Cummins Inc. on Monday announced an expanded program as an incentive for fleets to spec Cummins new low-emission ISM and ISX truck diesels with cooled exhaust gas recirculation
and to order new trucks with Cummins power between Oct. 1, 2002 and March 31, 2003.
Coverage is from date of purchase through Dec. 31, 2003.
Speaking to truck journalists in a conference call, Tom Kieffer, executive director, marketing, said Cummins was offering guaranteed uptime to eliminate the risk of unplanned downtime, a concern fleet managers have over the reliability of engines with EGR. Kieffer said under the plan, a Cummins distributor will repair 2002 ISM and ISX EGR engines within 24 hours at no charge should they fail for any reason, and will pay for a rental truck or tractor beyond 24 hours.
Kieffer said cooled EGR is a sub-system added to two well-accepted Cummins engines. "The cooled EGR subsystems have had more real-world testing (6.4 million road miles) than any previous Cummins product launch," he said. All EGR-related parts and components are included under Cummins standard two-year, 250,000-mile warranty.
Kieffer also announced three new extended warranty packages which also cover the EGR components (cooler, valves, mixer, piping) and the new variable geometry turbocharger.
The expanded warranties are offered at three levels:
1. Total base warranty extended to three years/300,000 miles.
2. 2. An internal parts protection plan including all EGR equipment for four years/400,000 miles.
3. 3. A major failure extended plan which includes major castings and forgings for five years/500,000 miles.
Prices for the extended packages range from $800 to $1,800.
"We are ready for Oct. 1, 2002. Our ISX engine was the first truck diesel to receive 2002 EPA certification and our ISM engine has been submitted for certification and will be approved before Oct. 1," said Christine Vujovich, vice president, environmental policy, marketing and sales. Her marketing and sales responsibility is a new promotion just announced.