International RH613 vs. Mack Anthem: Two Regional-Haul Specialists, Two Completely Different Origin Stories

Two of the four approved manufacturers on this blog just did something unusual within months of each other: they each pointed a truck squarely at the regional-haul mission, but from completely opposite directions. Mack took its long-haul flagship and demoted it -- on purpose -- into a regional specialist. International built a truck from scratch that was never anything but a regional specialist. The result is the most interesting apples-to-apples matchup in this niche: the International RH613 against the all-new Mack Anthem.

If you run beverage routes, regional van freight, bulk or tanker loads, or multi-stop delivery work that gets a driver home most nights, one of these two trucks is very likely on your shortlist. Here's how they actually compare, and how each manufacturer got here.

Two Opposite Paths to the Same Job

Mack's story is the more dramatic one. The Anthem launched in 2017 as Mack's long-haul OTR flagship, replacing the Pinnacle. For most of its life, it was Mack's answer to a Freightliner Cascadia or a Kenworth T680 -- a sleeper tractor built to rack up long-haul miles. That changed when Mack introduced the Pioneer as its new aero-first long-haul flagship. Once the Pioneer took over the long-haul mission, Mack didn't retire the Anthem -- it rebuilt it from the ground up and repositioned it as a regional-maneuverability specialist: a nine-inch-wider cab, a shortened 113.5-inch bumper-to-back-of-cab measurement, and up to 10% better fuel economy, with production of the redesigned truck beginning in January 2026.

International never had that identity crisis to work through. The RH Series was conceived as a dedicated regional-haul tier from day one, sitting between the medium-duty MV Series and the long-haul LT Series rather than being repurposed from either. That's a genuinely different design philosophy: Mack took a platform built for one job and re-engineered it for another; International designed directly for the job it wanted to serve. Neither approach is inherently better, but it does mean you're comparing a truck with inherited long-haul DNA against one with none at all -- and that shows up in how each one drives.

Engine and Transmission: Mack Goes All-In on MP13

The redesigned Anthem's powertrain story is a real one, not a marketing refresh. Mack replaced the MP8 that powered the prior Anthem with the MP13 -- available in Standard and HE (High Efficiency, turbo-compounded) variants -- spanning 415 to 515 hp and 1,550 to 1,950 lb-ft of torque. The HE variant recovers exhaust heat into additional power through turbo compounding, and Mack says the redesigned wave piston and combustion system alone is worth roughly a 3% fuel economy gain over the outgoing engine. Mack pairs it with the mDRIVE automated manual in 12-, 13-, or 14-speed configurations, including a 13-speed Dynamic Overdrive that shifts among Economy+, Economy, and Performance modes based on real-time highway conditions, and an mDRIVE HD option that adds an ultra-low creep gear for heavy loads on difficult grades. The transmission even uses onboard GPS and an inclinometer to learn a truck's regular routes and pre-position for grades it already knows are coming.

International keeps the RH613 on its own in-house A26, a 12.4-liter diesel built at a dedicated powertrain plant in Huntsville, Alabama -- the same engine family that anchors International's HX Series dump and mixer trucks. That's a genuine philosophical split worth naming plainly: Mack just doubled down on bigger displacement and turbo compounding to chase more power and efficiency out of a larger engine, while International is leaning on a smaller-displacement engine it builds itself and standardizes across multiple truck classes. If you already run International equipment and value having one engine family across your fleet's parts bin, that consistency has real value. If you want the single most powerful, most heavily-engineered-for-fuel-economy engine of the two on paper, Mack's new MP13 HE is the one making that specific case.

Cab and Chassis: Weight and Maneuverability as the Real Battleground

Both manufacturers are explicitly selling maneuverability and weight as the headline benefits of their regional-haul truck, which tells you this is genuinely the metric that matters most in this class. Mack's pitch is a wider cab (nine inches over the prior Anthem) combined with a shorter 113.5-inch BBC specifically to improve maneuverability in tight regional environments -- loading docks, urban delivery routes, construction-material yards -- without sacrificing cab space. International's pitch for the RH613 centers on a tight turning radius, enhanced visibility, and a lighter overall build versus adapting a long-haul platform down to size.

The honest difference is that Mack is publishing a specific, quantified dimensional change (nine inches wider, 113.5-inch BBC) while International's RH613 marketing stays qualitative (tighter radius, lighter weight) without a single consolidated spec sheet breaking out exact figures. That doesn't mean the RH613 is less capable -- it means Mack is making its case with harder numbers right now, and if dimensional specifics matter to your dispatch and yard operations, that's worth asking your International dealer to quote directly rather than assuming parity.

Sleeper or Day Cab: Both Brands Offer the Choice

Both the Anthem and the RH613 come in day cab and sleeper configurations, which matters because -- as we've written about spec tier and a lender's risk picture in semi truck financing generally -- the right spec choice depends entirely on whether your actual routes ever require an overnight away from home. A beverage distributor or bulk/tanker hauler running the same local loop can almost certainly justify a day cab on either platform. A regional van carrier or specialized hauler whose routes occasionally push past a single duty day has a real case for the sleeper on either truck. Neither manufacturer has an edge here; it comes down to which chassis, engine philosophy, and dealer network you'd rather commit to.

Captive Financing: Volvo Financial Services vs. International Financial

Both brands back their trucks with in-house financing arms worth knowing about before you shop rates elsewhere. Mack's captive financing runs largely through Volvo Financial Services, since Mack is part of the Volvo Group. International backs its lineup -- including the new eRH electric variant -- through International Financial. A captive lender can make sense when a manufacturer-specific promotional rate or bundled maintenance package genuinely beats the market, but it's worth cross-shopping against an independent equipment financing company before assuming the captive offer is automatically the best deal, especially once you factor in how a captive lender's underwriting can tighten up for a startup or a business with a shorter credit history.

Driver-Assistance Tech and Dealer Network

Safety and driver-assistance systems have become a real differentiator in this class, not just an options-sheet checkbox. Mack builds its redesigned Anthem around a suite that includes adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, and lane-departure alerts tied into the same mDRIVE transmission logic that's learning the truck's regular routes -- meaning the safety systems and the drivetrain are working off the same route data rather than operating as two unrelated systems bolted onto the same chassis. International backs the RH613 (and the eRH) with Bendix Fusion, a well-established driver-assistance platform already running across much of International's lineup, which has the advantage of a long track record and parts/service familiarity at International dealers that have been servicing it on other models for years.

Dealer network depth is worth factoring in too, and it cuts differently depending on where you operate. Mack's dealer network skews toward strength in the Northeast and in markets with a long history of vocational and construction-truck business, which traces back to Mack's own roots in that segment. International's dealer network is broader and more evenly distributed nationally, partly because the MV, LT, and HX Series already have International dealers serving medium-duty, long-haul, and vocational customers in nearly every regional market. If you're in a market with a strong Mack dealer relationship already -- especially if you run Mack vocational trucks -- that existing relationship carries real weight. If you're starting fresh or operating somewhere International already has stronger local presence, that tips the practical calculus toward the RH613 regardless of which engine philosophy you prefer on paper.

The Rent-vs-Own Case for a Regional-Haul Truck

Regional-haul equipment -- whichever brand you land on -- has a rent-vs-own profile that favors ownership more clearly than long-haul trucking does, a case we lay out in more depth on our commercial and semi truck financing page. A truck running the same handful of regional routes every week accumulates predictable, bounded mileage, which makes its depreciation curve and maintenance schedule far easier to forecast than a long-haul truck running wildly variable annual mileage across different conditions. That predictability is exactly the asset profile that favors financing over a rental arrangement: you can reasonably project what the truck will cost to run and what it'll be worth at resale, and locking in terms you control beats paying a rental company's margin on top of their own ownership risk.

Renting still makes sense for a genuine short-term need -- testing a new route before committing, covering a seasonal spike, or bridging a gap while a financed truck is in the shop. But a beverage distributor, bulk hauler, or regional van carrier running the same lanes week after week on either an Anthem or an RH613 is the textbook case for ownership, not a recurring rental bill.

Resale and Total Cost of Ownership

There's an honest asymmetry worth naming on resale: the redesigned Anthem is brand new as of the January 2026 production start, which means there's no used-market resale data on this specific generation yet -- any resale projection right now is an estimate based on the prior Anthem and the broader Mack vocational resale trend, not hard data on the truck you'd actually be buying. The RH613 has been in the field longer, so there's a slightly deeper (though still relatively thin, since this is a newer tier for International too) resale history to reference. Neither truck has the long, well-documented resale curve that something like a Freightliner Cascadia or Kenworth T680 has built up over a decade-plus of long-haul volume. That's not a reason to avoid either truck -- regional-haul demand for both is real and growing -- but it is a reason to underwrite your own numbers conservatively rather than assuming resale value will track an established benchmark, and to ask your lender how they're treating resale risk on a newer platform specifically.

Which One Should You Actually Buy

• Choose the Mack Anthem if you want the more powerful, more heavily re-engineered powertrain on paper (MP13/MP13 HE at up to 515 hp), you already run Mack or Volvo Group equipment, or you want a manufacturer that's publishing hard dimensional numbers on cab width and BBC.

• Choose the International RH613 if you want a truck that was purpose-built for regional haul from its first design sketch rather than repositioned into the role, you already run International's HX or LT Series and value engine-family consistency, or you want a path toward the eRH electric variant arriving in 2026 without switching brands.

• Either way, name your actual routes before you decide -- the wrong choice here is picking based on brand loyalty rather than matching cab/engine philosophy to the duty cycle you'll actually run.

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