News

Mitsubishi-Fuso has showcased a 12.8-litre variant of Daimler's Heavy Duty Engine Platform (HDEP). The unveiling - at the Tokyo Motor Show - follows last week's launch of the US variant of Daimler's HDEP engine platform, the 15-litre Detroit Diesel DD15. Although Fuso was remaining somewhat  tight-lipped about the engine's technical details, CM understands it will launch in Japan in time for the JP09 emissions protocol coming into force in 2009.

The unit employs the same ARCS - Amplified Common Rail System - as the DD-15 unit, and Fuso sources told CM that injection pressure is around 1850bar. However, further questioning elicited the information that the engine is designed to work with injection pressures in excess of 2500bar. There seems to be no evidence of the turbo compounding used on the DD15 unit, and, more intriguingly, little sign of any SCR equipment.

Speaking to CM at the show, Daimler AG truck boss Andreas Renschler referred to the emissions reduction system as a "magic box". Whether or not this means that Daimler is shying away from SCR and AdBlue for JP09 remains to be seen. We expect a European version of HDEP to become available some time around the introduction of Euro-5 in October 2009. Actros is due a facelift during 2008, and we predict  a new version in 2011.