Kenworth Truck Company, a Paccar company, is celebrating its milestone 90th anniversary during 2013.
It all began in 1923, when Harry W Kent and Edgar K Worthington incorporated the Gersix Motor Company as Kenworth. The company name was formed from a combination of letters from the founders' last names.
That first year, the small Seattle WA truck manufacturer produced 78 six-cylinder, gasoline-powered trucks. Since then, Kenworth has produced more than 900,000 trucks.
Its success and staying power in a competitive business can be traced back to a philosophy established early in the firm's history. The goal was to build the right Kenworth truck for each customer's application to get the job done — and build that truck to last.
Kenworth was the first truck manufacturer to install diesel engines as standard equipment in 1933 and sold the first sleeper cab in 1936. The T600A transformed the industry as the first truly aerodynamic Class 8 truck in 1985. A year later, the T800 was introduced to serve applications such as dump truck, mixer, logger, and extreme heavy haul. The milestone 250,000th T800 was produced and celebrated in 2012.
At the 2012 Mid-America Trucking Show, Kenworth introduced the new T680, the company's most aerodynamic truck to date. In 2013, Kenworth expects to bring its latest innovations to the Mid-America Trucking Show. Throughout the year, the firm will host many customer events to commemorate the company's 90th anniversary.