While many trucking companies have been shying away from buying trucks equipped with October ’02 compliant engines, Phoenix-based Knight Transportation is bucking the trend.

Knight has signed a long-term, non-exclusive agreement with Volvo Trucks North America to purchase the new Volvo VNL670 tractor, which was unveiled last week at Volvo's headquarters in Greensboro, N.C.
"We are really excited about the VNL670, in combination with the Cummins ISX02 and the Volvo V-PULSE, as both of these engines are expected to be compliant with 2003 emissions standards,” said CEO Kevin Knight.
"Although the new engines will cost more, we are anxious to get some of these tractors on the road and optimistic that many of the expected additional operating costs of the 2003 compliant engines will have been mitigated by the engineers at Volvo and Cummins.”
Knight also said the deal ensures access to new tractors under favorable terms over the next several years, while retaining Knight’s ability to deal with other tractor manufacturers. Knight also noted that the deal gives the company a lot of flexibility in the addition of new tractors and in the disposing of used tractors.
In May, published reports indicated that Knight had filed a breach of contract suit against Freightliner LLC, at the time its major equipment supplier, claiming the truck manufacturer failed to honor its four-year rolling truck purchase agreement. During the truck sales boom years of the late ‘90s, Freightliner reportedly generated sales by guaranteeing residual or “buyback” prices for its tractors. When the market tanked, it tried to renegotiate those deals.
While the announcement of the deal does not say how many Volvo VNs Knight is buying, published reports about the lawsuit indicated that the company planned to buy about 250 more trucks this year, and that they would probably come from Volvo.