The DD5 will first become available in 2016 on the Freightliner M2 lineup. Photo Credit: granitefan713 on FlickrDaimler Trucks announced this morning its plans to transition manufacturing of its new medium duty engine lineup to its Detroit brand headquarters.
The $375 million investment will create 158 jobs at the Redford, Michigan, facility which will begin production of the Detroit DD5 and DD8 medium duty engines in 2018.
Daimler said initial manufacturing of the engines will take place at the company’s powertrain facility in Mannheim, Germany with plans to make the DD5 available in 2016 on the Freightliner M2 product line.
Daimler says the DD5 will enter extensive availability in 2018 across its product folio including Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation vehicles.
“With our medium-duty engines we will repay the success story of our best-selling heavy-duty engines,” said Daimler board member Wolfgang Bernhard in a statement.
“Detroit medium duty engines will provide what no other manufacturer in North America can offer—a total vehicle solution that matches Daimler’s global engineering prowess with the most complete lineup bar none in the industry,” said Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America.
Today also marked the beginning of production of the Detroit DT12 automated transmission at the Redford facility. The DT12 is paired with the DD15 as part of the company’s integrated Detroit Powertrain.
