Same story, different show: off-highway manufacturers ready for Tier 3, Tier 4; truck engine markets get more interesting; the return of the dreaded "

Looking back over the last 12 months in the engine industry was something like watching the revival of a well-known Broadway play. We're familiar with the story, but the cast is made up of pros who really know how to put on a show.

The script is an old one--emissions. In off-highway, with Tier 3 about here (Jan. 1, 2006, for engines from 175 to 750 hp) and Tier 4 in sight (2008 for engines 50 hp and below, and a phase-in beginning for engines above 175 beginning in 2011), engine manufacturers have solidified their strategies for meeting the standards. And most of the last year has been spent showing it to customers.

It all began at the engine show of shows that was Bauma 2004, then they took it on the road to Las Vegas, Nev., for ConExpo-Con/Agg this spring. Among the highlights:

Caterpillar unveiled its complete Tier 3 ACERT off-highway engine range, which included two additions to the line it showed at Bauma. The ACERT off-highway range now covers nine models from 6.6 to 32 L with outputs from 119 to 1350 hp. Cat also began selling its own equipment powered by Tier 3 ACERT engines and if it needed to display any more confidence in its technology, upped the industrial engine warranties on the engines and key components Deere's philosophy on engines is that the world is dividing into a performance market and a value (read cost-sensitive) market segment. That belief was on display as the company showed its newest Tier 3 engines at ConExpo. Between its PowerTech Plus, PowerTech E and PowerTech M engines, all of which are recapped elsewhere, Deere provides its own Chew-to-Cadillac coverage.

Cummins' engines stood out at ConExpo, as much for their bright red color--the new look for all of its engines--as for the fact that included in the company's launch was the newest version of one of its most important products, the B series engine. The new Tier 3 QSB engines are derived from core designs developed by Cummins and Iveco as part of the European Engine Alliance, and Cummins believes that with the addition of aftertreatment, these engines will be good to go for Tier 4.

Cummins also showed that even before ConExpo, Las Vegas was a happenin' place as it unveiled its Tier 2 high horsepower mining engines at MinExpo, including a new 3000 hp rating for its V-16 QSK60.

Also this year, Deutz began volume production of its D2008 and D2009 diesels, which the company purchased from Lister Petter. The engines are built at the Deutz manufacturing operations in Cologne, Germany.

A new name on the engine map this year is JCB. The U.K. equipment manufacturer began production of its own four-cylinder engines at the lovely named Dove Valley Park in Church Broughton, Derbyshire, England. The engines are being used initially in JCB's own equipment--beginning with backhoe loaders--but enough interest has been generated by the engines that the company is reportedly considering moving up its plans to sell loose engines.

German industrial diesel builder Motorenfabrik Hatz and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI) of Japan have signed a cooperation agreement under which Hatz will supply up to 20,000 single-cylinder engines per year to Fuji's small engine subsidiary Subaru Robin. This stems from the decision by Robin to concentrate on its core business of building small industrial gasoline engines and packaging its own pump and generator sets. As a result, the company will discontinue production of its own DY series diesels and replace them in its sales program with the Hatz B Series single-cylinder engines.

It was also a busy year for small engine builder Perkins, which launched the Tier 3 generation of its 1100 series engines and introduced two new models to its 400 series, which are built by Ishikawajima Shibaura Machinery Ltd. (ISM) of Japan.

On the gaseous engine side, Zenith Power Products (ZPP) announced a significant expansion of its large-spark ignited (LSI) industrial engine line, adding six new LSI engines to its lineup. The new engines were the result of an engine distributor agreement ZPP has signed with Hyundai Motor Co. (HMC), Seoul, Korea. Ford Power Products, meanwhile, announced that it will sell hydrogen engines, primarily for such things as ground support equipment and shuttle vehicles.

As interesting as the off-highway/ industrial engine business was, things were perhaps even more fascinating in the on-highway truck business, where the subject was again (mostly) emissions and the big dates 2007 and 2010. All of the engine manufacturers previewed their 2007 technology.

Caterpillar said it would rely primarily on its ACERT technology to meet the 2007 standards, but added a few additional technologies, including one that looked a lot like something the company has repeatedly--and publicly --rejected. The biggest changes to Cummins' '07 truck engines concerns aftertreatment, which it developed in partnership with its in-house emissions and filtration specialist Fleetguard.