Daimler to Kick Off Medium-Duty Engine Production
“Our entry into the medium-duty engine market is a significant step,” said Richard Howard, DTNA senior vice president of sales and marketing.
“We feel we're well-prepared to bring this engine to the market,” said Kary Schaefer, DTNA’s general manager of marketing and strategy. She said the company is offering a three-year, 250,000-mile warranty covering both the engine and aftertreatment system.
DTNA first announced plans to develop the engine in 2014 during American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition. The company previously had not offered an in-house medium-duty engine. Moving forward, DTNA will continue to provide customers the option of a Cummins Inc. engine, much as it offers choices for heavy-duty engines, transmissions and axles.
The four-cylinder DD5 will initially be aimed at the pickup-and-delivery segment and will feature ratings of 210 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque as well as 230 horsepower and 660 pound-feet. Detroit is also providing customers the Detroit Connect Virtual Technician remote diagnostics system. Additional ratings to appeal to wider range of vocational applications are expected to be offered later, and the company still plans to roll out the larger DD8 engine in 2018.
The initial Class 6 trucks test-driven by journalists here included a 20-foot dry van body, Detroit axles and the Allison 2500 RDS transmission.
The engine, which uses many common designs found on the existing heavy-duty platform, will first be produced in Germany, and plans remain on track to shift production to the plant in Redford, Michigan, company officials confirmed. That follows the production model of the Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission.
Company officials said the DD5, which meets the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 greenhouse-gas and fuel-efficiency standards, offers extended maintenance intervals, including oil and fuel filter change intervals up to 45,000 miles.
During 2015, Freightliner was the market leader in Class 7, selling 26,251 trucks, a market share of 44.6%, according to Wardsauto.com. For the first half of 2016, Freightliner sold 14,318 Class 7 trucks for a 50.4% share.
Freightliner also led in Class 6 last year, selling 19,842 trucks for a 36% market share. Through June 2016, it was No. 2 behind Ford Motor Co. with sales of 9,715 trucks.
See the Aug. 8 print edition for additional coverage from this event.
