The High Cost of Clean Air
Meeting new emissions rules will likely add five figures to price of a truck.
STEVE STURGESS
SENIOR EDITOR
The first indication of the likely costs of the EPA '02 emissions requirements was revealed in a mid-May letter from Kenworth to its dealers. And the news isn't good. Data-book base prices are scheduled to go up by between $8,796 and $9,473 across KW's product range, with the lowest price rise for the T600 and the highest for the W900. Optional engines will add to the price.
HDT obtained a copy of the Kenworth Dealer Product Information bulletin sent out May 14. In it was pricing for Cummins and Caterpillar engines. At the time, neither Cat nor Cummins had officially released their pricing on the new engines.
Cat was still waiting for the EPA non-conformance penalties to be announced before officially releasing their prices.
Cummins, some industry sources speculated, was waiting to see the size of Caterpillar's nut before officially setting pricing for its engines.
Obviously though, there were pricing discussions ongoing between the engine makers and the truck OEMs that allowed Kenworth to ballpark its figures.
While Kenworth was first to break cover with the unwelcome news, other truck builders are likely to follow suit with dramatic price increases as they attempt to recoup some of their engineering costs. Those are in addition to increased prices that the engine manufacturers will charge for the emissions-enabled power units.
The Kenworth story is that the dealers need pricing information so they can quote orders prior to the release of the October 1, 2002 data book. The letter effectively outlines not only the base engine — a Cummins ISM 330 — and how much it will cost to spec it in the various Kenworth models, but also prices the upgrades to the cooling system and other engine-related components that will have to be part of the post '02 emissions packages.
The numbers are substantial.
On top of the hike to the base prices, depending on the engine preferred in the spec, engine option costs range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a whopping $12,431 for the 565 Cummins ISX. For example, if you wanted to spec a T2000 with either a 450 ISX or a 435 C-15, the list pricing would stack up like this: an extra $8,924 for the base model engine conversion, plus $7,638 for the Cummins or $5,817 for the Cat.
However, to get a comparable spec between the Cat and Cummins, you'd likely have to option a Jake Brake to the Cat model. The Jake would add an additional $2,000 to the price, which effectively evens out the cost differential between the two specs at around $8,000 for each.
If you want to go high-horsepower, watch out. That 565 ISX at $12,000-plus compares to the Cat C-15 525 at an option price of $9,879. And you cannot get, for love nor money, a C-16 Caterpillar of any shade or a Cummins Signature 600. They just are not in the manufacturers' lineup post 10-'02 — at least for a while. The Cummins N-14 is also gone.
This is yet another wrinkle in the post '02 engine picture: There will be fewer power options out there.
A matrix of engine availability and ratings pre- and post-October appears on pages 42-43 of this issue. In it, you will find that Caterpillar chops half of its power options. Cummins loses a bunch, too.
On the other side of the coin, Detroit Diesel adds four ratings to the 14-liter offering and Mack, because it has two different solutions, adds more. Volvo trims the bottom of its power lineup, dropping the 7-liter engine and the lowest rating for the 12-liter.
And it's not just that there will be fewer engine ratings. Truck OEMs are also limiting the number of choices available. The Kenworth dealer bulletin is a good example: there are no Detroit Diesel power options shown. In fact, there are Detroits available, but they are unpublished options only available to customers who would otherwise abandon Kenworth or sister division Peterbilt if the truck manufacturers don't keep supplying Detroits to match other equipment in the fleets.
Freightliner, with the broadest power offering, has announced it won't be listing Cummins engines as an available option. It's not that they don't want to; there just hasn't been the time to engineer in all the options, says the company. That leaves only Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel Series 60 and the MBE4000 engines for Freightliner customers, at least for a while.
At International, Detroit Diesel will no longer be an option after 10-02. International is playing it as opportunity to reduce complexity and cost. It also gives the company less competition for its own engines. The 570 version of the 466/530 engine is expected to be ready for Internationals in 2004.
There are other gems in the KW dealer letter. For one, the Caterpillar engines will require catalytic converter exhausts. That presents more engineering hurdles for all truck builders who plan to offer Cat power.
Bottom line: You will have fewer engine choices and those engines will probably cost far more than anyone previously expected.
More Power 2002
Hitting The Road WIth EGR
Pre- and Post-October '02 Engine Availability
