The march toward vehicle integration first began in 2010 with the North American introduction of Paccar’s MX engine lineup. A 40k rear-axle followed last year, and a Paccar front axle will be available in October.
Paccar Vice President for Powertrain Landon Sproull says the transmission is a clean sheet design, developed over three years in conjunction with Eaton to work with MX engines and Paccar axles.
Currently, Sproull says 70 percent of all on-highway Paccar trucks are spec’d with AMTs, but he notes the new Paccar offering was purpose-built as an automated transmission and is not converted from a manual.
“We wanted to specifically design a transmission that would meet the needs of the vehicle,” he adds.
“It was never intended to be a manual,” adds Paccar Technical Center Director of Advanced Technology Carl Hergart.
Mike Dozier, Kenworth general manager and Paccar vice president, expects automated transmission sales to hit 90 percent by 2020 for both companies – a 30 surge from 2016.
