Page 154 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Left to right: Ken Ehni; Toby Giacomini Jr. of Toby’s Trucking, along with business partners, Heidi and Kevin Noonan.
happy with. “It was very depressing that Cat en- gines weren’t going into Peterbilts or Freightliners anymore. We were kind of up in the air,” said Gia- comini, back in 2009. “We knew there was some- thing in the make, but at that point, nobody knew what. The problem was that we were being forced into something with this CARB [emissions] deal, and if we waited two or three years for Cat to come out with something, we were going to be so far behind the eight-ball that it was going to cost us a lot of money to catch up. I had a big investment in Caterpillar engines, and Peterson was guaran- teeing me that they would honor their warranties. But it’s always hard when you start changing over and looking at other products. We’re just hoping for the best.”
For Biagi Trucking, the announcement was equal- ly disturbing. “The Peterbilt truck with the Cat engine was our bread and butter. It broke my heart when that combination went away,” says Gregg Stumbaugh, Biagi’s corporate equipment director, who manages a fleet of 275 trucks for the Na- pa-based company. “I can tell you, our owner was not happy that Cat was getting out of the on-the- road business. But Ken Ehni assured me that Pe- terson would take care of us.”
Caterpillar’s announcement put many of its loyal customers on edge. It also left truck dealers and its
own Cat dealers equally at a loss. It left a gaping hole. And then something happened.
GOING INTERNATIONAL (2010)
“In June 2010, I got a call from Tom Eberlin in Peoria, who headed up Cat’s on-highway product support group,” Eric Martin, then president of Pe- terson Power Systems, explained in February 2011. “He told me that Navistar was not happy with their Bay Area International Truck dealer who was
Eric Martin, president of Peterson Power (2007-2011) spearheaded the effort for Peterson becoming the Bay Area International Truck dealer as Peterson Trucks, Inc. in 2011.
152 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG