Excerpts from wprnews.com:

The city of La Crosse is suing three fire truck manufacturers in federal court, accusing them of unlawfully coordinating to limit the supply of trucks and raise prices.

The class action suit was filed last week against the Oshkosh Corporation, REV Group, and Rosenbauer America. It also names the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association. 

REV Group and Oshkosh Corporation called the lawsuit meritless. Rosenbauer America could not be reached for comment. The city of La Crosse declined to comment on the suit.

According to the civil complaint, fire truck prices have doubled in the last decade, exceeding the rate of inflation. The three manufacturers listed in the complaint are “responsible for increasing fire truck prices and perpetuating lengthy backlogs” as they control 70 to 80 percent of the U.S. fire truck market, the suit says. The lawsuit also alleges the manufacturers used the backlog as an excuse for increasing the final price of new fire trucks after they go into production.

From the mid-2010s to 2020, REV Group acquired six different fire equipment brands, including companies that had been direct competitors in the fire truck industry, the suit says. The acquisitions “solidified REV Group’s position as the top fire truck manufacturer in the United States,” the complaint states.

Similarly, Oshkosh Corporation subsidiary Pierce Manufacturing completed a pair of acquisitions of fire equipment manufacturers in 2021 and 2022, giving Oshkosh Corporation control over “a full quarter of the U.S. fire truck market,” the lawsuit says. Oshkosh Corporation also “embarked on a strategy of consolidating the U.S. brands already within its purview, reducing geographic overlap between its dealers” from 2018 to 2025, which “reduced or eliminated competition among Pierce subsidiaries,” the suit says.

Aside from using consolidations, the suit alleges that Oshkosh Corporation, REV Group and Rosenbauer have worked to cooperate with each other instead of compete. The manufacturers allegedly exchanged confidential and “competitively sensitive” economic information through the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association. The suit accuses the manufacturers of using that data to “coordinate price increases and suppress production,” as well as to “monitor their co-conspirators to ensure continued adherence to the conspiracy.”

The lawsuit also alleges the manufacturers’ association organizes two meetings each year, where manufacturers have “ample time and opportunity to exchange sensitive economic information and coordinate supply restrictions and price hikes at these meetings.”

The suit asks the court to declare that the manufacturers and association violated antitrust law, require the manufacturers to stop their alleged anti-competitive behavior and to award La Crosse and other possible plaintiffs damages.

thanks Dan

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Fire Apparatus Manufacturers' Association, lawsuit targets fire truck builders, Oshkosh Corporation, REV Group, Rosenbauer America