International Turns to Cummins for Engines

Lacking enough engines from Caterpillar Inc. to fill its orders, International Truck and Engine Corp. is looking to rival engine maker Cummins Inc., an official with the truck maker said during a conference call last week.

Steve Keate, president of International’s truck group, said Caterpiller is rationing the number of current model engines it will sell to International.

Keate said International’s factory orders have surged over the last three months as customers raced to buy current model engines in advance of the Environmental Pro-tection Agency’s deadline for new lower-emission engines.

Customers are taking a wait-and-see-attitude with EPA approved engines, industry observers have said, because of concerns about fuel economy degradation, reliability and cost of the new models.

Keate said International is trying to work with Caterpillar to obtain more engines. In the interim, however, Warrenville, Ill.-based International is soliciting engines from Cummins, in hopes of transitioning some customers to a different engine.

So far, Cummins is the only engine manufacturer with an engine certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’re working with other engine suppliers to make up the short fall,” said Keate. “We’re transitioning customers to try to fulfill our commitments as best we can.”

Last month, International filed a lawsuit against Caterpillar accusing the company of breaking a contract and passing along government-imposed penalties for producing engines that emit more smog-forming emissions than the government will now allow.

After Sept. 30, Keates said orders are “pretty thin,” and the company expects demand to be soft during the first quarter of 2003.

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