New Cummins X family not for Aus

Three new engines from Cummins said to offer better economy and increased performance in the 350hp to 605hp range but they're not coming here

Cummins this week introduced a new era in heavy-duty power with the next-generation X Series but they won't be coming to Australia in the foreseeable future. The engines are designed to comply with America's stringent emission laws and will be built at the Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant.

The lineup covers three X engines, with ratings from 350hp to 605hp and the company says that this represents the broadest and most capable heavy-duty engine range that Cummins has ever made available to the truck market.

"Inspired by our customers and their business needs, Cummins is delivering the power of great ideas with our next-generation engines revealed today as the X15 Performance Series, the X15 Efficiency Series and the X12 focused on productivity – each optimised for specific duty cycles and applications," said Srikanth Padmanabhan, Cummins President – Engine Business.

The new engines were launched at the Transportation Research Center (TRC) in Ohio, where a fleet of trucks powered by the big-bore X15 and medium-bore X12 were put through their paces on the test track. The X15 and X12-powered truck test runs took place 85 years after Clessie Cummins tested the first heavy-duty truck diesel engine in North America – the 125-hp Model H – on the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Clessie was a visionary and he used his innovation and mechanical genius to propel the diesel to the forefront of the North American commercial vehicle market. He would be proud of us for launching the latest heavy-duty engines 85 years after he first introduced that new diesel technology. We continue to harness our history of great ideas to deliver tomorrow’s products, today," Padmanabhan said. "Our latest X15 and X12 engines deliver unparalleled performance while achieving the lowest cost of operation. Equally important – they are great to drive, with faster response and more braking power than ever before, and that will help fleets retain their best drivers.”

The X engine platform builds on the success of the current heavy-duty engines, taking on new names to reflect the evolution and introduction of the product platforms to meet Phase 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel-efficiency standards, to be fully implemented in 2017.

Cummins says that by taking highly innovative approaches, combined with a series of finely tuned improvements on existing technologies, the X15 brings unmatched performance and fuel efficiency, with the implementation of an optimised compression ratio, air handling system and cam profile.

The X12 redefines the meaning of medium-bore power with by far the highest power-to-weight ratio of any heavy-duty engine. All three engines are integrated with the revolutionary Single Module aftertreatment. Up to 60 per cent smaller and 40 per cent lighter than modular aftertreatment systems, the Single Module is capable of taking DPF ash cleaning events to as much as 800,000 miles on the X15.

"Our technology success achieves an unprecedented degree of integration across the powertrain and with the driver – as represented by the Cummins and Eaton SmartAdvantage Powertrain – enabling major fuel savings by precisely adjusting to grade, vehicle weight and throttle position. Together with features such as ADEPT, SmartCoast and Predictive Cruise Control (PCC), we can make every driver an expert," Padmanabhan said.

The X15 Performance Series is configured for heavy-haul and vocational trucks, with a 485hp-to-605hp ratings range, while the X15 Efficiency Series is tailored for line-haul and regional-haul applications, with a 400hp-to-500hp range. The X12 medium bore engine has a 350-to-475hp range for regional-haul, intra-city delivery and vocational trucks.

A spokesman for Cummins Australia said that although the company would like to see the engines in our market, they were not slated for distribution here "at this stage".

New Cummins X family not for Aus

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