Medium-Duty Engines Coming from Detroit

[kscarbel2]

Heavy Duty Trucking / October 6, 2014

Daimler Trucks North America announced that it will offer Detroit medium-duty engines beginning in 2016.

Speaking to journalists attending the American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition, DTNA President and CEO Martin Daum pointed out that while the Detroit brand has grown to include not only heavy-duty engines but also transmissions and axles, "something is missing – a medium-duty engine. I am announcing today, the DD5 and the DD8 medium-duty engines to the North American market."

Detroit’s new DD5 and DD8 engines are a part of Daimler Trucks’ Global Excellence Strategy to have uniform production standards and processes worldwide. Global testing and validation is being undertaken in both Europe and the United States. Versions of the engine series have been produced in Europe since 2012, but the line will be customized for the North American market, much as the Detroit DT12 automated transmission was developed.

DTNA’s entire product line-up, including vehicles equipped with the DD5 and DD8, will meet GHG17 standards early. The engines will be initially built and shipped from Daimler’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany, with further plans to industrialize the engines in North America in 2018.

"It will be a great engine, we are all excited about that," Daum said.

When asked for more details about the engines, Brad Williamson, manager of engine and component marketing for DTNA, quipped, "Stay tuned."

The new DD5 and DD8 engines will be offered throughout Daimler Trucks North America’s product portfolio, which includes Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, and Freightliner Custom Chassis vehicles.

[kscarbel2]

Today's Trucking / October 8, 2014

NEW DETROIT MEDIUM-DUTY ENGINES are coming from Daimler Trucks North America in 2016. Branded the Detroit DD5 and DD8, they'll push the vertical-integration idea as far as it can go at DTNA -- Detroit engines will be offered in the company's complete product portfolio. That means Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, and Freightliner Custom Chassis vehicles.

The new engines are another example of what Daimler Trucks calls its 'Global Excellence Strategy' to have uniform production standards and processes worldwide. The development of the DD5 and DD8 is another example of Daimler’s international development effort, with global testing and validation being undertaken in both Europe and the United States, and series production in Europe since 2012.

Introduced at the 2014 American Trucking Associations Management Conference and Exhibition in San Diego earlier this week, the new DD5 and DD8 engines were originally launched in Germany in 2012 as the OM 936 in 7.7 and 5.1-litre trim.

First offered in the Mercedes-Benz Antos truck, they met Euro-6 emissions -- essentially the same as EPA 2010 -- and have outputs as high as 350 hp in European form. The OM 936 is a six-cylinder diesel with dual overhead cams and common-rail fuel injection.

Output options have not yet been announced for North America.

The engines will be initially built and shipped from Daimler’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany with plans to manufacture them in North America in 2018.

At the recent IAA show, incidentally, Daimler introduced the new natural-gas version of the OM 936 G 7.7 liter engine for use in its Econic vocational truck. Coming to North America? Not likely.

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