HIGH POINT, N.C. — Thomas Built Buses will unveil the first Saf-T-Liner HDX school bus equipped with the new Detroit DD8 engine next month, the company announced on Friday.

The debut will take place at the STN Expo in Reno, Nevada, on July 17. The DD8 is a 7.7L in-line six-cylinder medium-duty engine with specific development for the Thomas Built HDX Type D school bus.

The new diesel engine provides a horsepower range of 260 to 350 and a torque range of 660 to 860 lb.-ft. It features top-load oil and fuel filters and up to 45,000-mile oil change intervals, according to the manufacturer.

The DD8 is the second of two new Detroit medium-duty engines that will be available for various types of vehicles within Daimler Trucks North America’s brands, including Thomas Built Buses. The first of those medium-duty engines, the DD5, was on display in a Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner C2 school bus at the 2017 North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta in September.

The DD8 engine features a fixed-geometry turbo design, along with an integrated engine brake option. According to the manufacturer, the engine’s advanced common rail fuel system optimizes each injection event to minimize fuel consumption, resulting in a fuel efficiency increase of at least 3% compared to other diesel engines in the category.

The DD8 meets 2017 greenhouse gas standards and will continue to meet emissions requirements through 2020, Thomas Built Buses said. Also, the DD8 utilizes technology such as variable cam exhaust phasing, which allows additional heat to the exhaust stream, reportedly enabling efficient operation of the aftertreatment system in school buses in low-speed stop-and-go operations.

“We are so excited to debut this new engine in our Saf-T-Liner HDX,” said Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses. “There is nothing like this engine in the market today, and we cannot wait for our customers to experience how clean, fuel efficient, and easy to maintain this engine is. Our partners at Detroit have truly engineered the best engine for the industry today.”

Like the DD5, the DD8 comes with the Detroit Connect Virtual Technician remote diagnostic service.

The Detroit DD5 and DD8 engines will be available for order from any Thomas Built Buses dealer starting later this year.