Cummins Brings X12 to North America
The new X12 from Cummins is based on the global ISG platform. It’s not a rebranded ISX12. Photos: Jim Park
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The new X12 from Cummins is based on the global ISG platform. It’s not a rebranded ISX12. Photos: Jim Park
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Are smaller displacements the engine trend of the future? Cummins seems to think so and is hedging its bets on the question. The Columbus, Ind.-based global engine manufacturer now has very capable engines at both ends of the Class 8 spectrum: the 14.9-liter X15, and a brand new engine platform, the 11.8-liter X12.
Recent introductions from other engine makers suggest there’s an appetite for smaller block engines that can deliver Class 8 power for regional and urban applications as well as the vocational market. With ratings up to 475 horsepower and 1,700 lb-ft of torque, the X12 will be running with the big boys. But the X12 is nearly 1,000 lbs lighter than the X15, so weight-sensitive fleets will be looking very closely at this engine.
The X12 is derived from the ISG platform first introduced in 2013 as a global engine platform. It made its first appearance a year later in a joint venture with the world’s largest independent engine maker, Beiqi Foton Motor Co. Ltd. of China. Foton now uses the ISG diesel in a new truck series developed with Daimler of Germany.
Cummins says the engine in ISG trim already has more than a billion miles under its belt and is ready to take on North America. We will see it here in 2018 as the X12.
This is not a rebranded ISX12. The diesel version of that engine will be sunsetted at the end of 2018, although Cummins will continue to stock parts and cover service for decades, and production of the natural gas version will continue into the foreseeable future.
Instead, the X12 is a clean-slate design from the oil pan up. It was engineered to be a robust, lightweight, high-output …Read the rest of this story
