Cummins Receives EPA Certification for ISX Engine

    COLUMBUS, Ind.--April 2, 2002--Today Cummins Inc. announced that the first of their on-highway engines slated for the October 2002 emission standard has been certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the 2.5-gram NOx + NMHC standard.
    In issuing the certification, the EPA also affirmed the use of Auxiliary Emissions Control Devices (AECD) as submitted by Cummins. AECD's are permitted by law when limited engine protection is necessary under certain operating conditions. AECD's are used in today's engines throughout the industry, and are approved as part of the EPA regulations and certification process.
    In 1998, a group of manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines, including Cummins, signed a consent decree with the EPA and Department of Justice. At that time, engine manufacturers made a commitment to meet the January 2004, 2.5-gram NOx+NMHC standards by October 2002, as part of a "pull-ahead provision."
    "Cummins did not enter into this consent decree lightly," said Christine Vujovich, Cummins Vice President Environmental Policy. "Cummins made a significant investment in technology and product development to meet, on time, the requirements of our consent decree, which was specifically designed to establish a level playing field for all engine manufacturers who signed a consent decree."
    "The certification by the EPA of the first of our new engines proves beyond any doubt that we will provide a product line that will fulfill our commitment to meet the 2.5-gram NOx+NMHC standard," said Joe Loughrey, Cummins Executive Vice President and President, Engine Business. "Meeting customer requirements while achieving emission requirements is a challenging business. We remain committed to providing our customers with the best possible performance and fuel economy, and are focused on providing the lowest cost solution while contributing to a cleaner environment. We understand and appreciate the challenges facing many trucking companies and owner-operators today and believe we are squarely in the leadership position for having the best customer solution for 2002," he added.
    "Performance of the new engines will be improved in terms of engine braking capability and overall engine responsiveness. In our testing, drivers of the new ISX engine preferred the performance of this engine by a 3:1 margin compared to today's product," said John Wall, Cummins Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. "With the certification of the ISX completed six months early, we will continue to refine and look for further improvements in fuel economy and reliability to exceed our commitments to customers," said Wall.
    On April 17, 2001, Cummins became the first U.S. heavy-duty engine manufacturer to publicly confirm its commitment to EPA officials to meet the October 2002 emissions requirements. Cummins first began field test of the ISX engine in December 1999 and will have accumulated over 6 million miles of on-highway vehicle field-testing and 115,000 hours of laboratory tests by October.
    A global power leader, Cummins Inc., is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute, and service electrical power generation systems, engines, and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, and emissions solutions. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (USA), Cummins serves its customers through more than 500 company-owned and independent distributor locations in 131 countries and territories. With 24,900 employees worldwide, Cummins reported sales of $5.7 billion in 2001. Press releases by fax can be requested by calling News On Demand (toll free) at 888-329-2305. Cummins home page can be found at www.cummins.com.