[Off-topic] xaccers:
You suggested I said the US couldn't make trucks with power, when I said no such thing so please don't try and put words into my mouth.

Traditionally American engines have been over sized compared with their European cousins, mostly because with fuel being so cheap there wasn't the need to strive for efficiency, and there certainly hasn't been the same push for environmental improvements your side of the pond.

Do you really think we'd have small efficient engines if fuel was dirt cheap over here? No of course not. It costs a hell of a lot of R&D to produce a more efficient/less polluting engine, money that I'm sure Scania/Volvo/Mercedes etc would much rather not have to spend.

Yes I do know what Jakes are, hence why I was able to mention them and find a "no Jakes" sign, which has rather upset the Jakes company as Jakes is a brand name not a function name, so they're prefer "No engine braking" signs which many cities have agreed to:

Take a deep breath and relax, I was not having a go at 'merica OK?

You may have missed the points I made about cab over engine being potentially lethal to work on as cabs can and do sometimes drop back down killing the mechanic working on the engine.

Also, over this side we are unfortunately more accepting of smaller living quarters, whether that's with houses or with lorry cabs.

There's an image I've seen recently but currently is eluding me on Google, which demonstrates quite well the difference in average living space of various countries, with the US having the largest, South Africa and Australia I believe were quite close behind, and way down the sizes is the UK (as I said, many of our houses are like rabbit hutches). It is one of the reasons why so many Brits emigrated to Australia and South Africa over the past 20 years.

As I said, being colonies the early settlers built their own houses and had the space to build big, so the acceptable living space was set quite high (you lucky sods) compared with the UK where land prices have been high, so ramming as many houses in as possible is the norm. I've just come back from driving around several of the new estates in Milton Keynes, and while a few were lovely and spacious (definitely somewhere to live if we win the lottery), one estate had single lane roads which would give an ambulance trouble and make it quite impossible for a fire engine to navigate quickly!

If as a nation you expect living spaces to be a decent size, then when your living space is a lorry cab then you are not going to accept something small, hence the spacious cabs in the US which frankly I'd be quite happy to live in rather than a house :)

Caterpillar are doing well in the fashion market over here in the UK, not sure about the trucking/tractor business or on the continent (they're a strange bunch over the channel ;) ) and I no longer work in a heavy plant related business. A quick search reveals that their European and Middle Eastern growth has been stagnant compared with last year, apart from in July where it shrunk by 1% :(

Much of their engine R&D looks like it comes from European companies that they've acquired, which makes sense because if you develop engines for the most restricted market, you can market them around the world using the advantages required by those restrictions (better efficiency, less pollution, more power for smaller footprint) to beat your competition, except in that restricted market where it's a level playing field (ie if your equipment is as good as the competition in Europe then something else is going to have to be done to win business, such as better service contracts or lower price, while if you're selling your European equipment in a market where the competition produce less efficient equipment you're at an advantage, while the competition can't also enter the European market.

Dad used to work for Caterpillar back in the 80s out in Saudi, and I grew up with all the miniature models and travelling around the country seeing them in use so I have a very big soft spot for Caterpillar (even if one of their tipper trucks did run over dad, whilst still in his car, one Xmas day out there).