The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week updated emission standards for heavy-duty commercial vehicles for the 2027 model year, turning already tight screws on truck and engine manufacturers to build ever-cleaner diesel powered units. 

Truck and engine OEMs had been working with EPA on framing out the guidelines the agency released last Tuesday, but now work begins in earnest on clearing an even higher low emissions bar. 

Below is a roundup of the major Class 8 truck players and their reaction to the forthcoming regulation. When reached last week, Paccar declined to comment. 

Freightliner and Western Star 

Sean Waters, Daimler Truck North America vice president of product compliance and regulatory affairs, called EPA’s Clean Trucks Plan targets for medium- and heavy-duty engines and vehicles “challenging.”

“We’re ready to rise to meet the technological hurdles of the plan and help reduce emissions from conventionally-powered vehicles even further,” Waters said. “This is an important and intermediary step on our pathway to the goal of offering exclusively CO2-neutral (in driving operation) medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles by 2039.” 

International Trucks

Navistar, via statement, said it was “investing in technologies that will drive toward a zero-emission future. Navistar has worked collaboratively with the EPA on the technical details of a new national NOx rule that targets technical feasibility and market acceptance. With our shared goal of decarbonizing the transportation industry, we look forward to reviewing the EPA’s heavy-duty NOx regulation in its entirety to understand its full impact.”

Volvo and Mack Trucks

Volvo Group Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications John Mies said the maker of Mack and Volvo-branded trucks, “strongly supports EPA’s goal of significantly decreasing emissions from heavy-duty engines. While we believe zero-emission vehicles are the future of our industry, we’re also committed to delivering lower NOx from our diesel products,” he said. “It’s clear that the new standard is very challenging. Beyond that, the rule is extremely complex, so we need time to examine it and understand what it means for our customers, our dealers and our employees.”

Cummins

Cummins said through an emailed statement it was still reviewing “what appears to be a very challenging final rule. We appreciate EPA’s efforts to balance diverse stakeholder perspectives while delivering significant environmental benefits. We plan to work toward meeting the standards with reliable and durable new technologies that our customers will be ready to adopt. We look forward to working with EPA and our customers toward a successful implementation.”