Sept. 18 — The 1990s will be remembered by those in the business community as “the good ol’ days,” said Don DeFossett, executive vice president, Navistar International, addressing the 54th annual NationaLease meeting in Chicago earlier this week.
DeFossett predicted sales of 230,000 Class 8 trucks for 1998 and 127,000 Class 5-7. He expects about the same levels through 1999, but predicts a downturn in 2000 or 2001 as the country hits a cyclical recession.
Since the conference had the theme “Driving Together Toward the New Millennium,” DeFossett wasn’t the only one making predictions at this meeting of truck leasing franchisees. Stuart Varney, anchor for CNN-FN, said the U.S. economy is the best it has been in two generations. However, it is threatened by outside forces, particularly Japan’s economic, banking and tax system problems. Growth in the United States is slower this year than last year, primarily due to the Asian financial crisis, he said.
Some of the other topics covered included truck leasing on the Internet, how the American Trucking Assns.’ reorganization affects those in the truck leasing business, and demographic trends affecting future employees.
For more information on NationaLease, visit http://www.ntls.com.