There's been a good bit of truck news coming out of the annual, absolutely massive ConExpo-Con/Agg 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, that yellow-iron specialists at Fusable's Equipment World covers annually. CCJ's represented there, too, bringing news of the replacement for the retired Kenworth C500 heavy hauler in the severe-duty C580, featured this morning here also on Overdrive.
[Related: Kenworth unveils extreme-duty C580, successor to the C500]
For the dump- and other straight-truck owners out there, Mack's introduced a revamped version of its long-running Granite vocational model -- also available in daycab and sleeper tractor configurations and to begin production later this year. Catch the full report on the Granite here via CCJ.
Yet the truly brand-new dog in the house of Mack is the Keystone, which the company announced Tuesday, March 4, as successor to the Mack Pinnacle.
The Mack-supplied press photo of the Keystone in action shows the daycab version in a logging application. It will be available in both axle-forward and axle-back configurations, new for the manufacturer in this tractor class. It's also available with a 44- or 64-inch sleeper, offered in both axle positions. Rear axle configurations include 6x4, 8x4 and 8x6.
The Keystone features higher ground clearance than the prior model series, an improved approach angle, and an enhanced Mack MaxRide suspension as part of a revamp of Mack's vocational lineup following the launch of the new on-highway flagship Mack Pioneer last year.
“Our customers told us they wanted a truck that could handle the toughest jobs and jobsites without compromising driver comfort or modern technology,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America.
It's engineered to handle rugged off-road applications -- construction, logging, livestock -- yet offer a comfortable on-highway ride.
Mack debuted its Anthem model in 2017 as a replacement for Pinnacle axle-back models. The Keystone (pictured at ConExpo) is available exclusively with the Mack MP13 engine -- delivering up to 540 horsepower and 1,950 lb.-ft. of torque -- and the mDrive HD automated manual transmission. The powertrain delivers up to 6% better fuel efficiency compared to the Pinnacle, Mack said. The MP13 is Mack's replacement for the MP8 engine.
“The Keystone is designed for terrain versatility,” said Fernando Couceiro, Mack Trucks vice president of highway trucks. “It thrives where roads are unpaved, uneven, or even nonexistent, then transitions seamlessly to highway driving.”
With the launch of the Keystone and the redesigned Granite, Mack's unifying its trucks with a technology and safety platform with identical comfort, safety, and performance technology -- that's the case also for the Pioneer and Anthem models. The Keystone comes standard with a complimentary five-year subscription to Mack Connect, a telematics platform providing real-time vehicle monitoring, remote diagnostics, and proactive service scheduling. Mack Trucks expects the Keystone to be available for order through its dealer network in the third quarter of 2026.
While we're talking about Mack ...
Regular readers may have taken note of reporting around the latest used-truck market data yesterday, where owner-operator and 2025 Trucker of the Year finalist Jason Shelly spoke briefly to the deal he found on a 2020 Mack Anthem in Pennsylvania. (He noted deals have been out there since the back half of 2025 if you take the time to look and have the means to take advantage of them.)
Here's what the fairly stock, fleet-spec Mack looked like when Shelly bought it last Fall.
Shelly talked about the rig in early December in Part 1 of the Overdrive Radio series of "exit interviews" with 2025 Trucker of the Year contenders. He'd been staring down the prospect of shoulder surgery and looking around for a truck with an automated-manual transmission to put his own special spin on.
"My history is buying something pretty ugly and something wore out," he said, and transforming it, as he's done time and again. "I don't have any hobbies. Trucks are my hobby."
And he'd never worked on a Mack, a make "absolutely iconic here in the Northeast," he noted; Shelly's headquartered in Telford, Pennsylvania, roughly 30 miles from Mack's manufacturing facility.
"Small bunk, longer wheelbase, big power," he noted of the 2020 Anthem's 505-hp MP8 engine and other features that made it an appealing canvas for his custom work. And work on it he has.
Your eyes don't deceive you -- the rig's front end sits well lower than factory height at this point. "The front end had me stalled for a little bit" on the work he wanted to do to it, Shelly said. "It was pretty rough, and had been hit on the left front." More than that, though, "to lower a Mack took a little ingenuity."
Not a bad look, wouldn't you say? With the picture, he sent along this note:
Lil' Mack is showing potential! Any vendors need an "attention getter" at their MATS booth? I might be able to accommodate.
Reasons for seeking out the automated transmission, Shelly said in the December Overdrive Radio edition, included the thought that he might "be able to drive still" if he needs to "work through that surgery."
Yet speaking this week, Shelly noted his true "hope is to get away from shifting all day every day," in which case "maybe I can rehab it better to avoid the surgery."
Time will tell as the truck gets in shape for his multistop meat runs in his reefer trailers. And as for MATS, while the jury's still out on whether Shelly can attend, a special truck in his history, he said, will almost certainly be there. He's not quite sure just where as yet, but the 2000 Kenworth W9's current owner-operator, Kris Bair, is planning to show the rig at MATS with insurance agent Good's Insurance. The agency long has advertised their brand on the truck, dating by to the time Jason Shelly owned it.
The truck as it was when Shelly's kids were young:
Shelly owned truck for 17-18 years in total. He'd put a Double Eagle sleeper on it, bunk beds, toilet, refrigerator, desk. Then homeschooling his kids in part on the road, the sleeper made it "a lot easier to have three children and a dog most weeks" as Shelly said in the Trucker of the Month feature from August last year. Run through his career as an owner-operator at this link.
Here's best of luck to Jason Shelly with the Mack, and that shoulder.
[Related: Most iconic Mack through history? We asked, you answered]
