Engine makers John Deere Power Systems and Deutz have announced plans to jointly develop and source components for a new range of ‘low’ horsepower engines up to 175hp.
The co-development and co-sourcing scope includes engine hardware and design. From this, each company can then tailor the product to meet the specific needs of its own or its customer’s requirements. I.e. John Deere will create a version of the engine for itself and its customers, as will Deutz for its customers. As such, engine manufacturing and distribution will be done independently by John Deere and Deutz.
Commenting on the collaboration, Nick Block, director, global marketing and sales at John Deere Power Systems explains; We selected Deutz out of a variety of capable partners based on its experience with small- and medium-sized engines. This allows us to utilise its expertise in developing small, cost-competitive engines while leveraging a common supply base due to the scale of the joint volume between the two companies.
“Our experience in collaborating with Liebherr for a new 18-litre engine demonstrated the impact of successful collaboration in design and manufacturing of innovative power systems. The motivation for this collaboration in particular was to replicate that success in the low horsepower range.”
And as Deutz has already demonstrated with the demonstration of fully electric and hybrid drive methods for telehandlers, the collaboration could also prompt further developments between the two companies. “The company [Deutz] has a long history in the development, production, distribution and servicing of diesel, gas and electric drive systems for professional applications, including construction, agriculture, material handling, stationary equipment, commercial vehicles, rail applications and more,” says Mr Block.
At present, this collaboration is for one engine, allowing Deutz and Deere to deliver a new family of products, says Mr Block.
As for technical details, Deere and Deutz remain tight lipped at this stage. Though, based on the upper engine power it is reasonably safe to assume it will be a four-cylinder engine, which could appear in many tractor models and types of farm machinery, not just John Deere.
When we will see the fruits of this collaboration is also still unknown, with no manufacturing date announced.