For a third year in a row, Caterpillar Inc.'s on-highway truck engines received the highest customer satisfaction rankings in a recently released North American industry report.

International marketing information firm J.D. Power and Associates
awarded Caterpillar's C-15 clean diesel engine its highest levels of
customer satisfaction, and ranked the C-15 and C-12 Cat engines
significantly above industry averages in performance and reliability.
Fifty percent of customers "definitely" would recommend Caterpillar
engines, according to the study, compared to 43% for the industry
average.
Caterpillar engines have received the highest awards each year
since 2000 when J.D. Power and Associates began ranking
heavy-duty engines. This year's study, based on interviews with
nearly 3,000 owners of two-year-old Class 8 trucks (weighing 33,000
pounds or more), examines customer satisfaction in key areas that
concentrate on engine performance, engine noise and vibration,
warranty and overall quality.
"The results of the J.D. Power and Associates study, as an
independent third-party evaluation, clearly show Caterpillar's
commitment to customer satisfaction in the trucking industry," said
Rich Thompson, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for
the Peoria, Ill. company's global engine and research divisions.
The C-15 and C-12 engines were ranked number one and two in the
"vocational" category, which includes Class 8 heavy-duty trucks
operating in rugged environments like construction, mining or utility
services. The Cat C-15 engine also received the highest customer
satisfaction ranking among customers in the "Over the Road"
category, defined as long-haul trucks with sleeper cabs, which do not
return to their home base each night.
Caterpillar's worldwide truck engine sales have grown from 56,000
units in 1990 to nearly 92,000 units in 2001. Cat claims to be the
leading manufacturer and supplier of truck engines in the combined
medium and heavy-duty category in North America, holding the
number one position in truck engine shipments to truck
manufacturers since 1999.