Page 153 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

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TRUCKS
CAT TRUCK ENGINES: END OF AN ERA (2008)
One of the most significant changes in Peterson’s portfolio over the past twenty-five years is the evolution of its truck business. Caterpillar entered the truck engine market back in 1960. Its first offering was the Cat 1673, a six-cylinder, 207 hp diesel engine. In 2008, the last Cat truck engine,
a C15, rolled off the assembly line in Mossville, Illinois. Progress and the escalating demands of the EPA had shrunk Cat’s market share to an unsustainable sliver. It was time to pull the plug.
The decision came as two factors coalesced into a perfect storm. Traditionally, the truck industry gave brand options for engines at the quoting table. In 2006, Daimler decided to put its own Detroit engines—exclusive- ly—into its Freightliner trucks. Following the auto industry’s model, Daimler’s vertical integration with the Freightliner brand made sense as a cost-control measure. But it took a third of the engine business off the table. A few years later, PACCAR did the same thing with its Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks and European-built DAF engine. And since PACCAR was Caterpillar’s largest engine customer, the verdict was devastating.
The final blow came as the EPA ratcheted up its emissions standards. In 2007, Cat engines were well within compliance, but by 2010 Cat knew they would not meet the new requirements. Coupled with the severely curtailed market, Caterpillar decided to pull out of the truck engine business altogether and focus elsewhere. The announcement came on June 10, 2008. “That’s when everybody started to panic,” recalls Ken Ehni, truck engine business manager (retired 2018), who had to explain all this to his customers. “ ‘What do you mean you’re getting out of the business? You’re leaving us no other choice but to buy somebody else’s product.’ I got that a lot.”
Longtime customers were devastated. Of the Big Three engine manufacturers—Cat, Cummins, and Detroit —Cummins was the only option left. For Toby Giacomini, Jr. (Toby’s Trucking), that was not an option he was
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