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Thomas Built parent company DTNA to offer new Detroit engines

The new Detroit DD5 and DD8 engines will be offered throughout Daimler Trucks North America’s product portfolio, which includes Thomas Built Buses. More details about the engines’ impact on Thomas Built are expected to be announced later this year.

October 7, 2014
2 min to read


Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) will offer Detroit medium-duty engines beginning in 2016.

Company officials said in an announcement on Monday that the new engines, branded the Detroit DD5 and DD8, will allow DTNA to further expand Detroit engines to its complete product portfolio. Detroit is a brand of DTNA subsidiary Detroit Diesel Corp.

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The new engines will be offered throughout DTNA’s product portfolio which includes Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner, Western Star and Freightliner Custom Chassis vehicles. More details about the engines’ impact on Thomas Built are expected to be announced later this year.

DTNA President and CEO Martin Daum said that the Detroit medium-duty engines will provide “a total vehicle solution that matches Daimler’s global engineering prowess with the most complete product lineup bar none in the industry. The DD5 and DD8 will feature attributes that are synonymous with Detroit, including exceptional fuel efficiency, lowest total cost of ownership, power, performance and reliability.”

The development of the DD5 and DD8 was described as an example of Daimler’s international development effort, with global testing and validation being undertaken in both Europe and the U.S., and series production in Europe since 2012.

Officials said that the DD5 and DD8 engines were developed for environmental friendliness, economy and performance. DTNA’s entire product lineup, including vehicles equipped with the DD5 and DD8, will meet GHG17 (greenhouse gas) standards early, according to the company.

The engines will be initially built and shipped from Daimler’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany, with further plans to industrialize the engines in North America in 2018.

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