Paccar and Cummins have announced an agreement for Cummins’ 6- and 8-liter engines to be installed exclusively in Paccar’s medium-duty commercial vehicles. Paccar makes trucks under the Kenworth and Peterbilt brands, as well as DAF in Europe.
The two companies currently are developing proprietary configurations for the engines, which will be branded as Paccar engines and placed in Peterbilt and Kenworth North American Class 6 and 7 trucks, beginning Jan. 1, 2007. Peterbilt and Kenworth will continue to offer a choice of engines in their Class 8 vehicles.
Paccar President Tom Plimpton says the deal will enable Paccar to compete with truck makers that have their own proprietary medium-duty engines and will reduce the cost of approving multiple 2007-compliant engines for their chassis. “This agreement is a natural extension of the engine collaboration, which DAF and Cummins have had in Europe for seven years,” Plimpton says.
The Cummins 4- and 6-liter engines are already exclusive in the DAF LF product, the leading light-duty commercial vehicle in the United Kingdom that has about 10 percent of the European market. Paccar has about 10 percent of the North American medium-duty market.
“Cummins was the first diesel engine installed in Kenworth in 1933, and this agreement continues the legacy of innovation and market leadership between the two companies,” says Joe Loughrey, Cummins president and chief operating officer.
