Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) has announced it will offer Cummins heavy- and medium-duty engines alongside its own Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz engine lines, becoming the latest OEM to sell engines with both SCR and EGR technologies to meet 2010 EPA regulations.
“This decision will complement our current successful and proprietary product line of Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz engines. It will expand and strengthen the range of choices for our customers, and establish Cummins as a full-range vendor engine partner,” said Chris Patterson, president & CEO of DTNA. “This action was a result of many months of carefully considered planning and consulting with our key customers to determine engine needs and preferences.”
The Cummins 14.8L ISX heavy-duty diesel engine will be available to power Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star Class 8 vehicles.
In addition, Cummins will supply medium-duty ISB, ISC and ISL engines for Freightliner trucks and chassis, Sterling trucks and Thomas Built Buses in Classes 5 through 7, DTNA said. The first model to use the Cummins ISX will be the Freightliner Cascadia, which is scheduled for initial delivery in January 2009, the company said.
Detroit Diesel launched the DD15, with 14.8L displacement, in October 2007, and the company said it will offer 12.8L (DD13) and 15.6L (DD16) engines in the next few months, displacing current Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty engines. According to David Siler, director of marketing for Detroit Diesel, the agreement had more to do with Cummins being the only independent engine provider rather than the OEM solely wanting an EGR engine for 2010.
“I would say the main reason we wanted to offer both is that customers want to have choices, and we wanted to have two engine offerings,” he told Fleet Owner.
Christy Nycz, spokesperson for Cummins, told Fleet Owner that the extra capacity that the DTNA deal would necessitate will require the company to ramp up production in the near future. “Cummins is making modest investments in our heavy-duty engine business capacity in response to expected increases in NAFTA heavy-duty truck production and higher shares vs. the last cycle,” Nycz said.
