My Thomas rep was in last week and was talking about this new engine. Said it's an inline 4 cylinder, weird looking thing. He says the test subject just finished it's real world testing and was actually being prepped for tear-down last week to see how it looks inside.
Assuming all goes well with the project, expect to see it in 2016 for the Thomas products.
OK, read that again and it reads that it will be "industrialized" in north america by 2018. I guess it's being developed for the world market then. Interesting.
"The engines will be available options in all Daimler Truck models including Thomas school buses. Daimler said the DD5 and DD8 will meet GHG17 emissions standards early and will increase fuel economy and vehicle performance. All Daimler Trucks and Thomas Built Buses dealers will offer the DD5 and DD8"
Looks like to me they are poised to take over the truck market from International. There are lots of people POd with International and I think another company has a chance to take the market if they have a good product to offer. I'll be interested to see if DD can meet emissions without sacrificing reliability. Brave new world!! lol