2007 engines will be costly, International warns

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TORONTO, Ont. – It will cost US$7,000-$10,000 more to purchase a 2007 Class 8 truck, according to International Truck and Engine. It’s the first time a manufacturer has formally put a dollar figure on the cost of the 2007 engines. The company also warns medium-duty trucks will cost between US$5,000-$6,000 more than they do today.

International will continue to use Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) in its 2007 medium-duty powerplants as well as its big bore engine slated to be released at the end of 2007.

The 2007 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards call for a 90 per cent reduction of particulate matter (PM) as well as a 50 per cent reduction in NOx.

A diesel particulate filter is required to reduce particulate emissions to the accepted range.

“All of this equipment and technology comes at a cost,” said Dee Kapur, president of the International Truck Group. “We recognize this is a pretty significant increase in the pricing so our focus has been to work collectively to mitigate the financial impact to the customer.”

International is appealing to the U.S. government to help offset the increased cost of 2007 trucks.

Patrick Charbonneau, vice-president of government relations with International, says the company is working with the American Trucking Associations to push through legislation that would issue investment tax credits for 2007-compliant engine purchasers. Bill HR3301 in the House and 1240 in the Senate call for five per cent investment tax credits for 2007 trucks.

“There’s been a considerable amount of support for these bills,” said Charbonneau.

Kapur said International is releasing the cost of 2007 trucks now so customers can begin planning for the extra costs.

“We have a pretty integrated plan and we want to make sure everybody is informed so business planning that needs to go on in the limited time that remains until 2007 does occur in a well-orchestrated fashion,” said Kapur. “It’s important our customers are making informed decisions about their businesses given what’s going on.”

While the cost of 2007 trucks will be significantly higher, Internat-ional officials are insisting there should be no concerns about fuel economy or reliability. Fuel mileage should be fairly consistent with today’s engines, they say, however Phil Christman, vice-president of product creation warns there may be some applications that experience minor fuel degradation.

“It’s very difficult to talk about what someone individually will see in terms of fuel economy because it’s so dependent on application,” Christman said.

He added a heavily-loaded highway truck would see very little fuel degradation while vocational trucks may experience some extra fuel usage as they tend to create more PM and the particulate filter uses fuel to burn off those particulates.

Field testing of the 2007 engines is well underway, Christman says.

“We’re conducting tests on power levels, fuel economy, durability, reliability and maintenance levels,” he explained. “This is the largest field test in our history. We’ll be measuring tests in millions of miles and thousands of regenerating cycles.”

Christman added “We don’t anticipate any impact besides some routine maintenance regarding the particulate filters.”

Meanwhile, International is forecasting a strong 2006.

“We continue to believe 2006 is going to be a solid year for our industry,” Kapur said. “We are already starting to see our slots fill up and our third and fourth quarter production for 2006 is looking very healthy.”

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