GM Clears Stable for New Engine

To get ready for a new generation light- and medium-duty diesel engine, GM Powertrain is handing over production of its current 6.5-liter diesel engine to one of its biggest non-GM customers, AM General of South Bend, Ind.

AM General uses the engine in High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, better known as the Humvee, which it sells to the military, as well as the Hummer, the consumer model of the same vehicle.

GM Powertrain, the engine division of General Motors Corp., will replace the engine beginning in 2001 with a new light- and medium-duty diesel engine. DMAX, a joint venture between GM and Isuzu Motors, will manufacture the new powerhouse.

GM Powertrain produced 70,000 engines in 1998, according to Dan Greene, communication manager for the division. GM uses the engine in its full-size vans, pickup trucks and other commercial vehicles.

The agreement made sense to both parties, said Greene.

“AM General has been buying the 6.5 from us for some time for both its military and civilian versions,” he said. “They have a vested interest in the engine, so it seemed natural for them to take it over, especially since the 6.5-liter is no longer in our portfolio because of the DMAX program between GM and Isuzu.”

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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