LOUISVILLE, Ky — International’s new MaxForce 15 engine was developed with the needs of Canadian drivers in mind, says Navistar’s senior vice-president, North American sales operations.

“We had a lot of input from Canadians who said we’d better think seriously about a 15-litre engine,” Jim Hebe told Today’s Trucking.

“Whether we would have needed a 15-litre engine for performance reasons in the United States, we would have done it for Canada regardless of the cost,” he said yesterday at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

“We look at what you guys do in Canada, and it’s really extreme in a lot of places. You have some really tough operating conditions up there.”

The company wanted an engine that provided 500-hp and 1850 ft-lbs of torque, he said, and the MaxxForce 13 — although a 500-hp version is coming out tis summer — wasn’t up to the task for certain "extreme" Canadian applications. 

“We could get the 500 horse, but we just couldn’t stretch the 13-litre to 1850. To get us there, we had to have the displacement of a 15-liter.”

<< WATCH Jim Hebe discuss the rigors of the Canadian market, the battle for medium-duty, and the supposed end of the ERG-SCR war >>

The new engine will give peace of mind to drivers in tough operating environments, he said. “Whether a 13-litre works up there, it’s not worth the risk to a Canadian trucker when he’s pulling Super Bs up over the Malahat, or some crazy thing.”

Hebe added that the Canadian market is not an afterthought for Navistar.

“We have a tremendous sensitivity to Canada. We have great dealers there. We have phenomenal customers,” he said. “We were just not prepared to say, ‘We’re going to leave you guys to someone else if you really want a 15 litre.’”

A 15-litre engine was also important to Navistar’s product portfolio to confirm its role as an integrated manufacturer, he said, and the company is already talking about developing a 16-litre iteration of MaxxForce engine.

“We needed a 15 litre and we might need more than a 15 litre if the market continues to go the way it’s going,” he said.

Executives from all OEMs at this year’s show were upbeat about 2010 truck sales. Hebe says Navistar will be fighting intense competition on the medium-duty and vocational truck fronts as well, as the economy continues to improve. On the medium-duty side, the departure of some well-known brands has opened the door to others.

“When the highway market deteriorated, immediately we saw Paccar and Freightliner step up. Boy, it was like a laser shot right into vocational and into medium duty,” he said. “So, yeah, we’re seeing a lot of pressure. We’re seeing a tremendous amount of competition from a different form of truck competitor than we’ve had before.”

Hebe said Navistar has been a beneficiary of stimulus money, particularly for utility projects and infrastructure construction. After years of slashed municipal budgets, investment is finally returning.

“We see that coming back now,” he said. “There’s money going into infrastructure development. Bridges and highways. We’re not seeing municipal or commercial construction but highway construction. for sure. That’s where we’re starting to see an uptick.