The story
Founded by General Motors in 1938, in Detroit.1
The predecessor of Detroit Diesel was the Winton Engine Company, founded by Alexander Winton in 1912; Winton Engine began producing diesel engines in fall 1913. After Charles F. Kettering purchased two Winton diesels for his yacht, General Motors acquired the company in 1930 along with Electro Motive Company, Winton's primary client. Research initiated by Kettering led to the development and release of the EMD 567 locomotive engine in the late 1930s; a smaller engine using a similar two-stroke design was developed by engineers at GM Research, which led to the first 6-71, manufactured in 1938.
Origins
January 1938: General Motors began diesel engine manufacturing in Detroit under the Detroit Diesel Engine Division, and re-organized its Winton Engine Corporation as the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. Cleveland Diesel produced larger diesel engines for locomotive, marine, and stationary use. Detroit Diesel started production with the smaller mobile Series 71 two-cycle engines that the GM Research Division had recently developed. GM formed the General Motors Diesel Division (GMDD) as a marketing and customer service structure for its Detroit and Cleveland diesel products.
1939: Series 71 engines installed in buses manufactured by Yellow Coach (acquired by GM in 1943).
World War II: Tanks, landing craft, road building equipment and standby generators needed compact, lightweight, two-cycle engines. By 1943, Detroit Diesel employed 4,300 people, more than 1,400 of them women. Together, these employees produced 57,892 engines in 1943. Detroit Diesel launches Series 110 engines used in construction equipment, rail cars, and power generation.
1945: Detroit Diesel Engine Division begins marketing the Series 71 for marine applications, taking over from the Gray Marine Motor Company, which had been assembling marinized versions since 1938.
Postwar expansion
1950s: Wide use of GM's Detroit Diesel engines in military applications aided their acceptance in commercial applications. Detroit Diesel developed heavy-duty engines for long-distance trucks. GMDD began to develop a worldwide distribution network of independent, authorized distributors and dealers to provide parts and service for Detroit and Cleveland Diesel products.
1957: Detroit Diesel introduced the Series 53 engine, and put the Series 71 engine into use for both on-highway and off-road use. All engines within a Series were designed so that a vast majority of parts were interchangeable, facilitating production of many models of various horsepower by adding cylinders.
1960 and after: For the next 20 years, the Detroit Diesel and Allison Divisions grew, tripling sales during the 1960s alone. In 1963, Detroit Diesel marked a milestone after the collective horsepower produced by its engines to-date had reached 100 million; by 1967, DD had produced engines producing a collective 150 million horsepower.
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1962: Production and marketing of remaining Cleveland Diesel products moved to GM's Electro-Motive Division, leaving Detroit Diesel Engine Division the remaining partner of GMDD.
1965: GMDD structures absorbed into the Detroit Diesel Engine Division, formally ending GMDD as a separate entity. Detroit Diesel introduces the Series 149 engine for use in workboats, push boats, and 100 ton-plus mining trucks.
1970: General Motors consolidated Detroit Diesel with the closely allied transmission and Whirlfire-branded gas turbine businesses of the Allison Division, forming the Detroit Diesel-Allison Division.
1974: The Series 92 engine was introduced, called the Fuel Squeezers; the 6V-92TT engine achieved fuel savings of 10% to 20% over previous models of comparable horsepower. During the energy crisis, turbine engines became uncompetitive.
Shift to four-cycle engines and spinoff
1980: Detroit Diesel-Allison produced its first four-cycle engine. A few years later in the early 1980s diesel engine production split off as Detroit Diesel Division while turbine engines remained as Allison Division.
1987: The Series 60 — the four-cycle heavy-duty engine for which the company is well known — was introduced. It was the first production engine to have integrated electronic controls as a standard feature. The Series 60 was cleaner and more fuel-efficient than previous heavy-duty engines, and became the biggest selling heavy-duty diesel engine in the North American Class 8 truck market.
1988 January 1: A joint venture between Penske Corporation and General Motors created Detroit Diesel Corporation. Penske had a 60% majority ownership in the new venture and the CEO was former racecar driver Roger Penske.
1993 October: Detroit Diesel Corporation had grown its on-highway heavy-duty market share to 33% from 3% only a few years earlier. The company also made an initial public offering of common stock, becoming a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "DDC". That same year, Detroit Diesel launched the Series 50, the first Detroit Diesel natural gas engine.
1999: Detroit Diesel built its 4 millionth engine.
DaimlerChrysler
2000: In October 2000, DaimlerChrysler bought Detroit Diesel Corporation.
2000: Off-highway engines combined with MTU Friedrichshafen to form MTU America. The on-highway division of Detroit Diesel was retained by DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG) as part of Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA).
2005: Detroit Diesel Corporation invested $350 million to refurbish and retool its plant for future business.
2006: MTU Friedrichshafen, including the off-highway part of Detroit Diesel in the US, was acquired by the EQT AB investment group. A new company, Tognum GmbH, was formed as a holding company for the brands held by Daimler Trucks and MTU Friedrichshafen. Both companies use the 'Detroit Diesel' name and corporate logo.
2007: Detroit Diesel Corporation launches its DD engine platform with the DD15 Engine.
2008: Detroit Diesel Corporation was recognized for its Brownfield Redevelopment efforts, and also won the national EPA Phoenix Award for its plant.
2009: The 1 millionth Series 60 engine was sold.
2010: An additional $190 million investment allowed Detroit Diesel Corporation to launch Blue Tec emissions technology and the final engine of its new engines family: the Detroit DD platform of engines that includes the DD13, DD15, DD15TC, and DD16 engines.
2010: Detroit began production of EPA 2010 certified engines.
2011: Detroit Diesel Corporation is named one of the two 2011 Michigan Green Leaders in the Big Business category by the Detroit Free Press. DDC changes brand name from Detroit Diesel to Detroit.
2012: 100,000th DD platform engine built. DD axles, Virtual Technician, DT12 automated manual transmission and Detroit Genuine Parts are introduced.
2013: 75th anniversary.
2016: Detroit Diesel agreed to pay U.S.$28.5 million to resolve violations of US federal Clean Air Act. The company sold 7,786 heavy-duty diesel engines, which were assembled approximately 80% complete in 2009, including the crankshaft, block, pistons, and connecting rods. These short block engines were stored temporarily, and the remaining assembly work was completed in early 2010 for use in trucks and buses of in model year 2010. These engines were alleged not to comply with stricter 2010 emission standards. The company believed its practice was allowed under EPA regulations.
From Wikipedia’s article on Detroit Diesel, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5