U.S. Postal Service to award $6.3B contract for new mail truck this year

I would’ve gone with the Ford Transit.It’s already a proven design.

 

Its long overdue. The Grumman LLV (the most common everday American residential mail delivery vehicle) has been in service since the mid 80s. Its still powered by the good ole 2.5L GM Iron Duke 4 cyl and TurboHydramatic 3 speed Trans. The Iron Duke was first used in 1977 in the Pontiac Astre (an unloved and even less remebered badge-engineered version on the Chevy Vega). Engine tech and efficiency has come a long way since the days of Iron Duke and the Astre

 

they just basically have the entire chassis and running gear for the chevy S-10's if i recall. very durable, easy to get parts.

 

God that is fugly

 

Durable and easy to service it may be, but its still 45 year old tech. The American auto industry was not exactly on the cutting edge during the peak of the Malaise era of automobiles. Every engine was strangled to within an inch of its life with smog pumps (rember those??) And other wonderful "enviromental" marvels. This is the same era that the highest performance Corvette that you could buy had 180 hp. There is no reason for these dinosaurs to still be on the road en-masse. The USPS services nearly every single address in the entire US 6 days per week. Think of the economy-of-scale savings just on fuel alone if they went with a modern direct injection, small displacement, turbo charged engine

 

And just think of the pollution they have been responsible for, and standards they are exempt from. In every neighborhood with little kids etc. But let one big truck let out a little particulate that drops straight to the ground almost immediately and all heck breaks loose.

 

Ford is in the running for that contract with, you guessed it, a Transit....

 

I would like to know what other companies/designs have already been discarded. What is left just appears to be "OK". I wonder if the short and long term profit margins are going to be so low that a lot of viable contenders just decided that it was not really worth the trouble.