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Fiat-Chrysler alliance could threaten Cummins' mid-range engine business
Greg Gerber posted on January 23, 2009 08:46
DETROIT -- The projected Fiat-Chrysler alliance could hold significant longer-term potential for Fiat Powertrain Technologies, but Cummins' mid-range diesel engine business may come under pressure as a result.
Under its Dodge brand name, Chrysler is a major player in 'trucks' - which in North American terminology means pick-ups and minivans. The Dodge Ram pick-up range is a strong challenger to Ford's F-Series for market leadership in the United States and Canada. Nowhere is the competition between them keener than in the heaviest weight segment of up to about 6. 5 tons gross vehicle weight, where many vehicles are equipped with towing hitches enabling them to be operated at a train (ie all-up) weight of 10 tons or more.
Diesel power predominates in that heavy pick-up sector. In Chrysler's case the Ram range is powered exclusively by Cummins. Ram business accounts for far and away the largest percentage globally of Cummins' well-proven 6. 7 litre in-line six-cylinder ISB diesel business.
Under a contract signed during the last months of the DaimlerChrysler regime, Cummins is developing an all-new smaller - and EPA 2010 compliant - diesel of around 4. 5 litres capacity, for use by Dodge in both heavy and lighter-duty pick-ups, with potential further applications in Chrysler SUVs and passenger cars.
And here we come back to the intended Chrysler-Fiat engagement, if not eventual marriage. Under the banner of what has, since March 2005, been Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT), the Italian group produces automotive diesels in almost every power bracket. Most significantly it offers the 4- and 6-litre Tector range. These are engines developed during the late 1990s under the EEA (European Engine Alliance) joint venture between Fiat and Cummins. The first Tector engines were virtually identical to their Cummins ISB counterparts, differing only in their fuel system electronic controls.
By all accounts, relations between the EEA partners were far from smooth. Cummins allegedly accused the Italians of reneging on an agreement that Fiat would not tout for outside, on-highway business. Although not publicly acknowledged at the time, co-operation was strained and the EEA was quietly dissolved about five years ago. And when Cummins embarked on an ISB update program to meet Euro 4 emission laws - which involved, fundamentally, an increase in bore and stroke - the company bent over backwards to prevent Fiat engineers getting access to the finer details, including those cylinder dimensions.
It seems highly likely that Cummins, with its future Chrysler engine supply business on the line, will be sure to remind its most important North American mid-range engine OEM customer of its own experience of co-operating with Fiat.
SOURCE: Automotive World
Fiat-Chrysler alliance could threaten Cummins' mid-range engine business
Greg Gerber posted on January 23, 2009 08:46
DETROIT -- The projected Fiat-Chrysler alliance could hold significant longer-term potential for Fiat Powertrain Technologies, but Cummins' mid-range diesel engine business may come under pressure as a result.
Under its Dodge brand name, Chrysler is a major player in 'trucks' - which in North American terminology means pick-ups and minivans. The Dodge Ram pick-up range is a strong challenger to Ford's F-Series for market leadership in the United States and Canada. Nowhere is the competition between them keener than in the heaviest weight segment of up to about 6. 5 tons gross vehicle weight, where many vehicles are equipped with towing hitches enabling them to be operated at a train (ie all-up) weight of 10 tons or more.
Diesel power predominates in that heavy pick-up sector. In Chrysler's case the Ram range is powered exclusively by Cummins. Ram business accounts for far and away the largest percentage globally of Cummins' well-proven 6. 7 litre in-line six-cylinder ISB diesel business.
Under a contract signed during the last months of the DaimlerChrysler regime, Cummins is developing an all-new smaller - and EPA 2010 compliant - diesel of around 4. 5 litres capacity, for use by Dodge in both heavy and lighter-duty pick-ups, with potential further applications in Chrysler SUVs and passenger cars.
And here we come back to the intended Chrysler-Fiat engagement, if not eventual marriage. Under the banner of what has, since March 2005, been Fiat Powertrain Technologies (FPT), the Italian group produces automotive diesels in almost every power bracket. Most significantly it offers the 4- and 6-litre Tector range. These are engines developed during the late 1990s under the EEA (European Engine Alliance) joint venture between Fiat and Cummins. The first Tector engines were virtually identical to their Cummins ISB counterparts, differing only in their fuel system electronic controls.
By all accounts, relations between the EEA partners were far from smooth. Cummins allegedly accused the Italians of reneging on an agreement that Fiat would not tout for outside, on-highway business. Although not publicly acknowledged at the time, co-operation was strained and the EEA was quietly dissolved about five years ago. And when Cummins embarked on an ISB update program to meet Euro 4 emission laws - which involved, fundamentally, an increase in bore and stroke - the company bent over backwards to prevent Fiat engineers getting access to the finer details, including those cylinder dimensions.
It seems highly likely that Cummins, with its future Chrysler engine supply business on the line, will be sure to remind its most important North American mid-range engine OEM customer of its own experience of co-operating with Fiat.
SOURCE: Automotive World
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Ford frames are better, and if you like automatics, which I don't, the autos in Fords are better. Fords also have more interior room and better cab/bed configurations. Why in the heck Dodge never came out with a big cab and a long bed, we'll never know.
