exemption from the state’s five-minute idling regulation.

Major suppliers of drivetrain components, brakes and suspension parts are following the lead of truck and engine makers by expanding production and distribution outside North America, while revamping existing operations to lower costs and develop new products.

Commercial vehicle component maker Accuride Corp. said Thursday it lost $11.7 million, or 33 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $1.9 million, or 5 cents, a year ago.

Your front-page article April 7 about auxiliary power units possibly saving on fuel quoted an APU maker’s spokesman who stated (like many others I have seen) that idling truck engines use up to 1.8 gallons of fuel an hour.