How Much More for 2007 Diesel Engines?
At industry meetings discussing the 2007 diesels, the question of price inevitably comes up, but thus far the question hasn’t been answered. Engine builders won’t quote numbers because they say truck makers set the final prices. Truck manufacturers have complained that engine builders hadn’t given them numbers from which to compute list prices. By now the cost figures on engines themselves should be known, but work continues on packaging and testing, so the final numbers still aren’t in. We’ve heard of possible price increases ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 per Class 8 truck. Final numbers should be closer to the lower figure, because truck makers realize that buyers will stand for only so much, especially since their ’02/’04 experience. In the months before the October ’02 deadline, customers ordered many thousands of trucks ahead of their normal replacement schedule. This “pre-buy” enabled them to avoid price hikes of $4,000 to $6,000 per vehicle, and to sidestep any troubles with th
