“The chassis market, historically, has not been very sexy,”
says Frank Sonzala, named company CEO/ President in 2016. “It’s been the cheapest, lowest-grade product in the transportation industry.” The reason, according to Sonzala, is that, heretofore, chassis fleets were considered a stepchild of the steamship companies; they titularly owned them, but they passed the responsibility for their performance onto the trucking companies that pulled them. Thus, they weren’t always built with safety or longevity in mind. “
CIE Manufacturing decided to change that way of operating and to make the standard product very similar to what is the standard product in the trucking industry for a trailer,”
Sonzala says; “a chassis that was more of a modern premium than a very inexpensive product.”