Daimler Truck’s North American powertrain brand Detroit Diesel has announced the launch of its latest Gen 6 heavy duty diesel engine range in the USA and Canada.
Daimler North America says its next evolution of its best selling engines is fully compliant with the US EPA’s 2027 standard and will be available for all heavy-duty Freightliner and Western Star trucks.
The leading manufacturer of heavy-duty truck engines and commercial vehicle components, says its new Gen 6 heavy-duty engine portfolio, comprises the DD13, 13 litre, the DD15 15 litre and theDD16 16 litre straight sixes.
“Freightliner and Western Star customers depend on Detroit to operate reliably, efficiently and powerfully, and we’re honored by the trust placed in both the Detroit brand and the DD13, DD15 and DD16 engines to help navigate past transitions as well as this next one,” said Daimler Truck North America’s enior vice president of sales and marketing, David Carson.
“With our Gen 6 engines, we have a successor that builds on years of proven performance to be prepared for ’27 and beyond,” Carson added.
Daimler says that at the core of the new engines , is a refinement of the previous generation’s design, with the new ones providing confidence that the durability and reliability for which Detroit is known will continue.
The company said that as part of the updates, the engines will deliver enhanced efficiency designed to help offset the impacts of the upcoming emissions-related changes.
Detroit’s DD engine series was first announced in 2007, and introduced as a clean sheet design to help fleets navigate the rapidly changing regulatory landscape without compromising reliability, efficiency or power.
Daimler points out that following the introduction in 2007 each successive generation delivered with Gen 2 in 2010, Gen 3 in 2013, Gen 4 in 2016 and Gen 5 in 2021, each of them meeting increasingly stringent emissions standards, while continuing to provide the performance and uptime customers expect from Detroit.
The company says that its continuous improvement helped to solidify the DD engine series as a leading choice across the US industry.
To date, there have been 1.2 million heavy-duty Detroit engines sold for both on-highway and vocational applications, delivering reliably for fleets across North America and other global markets.
Daimler says its Detroit Gen 6 engines represent the first product introduction from Daimler Truck’s latest evolution of its global heavy-duty diesel engine platform (HDEP).
As part of the company’s technology strategy, the HDEP platform delivers a level of global scale that is unmatched in the entire commercial vehicle industry, serving all brands and regions with around 200,000 engines produced per year.
It says that with this new generation, it is strengthening long-term competitiveness of its heavy-duty engine while transforming at the speed of right, ensuring that customers receive the right solution in the right market at the right time.
Daimler manufactures all Detroit engines in the US at the Redford, Michigan campus one outskirts of Detroit.
The Redford campus is home to North American engine and component research and development for Daimler Truck North America, as well as engine, transmission and axle production, the facility employs more than 2,000 people.
The Detroit Gen 6 DD13 and DD15 engines will be available beginning in the US from January 2027, with Gen 6 DD16 production following in January 2028.
