Holmes (left) replaced Pearson (right) as ATD chairman. (American Truck Dealers)
March 12, 2026 12:53 PM, EDT
Key Takeaways:
- Advantage Truck Group CEO Kevin Holmes is using his new role as American Truck Dealers chairman to push for repeal of the federal excise tax on new trucks.
- Holmes argues the tax adds more than $20,000 to the price of a typical Class 8 tractor and slows industry progress, a view shared by major trucking associations.
- ATD will continue advocating for tax repeal and regulatory clarity as dealers anticipate rising demand after a strong winter and increasing OEM order activity.
Teamwork is a key maxim for Advantage Truck Group CEO Kevin Holmes and a principal focus for the new American Truck Dealers chairman as he attempts to right what many in the trucking industry see as an egregious longtime wrong.
The federal excise tax landed on the statute books in 1917 and remains there, crimping sales of new trucks and inhibiting the trucking industry’s ongoing push toward greater environmental progress.
Holmes — whose day job is leading a Freightliner and Western Star dealer with eight locations across New England — wants to bring the weight of the entire trucking industry to bear on lawmakers in Washington and across the country to repeal the FET as part of the renewal of the surface transportation bill.
“What’s unique about my chairmanship with ATD is that my focus is on the industry, it’s not on the brand,” he told Transport Topics, adding that his No. 1 priority was aligning American truck dealers, truck makers and carriers to offer a common message.
The excise tax costs carriers more than $20,000 on a typical new Class 8 tractor, according to the American Transportation Research Institute. Depending on the truck and trailer type, the tax on a new tractor and semitrailer could exceed $40,000, ATRI said. The cost is even higher for a truck with an alternative powertrain.
Holmes — who started out as a gas station owner in Ashland, Mass., with a truck maintenance sideline, and then acquired a parts and service franchise for Freightliner — told TT that the impact on the specialty equipment beyond the truck is just as great.
American Trucking Associations, The Work Truck Association and Zero Emission Transportation Association also support FET repeal.
“For me, there could never be anything more important than aligning ourselves and having that common message that our legislators and regulators hear from us and actually reaching out to us as a professional resource so we don’t see some of the disruptions that we have seen due to some decisions that have been made because they truly did not have all the information necessary to make such decisions,” Holmes said.
ATD in 2025 advocated for the Environmental Protection Agency to slow its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles rules, colloquially known as GHG3, as well as the latest Heavy-Duty Nitrogen Oxide rule.
As then-ATD President Jacqueline Gelb told TT in January: “We need regulations that provide certainty and that are achievable for us because that’s how investment decisions for each part of our industry get made. And that’s investment for manufacturers in technology. That’s investment for dealers of how they’re going to service trucks, how they’re going to support their customers. And that’s also an investment from the fleet side of what are they going to purchase and when are they going to purchase.”
Gelb became the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association president and CEO on March 2. David Bell replaced Gelb. Bell most recently served as director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Governmental Affairs, Policy and Strategic Planning.
“Trucks are the backbone of this country, and our united voice will shape their future,” said Holmes, who replaces outgoing ATD Chairman Scott Pearson.
Advantage focuses on vocational sales, and the hard winter experienced by many East Coast and Midwest states bodes well for business as 2026 progresses, according to Holmes.
“We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing,” he told TT, adding that New England had a very cold and snow-filled winter. “We’re encouraged because we already see some momentum and some business swinging our way.”
Patrick Brennan of Cox Fleet talks about the common missteps that fleets make in planning for future maintenance and operational needs. Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com.
The majority of the interest, he said, will begin in the spring when municipalities and contractors take stock of their fleets after working hard during the winter.
“The order boards throughout the OEMs seem to be filling better than they were, for sure,” he added.
ACT Research preliminary North America Class 8 net orders data for February came in at 46,200 trucks, a year-over-year increase of 156%. In addition, used truck sales outperformed expectations in January.
Such data will likely buoy ATD members as well as Holmes’ family — his eldest daughter, Brittany, is marketing director at Advantage.
Holmes has three children — two daughters and a son. He has been married for 36 years to his wife Lee and is a grandfather of two: Brittany’s children, Maeve and Callan.
Family and community are important to Holmes, a son of the Boston neighborhood of Roslindale.
Holmes hopes to foster an industrywide commitment to helping the less fortunate and supporting philanthropic pursuits across the United States from his new position.
In 2012, Advantage founded Haulin’ 4 Hunger with an initial donation of 200 holiday meals in Shrewsbury, Mass. The initiative has handed out nearly 100,000 meals across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont over the past decade.
