While the meat of its news conference at the Mid-America Trucking Show was devoted to the progress of its EPA 2010-compliant engines on their way to full production, Cummins Inc. also publicly passed the baton of leadership of its Engine Business from outgoing chief Jim Kelly to incoming president Rich Freeland.
Addressing the media ahead of the show, Kelly gave a sort of valedictory relating the substantial progress the engine unit has made of late before turning the podium over to Freeland.
“Cummins had a terrific year in '09,” Kelly began. “Despite a 25% decline in year-over-year earnings, we still raised revenues and we restructured the heavy-duty business.
“And [in 2010] we are very bullish about our prospects,” he continued. “By 2012, we will meet or exceed our record revenues of 2008.” Kelly noted that this confidence is due in part to outstanding results in the company's China, India and Brazil markets, which he said are now “surpassing pre-recession levels.”
Turning to the domestic market, Kelly pointed out that Cummins is heartened by “very positive” early performance results from its new line of 2010 engines, noting the engines have undergone extensive field-testing in 200 vehicles operated over 8 million miles.
Cummins' 2010 offerings incorporate an enhanced cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, a single VGT turbocharger, and the Cummins Aftertreatment System with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology, which provides near-zero emissions.
Cummins also said the ISX15 is EPA- and CARB-certified and is for Class 8 on-highway trucks that require the performance of a big-bore engine. It features the new Cummins Xtra-High Pressure Injection (XPI) fuel system, which is able to produce extremely high pressure independent of engine speed.
The midrange lineup for on-highway applications includes the ISB6.7, ISC8.3 and the ISL9. The ISX11.9, which enters full production in August, rounds out the product portfolio for on-highway applications.
