IC Corp. pegs engine hike at $6,000

WARRENVILLE, Ill. — IC Corp. has announced that school bus prices will increase $6,000 per unit as a result of the EPA requirements on engine emissions that bus and commercial truck OEMs must adhere to with 2007 engines.

The cost increase is associated with changes to the powertrain system designs and new materials required to meet 2007 emissions. For example, additional industry demand is driving higher prices for precious metals in the diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) — a significant component in the 2007 emissions-compliant engines.

This pricing affects all IC Corp. school bus models (the CE series, RE series, FE series and BE series) and new commercial models (the HC series, LC series and FC series), regardless of engine model or horsepower.

IC Corp. officials said the engine emissions-related increase is independent of the upcoming model-year increase anticipated to be in the 3 to 5 percent range.

“We are providing pricing information as early as possible so our customers can plan their upcoming budgets accordingly,” said Michael Cancelliere, vice president and general manager of IC Corp. “We understand that many school bus customers have fixed budgets and recognize that a price increase will have an impact on them.”

IC Corp. officials are confident that its new line of emissions-compliant engines will provide customers with the highest reliability, serviceability and performance. “We’ve already heard from some school bus customers that they are looking forward to having the cleaner engines in their fleet,” Cancelliere said.