Slack Orders Force Layoffs at Peterbilt and Kenworth

Truck manufacturers Peterbilt Motor Co. and Kenworth Truck Co. last week said they would lay off a total of 700 to 800 workers due to a sharp drop in fall sales orders.

The two Paccar companies are the latest additions to the growing list of truck and engine makers losing business because truck fleets are avoiding diesel engines redesigned to meet federal emissions rules.

"We have given notification to 500 employees," Joe Scattergood, Peterbilt's Madison, Tenn., plant manager, told Transport Topics Aug. 29.

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