LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At the behest of Canadian customers, Navistar International has come out with a 15-litre MaxxForce engine for high-horsepower applications.

The company also is coming out with a higher rated MaxxForce 13 – with up to 500 hp and 1,700 lb.-ft. of torque available – in hopes 13-litre power will be sufficient for the majority of applications. But for those customers who demand big power, the MaxxForce 15 will fit the bill, Jim Hebe, Navistar’s senior vice-president, North American sales operations, announced at the Mid-America Trucking Show. With the industry shift towards 13-litre power, Hebe admitted it would be easy to ignore the severe service market.

“The obvious question is why bother?” he asked. “It’s real simple. We have customers in Canada and customers in the US in certain applications who just, their applications just demand an extreme engine with extreme power in the most severe applications.”

Development of the MaxxForce 15 began in 2006 when Cummins diverted from its in-cylinder EPA2010 emissions strategy and announced it would pursue selective catalytic reduction (SCR) along with all other heavy-duty engine manufacturers. That decision, Hebe said, left Navistar in a bind, with essentially four options: following Cummins down the SCR path; developing a 15-litre engine from scratch; finding a European engine partner; or finding a North American solution.

“We chose what we thought was the best possible solution out of all the above, and chose the Cat C15 for the foundation of what is now the MaxxForce 15,” Hebe said.

Navistar married the Cat C15’s block and crankshaft with its own fuel and air systems and its Advanced EGR technology.

The new engine can be paired with the International ProStar+ with ratings up to 500 hp and 1,850 lb.-ft. of torque while the vocational PayStar can be mated with a MaxxForce 15 with up to 550 hp.

Hebe said the ProStar+ comes in a 125-inch BBC to accommodate the larger engine, adding “we increased our BBC without compromising aerodynamics.”

Navistar execs also promised at the Mid-America Trucking Show that they will deliver the most complete line of alternative fuel vehicles, including an International ProStar+ powered by a liquefied natural gas version of the MaxxForce 13.

A prototype version of the vehicle was on display at the show. Hebe noted the LNG MaxxForce 13, available with 430 hp and 1,550 lb.-ft. torque, runs on a mixture of 15% diesel and 85% natural gas.

“Be assured, we are going to be the industry leader in natural gas technology,” Hebe vowed. “Not just offering a one-size-fits-all solution, but our engine, purposely designed to fit your applications from medium-duty to heavy-duty.”