Bulldog’s helper

Mack’s new automated manual transmission reads the road and makes the right calls to tame the Appalachian slopes.

On a cold March morning, at a table overlooking the Mack and Volvo corporate campus in Greensboro, N.C., I asked Kevin Flaherty, senior vice president for Mack in the U.S. and Canada, if I detected a bit of swagger at this century-plus-old American company.

By Jack Roberts — executive editor for Overdrive and its sister trucking publications.

“I don’t like the word swagger,” Flaherty said, laughing. “It has too much in common with cocky. And we’re definitely not cocky. But Mack is in a really, really good place these days.”

The new Mack engines with ClearTech selective catalytic reduction technology, he said, were “a home run.” A few days later, at an industry event in Louisville, Ky., Flaherty would underscore his point by announcing a 12 percent increase in fuel economy for 2010 Mack diesel engines on trucks equipped with new Mack aerodynamic equipment, compared to their 2007 counterparts.

My path to Louisville required driving a 2011 Mack Pinnacle A/B with a 70-inch mid-rise sleeper across the Smoky Mountains. David McKenna, Mack’s director of powertrain sales and marketing, accompanied me. Dave’s job would be to point out the features of the 505-horsepower Mack MP8, coach me on the proper use of the Pinnacle’s mDrive 12-speed automated manual transmission and generally keep me company on the 500-mile run.

The mDrive starts out by sensing weight — in the case of this test drive hauling granite blocks, more than 79,000 pounds.

Automated manual (AMT) and automatic transmissions are making tremendous inroads in the heavy-duty market. Flaherty believes that in just a few years, 40 percent of new Mack trucks will be spec’d with mDrive AMTs.