Tweet

Nov 1, 2005 12:00 PM

Dongfeng Cummins Engine Co (DCEC), a 50-50 joint venture of Cummins Inc and Dongfeng Motor Co, has begun development of a 13-liter heavy-duty truck engine designed to serve the high-end of the truck market in China.

The fully electronic engine, which is expected to be ready for production in 2009, will feature a power range from 400 to 545 horsepower and is designed to be used in heavy-duty trucks above 40 tons gross weight.

The development agreement is a further expansion of the Cummins-Dongfeng partnership. It also marks a departure from the traditional joint venture model in China. Typically, Chinese joint venture partners have imported existing product technology from their international partners and used that technology as the basis for manufacturing products to meet the China market. This is the first time that a Cummins heavy-duty engine platform has been developed outside the United States. Likewise, it is the first time that Dongfeng has worked with an international partner to design a new engine platform.

Initial development work on the engine platform has started at the Cummins Technical Center in Columbus IN. Development will be shared with the Cummins East Asia Research and Development Center in Wuhan, China, when the center opens in the third quarter of 2006. The Cummins East Asia center is a joint venture between Cummins and DCEC.