Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc. announced the development of a new gasoline powertrain for its FE Series medium-duty cabover trucks. The powertrain was developed in partnership with PSI, General Motors Powertrain and Allison Transmission. All three Fuso models, the FE130, FE160 and FE180, will be powered by a PSI-GMPT Vortec Series 6.0L V8, coupled to the Allison 1000 6-speed automatic transmission—making these the only gas trucks in their class to offer PTO capability.
The new V8 gas engine models will also be the first Fuso vehicles to be assembled in the United States. Daimler’s Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. will perform the work at its Gaffney, S.C., plant, using engines and transmissions built in the U.S., and chassis, cabs and axles sourced from Fuso in Europe and Japan.
“While the new VortecV8 represents a robust new powertrain for us, we are happy to report that we have adapted these drivetrains to our standard cab-chassis configurations—so customers and upfitters will find the same familiar 33.5-in. wide frame, same body attachment capability, wheelbases, cab-to-axle dimensions, and box sizes as they’ve enjoyed with our low-cost-of-ownership turbocharged diesel cabovers,” said Otto Schmid, Fuso’s director of product management. “And using the Allison transmission has allowed us to offer the only gas-powered trucks with provision for powering auxiliary equipment like reefers and liftgates via optional PTO capability.”
Fuso is offering the gas truck in Classes 3, 4 and 5. Customer trials for the new FE Series gas trucks are scheduled to start in quarter four of 2017, with full market launch to follow in quarter one of 2018.
