HAGERSTOWN, Md. — It was an event five years in the making and on July 15, the Volvo Group celebrated the production of its 300,000th 13-litre heavy-duty diesel engine.

Production of Volvo’s 13-Litre engine began in Skövde, Sweden back in 2005. Today, today the engines are also assembled in Curitiba, Brazil, as well as Hagerstown, Md., which is where the July 15 celebration took place recognizing both the North American team that assembled it and the customer who will put it into service.

The 300,000th engine, a 500 hp D13 engine, was recently assembled at the Volvo Powertrain plant in Hagerstown and placed in a new Volvo VN780 chassis at Volvo Trucks’ New River Valley assembly plant. The completed truck was delivered back to Hagerstown and presented to its new owner –– Abilene Motor Express of Richmond, Va.

Abilene has been operating Volvo vehicles since 1999. Abilene’s class 8 fleet includes 140 VN780s, with more than 50 EPA10 versions either already in service or soon to be so.

Volvo Trucks North America also revealed recently that orders for Class 8 trucks equipped with EPA 2010 certified Volvo Group engines – which include the Volvo D11, D13, and D16 – have surpassed the 10,000 mark.

“Passing the 10,000 mark in Class 8 orders is a testament to how well we’ve executed our EPA 2010 project,” said Ron Huibers, senior vice-president – sales and marketing. “The reports we’re getting from customers, particularly when it comes to performance, reliability, and fuel efficiency, have been extremely positive – and they’re the cleanest trucks in the world, to boot.”