Mating Game

If you wear a black and yellow cap on your head, chances are you don’t have much red or blue under your hood. Truckers are fiercely brand-loyal when it comes to engines, an attitude honed sharp by a long tradition of choice. Shoot, not long ago you could spec just about any well-known diesel in almost any class-8 truck made in North America. Your selection usually was based on good experiences with the product and the dealer or distributor who supports it, not because someone said you had no other choice. The concept of vertical integration-where the maker of the truck also produces the powertrain-was, quite literally, a foreign one, common in Europe and Asia, not here.

But the market is changing. That traditional choice of engines from Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit Diesel still stands at most truck manufacturers, although for how long is a million-dollar question. Foreign ownership and marketing “alliances” among manufacturers are changing the way truck and engine builders do business-and affecting what you’re able to buy. In many cases, you have fewer choices in engines than you did five years ago. Or you might have more, but with products you don’t know very well.

Rewriting the Books

Most buyers of medium-duty trucks readily accept both domestic and imported vehicles with proprietary engines.

Indeed, companies like Mercedes-Benz and Hino are as acclaimed for their engines as they are for the vehicles they produce.

But choice is more important to heavy-truck buyers. Fifty years ago, truckers would drive their vehicles off the sales lot and immediately equip them with stronger axles, a more capable transmission, and a beefier engine. Seeing their trucks literally rebuilt by their customers taught truck manufacturers to produce vehicles the way folks want them in the first place.

One company, Mack Trucks, made the vertical integration concept work in North America by tailoring packages of engines, transmissions, axle designs, a chassis, and cab specifically for one niche: vocational haulers-construction, refuse, and off-highway guys. The company gradually offered more vendor-supplied drivetrain components as it moved into the highway market. Now, ironically, Mack lists its own proprietary on-highway axles under “options” in the data book.

Yet Mack truck buyers-on and off the highway-are staunchly loyal to Mack power. Mack currently builds most of its heavy trucks with its own 12-litre E-Tech diesel, and uses the 6.2-litre E3 diesel engine made by its sister company, Renault V.I., to power its medium-duty vehicles.

Volvo Trucks North America is another truck OEM with a proprietary engine. Volvo pushes its own Swedish-built 7- and 12-litre diesels, more successfully in Canada than in the United States, incidentally. The company scratched Caterpillar from its books some time ago and two years ago dropped Detroit Diesel, partly because Detroit is now controlled by archrival DaimlerChrysler. DaimlerChrysler also produces Mercedes-Benz engines and Freightliner, Sterling, and Western Star trucks.

Both Mack and Volvo-companies owned by Volvo AB of Sweden-have an agreement with Cummins to supply various medium and heavy diesels. Furthermore, last spring Volvo AB announced that its Powertrain group will develop a 16-litre engine for its Volvo, Mack, and Renault trucks. “The acquisition of Renault and Mack provides us the volume and expertise to develop a proprietary 16-litre diesel engine and build it in-house,” Volvo CEO Leif Johansson said last May, noting that new technology would allow the engine to meet necessary emission requirements.

The standard engine on medium-duty Freightliners and Sterlings is the Mercedes-Benz MBE900, with the Caterpillar 3126B and Cummins ISB and ISC available as options. Cat and Cummins engines are available on Freightliner and Sterling heavy trucks, as well. How long Cummins is in the mix with Freightliner is a matter of speculation. Besides producing Mercedes-Benz engines, DaimlerChrysler has a “global alliance” with Cat to work on fuel-injection systems and a long-term supply agreement for heavy-duty truck engines for Freightliner and Sterling vehicles.

Cummins, meanwhile, has signed long-term supply agreements with International, Volvo, and Paccar, maker of Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks.

International negotiated with Cummins and then with Volvo to supply heavy-duty engines, but both deals fell through.

International has its own line of medium-duty engines: the gas-powered T444E and two diesels, the DT466 and DT530, both of which are available in high-torque configurations. The DT466 and DT530 power International’s 4000, 7000, and 8000 Series trucks introduced last year.

General Motors, which is rolling out its new C-Series trucks this year, offers three diesel engines-its Duramax 7200 and 7800 models, and Caterpillar’s 3126B. GMC’s gas-powered Vortec 8100 MD is also available.

Hino produces its own engines under the J-series name-a gutsy four-valve overhead-cam design and six-cylinder bigger brother. The engines are intercooled and turbocharged, with dry cylinder liners and oil-cooled pistons for long service life and reliability. The company has standardized many parts between four and six cylinder models, making it easier to stock parts, train mechanics, and service the vehicles. Not incidentally, filters and other consumables are from domestic suppliers.

The standard engine for the Super Duty platform at Ford is Ford’s own 5.4-litre Triton V8. Options include the 6.8-litre Triton V10 and the 7.3-litre Power Stroke V8 diesel made by International. Ford makes the Cummins 5.9-litre ISB and Caterpillar 3126E available on its medium-duty trucks.