Saying Goodbye to an Amazing Year

Transmissions 12/28/2015
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Well, this has been quite a year, hasn’t it?

As the history of Detroit is written, 2015 will go down as one of the company’s most momentous years.

During the past 12 months, we’ve launched in-plant production of the Detroit™ DT12™ Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) and the asymmetric turbocharger, the first one Daimler has ever manufactured. We also received the welcome news that the Detroit DD5™ and DD8™ medium-duty engines will be made here in a few years. That $375 million investment will mean an additional 160 jobs.

This year also saw our products become part of more DTNA offerings. The integrated Detroit Powertrain became available for the Freightliner Cascadia® Evolution and the new Western Star 5700. Detroit Assurance® is now offered for Cascadia and Cascadia Evolution trucks.

Detroit Connect introduced new features for Virtual Technician™ and we launched the Model 6 Detroit Drive Axles.

Meeting federal GHG 2017 standards early was another accomplishment in a year full of them.

We showed off our new products and innovations while making the rounds of trade shows. We were at the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Nashville in February; the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville in March; the ALK Transportation Technology Summit in Princeton, N.J. in May; the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in August; and the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia in October.

And we collected our share of awards in 2015. Detroit Reman was named Heavy Duty Remanufacturer of the Year by the Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association and Detroit Assurance was tagged as one of the Top 20 Product Winners by Heavy Duty Trucking magazine. 

Next year may not bring as many announcements as this year has, but it promises to be fast-paced and exciting. DT12 production will ramp up quickly to meet overwhelming demand. We will begin preparations to produce the medium-duty engines here in 2018.

We will continue to improve our products lineup and look forward to further gains in market share.

Before we close the book on 2015, I’d like to thank everyone on the Detroit team for their hard work. This wonderful year would not have been possible without you. Happy New Year!