Mack Trucks, Inc. has a long history as a heavy truck manufacturer in the United States. The company was formed in 1900 as a builder of public passenger transportation vehicles and produced some of the early buses and trolleys used in city mass transit systems. During this period the company operated under the name Mack Brothers Company.
The product line moved to trucks in about 1922. The company rebranded itself as Mack Trucks at that time. It continues to operate from a Greensboro, N.C. headquarters with its principle production plant located in Pennsylvania. The company also maintains international operations with production facilities in Australia and Venezuela producing components and trucks for the worldwide markets. Mack Trucks is now a subsidiary of Volvo.
The Mack Truck product line is divided into a number of categories all bearing the company’s bulldog logo.
Over-the-road truckers are most familiar with the Mack Pinnacle series of semi tractors. These vehicles encompass some of the best features of long-haul truck equipment and include features like fuel-efficient engines, high torque power trains to handle heavy loads and a light chassis that allows the trucks to haul a greater load within road load limit restrictions. These trucks also include driver comfort features like a quiet cab with a well designed dashboard. The Mack Pinnacle series can be seen on the highways of the world hauling trailers containing freight of almost any type.
The Mack Granite series is meant to be the heavy off-road hauler and specializes in places where heavy loads and rough conditions are common. This includes tasks like moving rocks out of quarries and moving dirt around construction sites. Some construction companies fit the Mack Granite trucks with specialized equipment for mixing and moving cement. Heavy loads in the construction industry are the specialty of the Mack Granite truck line.
The Mack Truck bulldog does turn away from some of the dirtier loads in the trucking industry. The Mack TerraPro Series is a specialized product line designed specifically for the refuse or garbage industry. While these trucks remove garbage from the environment, they do it without polluting that environment. The trucks include as standard a diesel particulate filter to run clean even when hauling the dirty garbage.
The Mack truck bulldog also protects America’s shores. Mack Trucks has built products for the Department of defense for decades and continues to produce heavy haulers used by the military.
Mack Trucks also produces power train and other truck components for sale to other manufacturers. This can include chassis, engines, transmissions and axles. These components could be used in any number of heavy vehicles by other manufacturers. In many cases, the final consumer would not know of the Mack Truck components within their bus or truck.