An interface to the future

“Our CBE is more than a base engine,” explains Michael Cunningham, Head of Conventional Powertrain at TRATON. Having previously worked for Navistar, he now coordinates the Group’s cross-brand lighthouse project from his office in Sweden. The 13-liter CBE — short for Common Base Engine — is special for a number of reasons: first, its excellent performance makes it a fitting conclusion to a long line of diesel engines. And second, the CBE is a genuine team effort by the TRATON GROUP, since it was developed as a result of intense collaboration between all of the Group’s brands, with Scania at the helm.

Lessons learned for the future

“The CBE has ushered in a transformed way of working in the TRATON GROUP,” Cunningham notes. The project serves as a blueprint for future collaborative efforts at TRATON in terms of cross-brand development, common interfaces, and production at various locations around the world. Two of the biggest challenges facing the transportation industry are electric mobility and autonomous driving. The synergies created by the CBE will free up capacity to tackle these challenges in the future. Cunningham points out that the Group can also draw a lot of benefit from the years of project experience and the lessons it learned while developing the Common Base Engine. “We’ve gained valuable experience, established new processes, and agreed on common goals,” he says, adding: “I genuinely believe that with the CBE, we’ve created a great foundation for cross-brand develop­ment and production within the TRATON GROUP.”

More than shared components

Cunningham explains that the CBE can be expanded to meet specific needs, making it suitable for use all over the world. Thanks to a modular design principle, engines in trucks from Scania, MAN, Navistar, and Volkswagen Truck & Bus share more than 80 percent of the same components. “But there’s much more to it than a few shared components that are subsequently assembled for specific regions and markets,” Cunningham continues. Standardized interfaces then allow the TRATON GROUP brands to cater to the specific needs of their regions and markets using a modular approach. The engines are produced at four plants all over the world and will power the TRATON GROUP’s heavy-duty commercial vehicles in Europe, North and South America, and potentially additional markets in the future.