Cummins Inc. and Dongfeng Motor Co. have begun development of a 13-liter heavy-duty truck engine designed to serve China’s high-end truck market. The development, and the new engine, will be the product of Cummins’ and Dongfeng’s 50-50 joint venture, Dongfeng Cummins Engine Co.

Cummins and Dongfeng have been joint venture partners since 1996. Dongfeng Motor Co. is one of China’s largest automakers. DCEC makes Cummins ISB, ISC and ISL mid-range engines (3.9 - 9.0 liters) and is expanding to increase capacity from 160,000 to 200,000 engines a year by 2007.

The new, fully electronic engine is expected to be ready for production in 2009. It will have a power range of 400 to 545 hp, for trucks above 40 tons gross weight. Cummins does not currently have a product in this displacement range, and though the engine platform is being developed to meet the emerging demand in China’s domestic market it will be capable of being modified to meet future U.S. EPA and Euro IV/V emission standards.

Initial development work on the engine platform is underway at the Cummins Technical Center in Columbus, IN. Those developments will be shared with the Cummins East Asia Research and Development Center that opens next year in Wuhan, China.