Hot on the footsteps of Claas announcing key lines including the Jaguar forage harvester and Lexion harvesters would be powered with Rolls Royce’s MTU line of engines from 2019, UK manufacturer, JCB, says its three largest excavators would follow suit.
The German based Rolls Royce power systems business will supply JCB with MTU Series 1000 engines to power the brand’s JS300, JS330 and JS370 excavators which previously ran Isuzu power plants.
JCB plans to display the new JS370 model powered by the MTU 6R 1000 at the leading US construction equipment expo, ConExpo next month.
Equipment World magazine said they were the first JCB excavators to be powered by Rolls-Royce engines but the deal represents the expansion of a partnership between the two that includes use of the same 6-cylinder Series 1000 engine in JCB’s 457 wheel loader.
The MTU Series 1000 engine delivers 180 kilowatts to the JS300 and 210 kW in the JS330 and JS370.
Rolls-Royce says the Tier 4 Final engines use 10 per cent less fuel than the Isuzu engines in previous versions of the excavators.
The British manufacturer has also unveiled a line of powered access models and will enter the $8 billion market under the name, JCB Access.
The new division plans to roll-out 27 new machines by the end of this year in the UK, France, Germany and North American markets.
The machines include nine electric and three diesel scissor lifts from 4.6 metres 13.8m; five articulating booms (four diesel and one electric) from 14.9m 24.6m and 10 diesel telescopic booms from 20.6m 41.6m.
“The access market is a truly global market and offers immense opportunities for growth for JCB,” JCB Chairman Lord Anthony Bamford said.
“It’s a market that is ripe for a new supplier with the ability to offer industry leading, round-the clock-product support.”
The company says the machines are being designed and engineered in-house and will be released throughout 2017.