Daimler Trucks will make a $375 million investment to enable production of the new DD5 and DD8 medium-duty engines at Detroit brand headquarters and manufacturing facility in Redford, Michigan.
Joined by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and nearly 2,000 UAW workers, Daimler Trucks celebrated the announcement of the new lines of DD5 and DD8 medium duty engines and officially launched production of the company’s Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission.
“This is an exciting day for Daimler Trucks and Detroit. Our investment is a tangible example of how we maximize the use of our global platforms optimized for regional markets,” said Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for Trucks and Buses. “ ‘Built in Detroit’ is not just a marketing slogan, it is our commitment to strengthen the industrial base in Detroit and to deliver the most fuel efficient engines to our customers. I am convinced: With our medium-duty engines we will repeat the success story of our best-selling heavy-duty engines.”
The Detroit integrated powertrain – which includes Detroit engines, axles, and the DT12 transmission – is part of Daimler Trucks’ Global Excellence Strategy to have uniform production standards and processes worldwide, resulting in the most efficient, highest quality and lowest cost of ownership products in the industry.
The new DD5 and DD8 lines will add approximately 160 new jobs to the Detroit Headquarters facility.
The engines will be initially built and shipped from Daimler’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany with industrialization at the Detroit facility in 2018.
For sale in limited quantities, the Detroit DD5 medium-duty engines will be available in 2016 on the Freightliner M2 product line with extensive availability in 2018 across DTNA’s product portfolio including Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation vehicles.