MOSSVILLE, Ill. – Truck owners will continue to be able to purchase Cat Clean Power heavy-duty and mid-range engines in the most popular ratings after the October emissions deadline.

While ACERT-equipped engines go into full production in the second quarter of 2003, these Clean Power engines will bridge the gap according to Cat and be fully certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“There will be no interruption in production. Our focus is to continue providing the products our customers need and the traditional Cat value they expect, as we prepare to introduce our ACERT technology,” says Jim McReynolds, general manager, Caterpillar On-Highway Engine Division.

The heavy-duty Clean Power C-15, C-10 and C-12 will continue to be available after October, as well as the mid-range 3126E.

The largest engine in the Caterpillar line, the 600 hp C-16, will be re-engineered from between October and March of 2003 to provide more horsepower than ever before, McReynolds adds. Caterpillar will pay non-conformance penalties (NCPs) to the EPA to fulfill the requirements of the consent decree; however, this cost will not be passed on to the customer.

Based on the EPA’s cost estimates for cooled EGR engines, many large fleet owners and owner/operators are concerned about the October 2002 deadline. Caterpillar is working with the EPA toward an acceptable solution to the NCP issue, according to McReynolds.

“One solution that Caterpillar and many truck owners have proposed is that the EPA extend the deadline to allow appropriate time to field test the new engines,” he says. “Rushing engines to market without sufficient testing will not help the customer, nor will it preserve environmental quality. We simply will not bring ACERT engine technology to market until it has been appropriately tested in the field.”