Neoplan fits Cummins
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• Neoplan has fitted its first Cummins engines — and they are also the first 14-litre Cummins to go into a new coach chassis in Europe, says Neoplan.
The engines power two N122 Skyliner double-deckers which have been bought by Durham Travel Services, mostly for use on National Express contracts. Neoplan delivered one in late November, the other is due this month.
The decision to supply Cummins follows pressure from Eric Bowerbank, engineering director at DTS. He has already tested two new 14-litre engines which were built for an MCW double-decker prototype, but never fitted.
One unit has covered 300,000 miles and, apart from adjustments to the tappets at 80,000 miles, Bowerbank says nothing has been done to the engines except oil and filter changes every 12,000 miles.
The engines are rated at 272kW (365hp). They have been totally reliable and, matched to automatic gearboxes, have returned 35,76 lit/100km (7.9mpg) running mostly between the North-East and London, says DTS.
The one drawback is that the engine allows for less luggage space than the new Mercedes vee-eight. The DTS vehicles have 79 seats, but have been built without front passenger doors. However, the front doors are not needed by passengers on long-distance routes anyway, Bowerbank says.
Neoplan refused to fit Cummins when DTS bought two Skyliners, with the last of the old Mercedes vee-10s, last summer, Bowerbank says. But Neoplan's UK sales director Bill Povey says: "We never say 'No'.
"You can have any engine you want. It is just that the factory was going flat-out with 90% Mercedes-Benz engines and knew little of Cummins. We might say 'can we consider this another day'," Povey says.
Getting the 14-litre into a Neoplan fulfils a dream of Nigel Palmer, technical manager at Cummins Diesel, the engine maker's wholly owned distribution subsidiary based at Heathrow. It will also give a boost to his efforts to promote the engine as a repower option on Neoplans.
While DTS is limited to 272kW (365hp) because of its insistence on using automatic gearboxes, higher powers can be used with manual transmissions, Cummins says.
LI Neoplan took an order last week for 50 Skyliners from Holiday Reizen of Berlin — all with Mercedes engines.