The answer from Cat’s Zach Barrett was no, or “not that I’m aware of,” but Barrett was also quick to point out that the Illinois-based manufacturer still has a robust support system for all the Cat engines still trucking across America.
Barrett claimed there are more than a million Caterpillar engines still in operation. RigDig (another Fusable-owned brand) data indicates the actual number is not that high, but Cat’s presence in the medium- and heavy-duty operating population is still notable considering its last truck engine rolled off an assembly line 17 years ago. And with President Donald J. Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday revoking all GHG regulations, many are wondering if a Cat comeback could ever occur.
According to RigDig, there are 129,375 Caterpillar engines in verified vehicles across the United States. That’s less than Cummins, Detroit, Paccar and Volvo, but outpaces Mack and International/Navistar. The brand’s staying power is even more illuminating when breaking down the vehicle population by model year.
More than 84% of the verified vehicles in RigDig’s database are model year 2010 or newer, which means Cat’s still top five standing in engine market share comes from a miniscule segment of the overall truck populace. In fact, back-of-the-napkin math indicates Caterpillar engines account for 32.6% of all engines in active trucks model year 2009 or older.
“I mean, if you look at the average life of our engine, our average age of our engine nowadays is over 20 years old. So a lot of them can, you know, go buy a drink or go buy a beer at a bar,” Barrett joked with Kitzhaber.
So, where are these engines?
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Perhaps expectedly, Texas houses the highest number of active Cat users — nearly 14,000 as of Tuesday. Behind the Lone Star state, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York round out the brand’s top five.
Colorado, Georgia and Washington come next, followed by the Midwest. There are between 1,900 and 2,300 Cat users active in Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.
California, conversely, with its stringent emission regulations and commitment to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), has only 1,000 fleet prospects still using a Cat engine.
As for whether the brand’s impressive staying power and the sudden removal of some key regulatory barriers will ever convince Caterpillar to re-enter the production space, that remains unknown. But Barrett says as long as the brand’s engines remain in operation, so will the company’s support team.
“As long as it’s up to everyone out there, and we hope they continue purchasing the parts and services, we’ll continue supporting it,” he said.
