Detroit Diesel CEO Reinhardt Sees Higher Sales, Fuel Mileage

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ETROIT — Demand for heavy-duty truck engines may be strong enough by late this year to cause Detroit Diesel Corp. to increase production in the fourth quarter, the company’s new chief executive officer said recently.

Carsten Reinhardt, who be-came CEO in April after managing Freightliner’s Portland, Ore., truck manufacturing plant and before that heading operations at Western Star, also said that company engineers expect to im-prove the fuel efficiency of DDC’s Series 60 engines.

“We have convinced almost all our former customers, and some new ones, that this engine . . . is the best choice and we’re contemplating . . . whether we should increase the build rate” in the fourth quarter, Reinhardt said.

He spoke in a July 8 Transport Topics interview here that included DDC President James Morrow and a tour of the factory.

For the full story, see the July 21 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.