Empire Southwest LLC, the Caterpillar distributor for Arizona, southeastern California and northern Mexico, is launching a new division, Empire Truck & Trailer, in 2009.
“After more than 40 years of supporting the on-highway trucking industry as an engine-only distributor, we are excited to finally offer a total truck solution to our on-highway, construction, agriculture and mining customers,” said Jeff Whiteman, president of Empire Southwest.
Empire Truck & Trailer will be the distribution arm for the sales and support of on-highway vehicles and associated equipment. The on-highway business was formerly part of Empire Power Systems, another division of Empire Southwest. Empire Power Systems will maintain all other segments of the engine business, including electric power generation (EPG), industrial, marine, OEM and petroleum engines.
“Empire Truck & Trailer is a direct result of the significant changes that have occurred in the truck business over the last several years,” said Brett Burns, general manager of the new Empire Truck & Trailer division. “As truck OEMs began using proprietary engines in their chassis, or vertical integration, the rules of engagement had to change. When Caterpillar announced that it was entering the class 8 truck business, we viewed that as an opportunity to expand into other related areas where customers would value Empire’s expertise and infrastructure.”
Empire Truck & Trailer said it has considerable service capacity and a staff dedicated to supporting customers with trucks and trailers. Customers will receive bumper-to-bumper service at all Empire Truck & Trailer locations. Current Empire Truck & Trailer locations are in Phoenix, Kingman, Tucson, Yuma and Show Low, Ariz., and also in Imperial, Calif. Empire’s considerable strength in earthmoving markets will enable existing customers to access on-highway products with assistance from their machinery account managers, the company said.
“Empire has been selling and providing service and parts support in the capital goods market for almost 60 years,” Whiteman said. “We understand that if we provide high-quality products at a fair price and support those products with best-in-class product support, our customers will be more successful and so will we. The Empire Truck & Trailer division will allow us the customer focus we need to be exceptional at this business.”
