Cummins Inc. Nov. 26 announced growing orders from more than 140 fleets for its new EPA-compliant engines.

Several fleets have placed orders in excess of 100 units, the company said. Among them: Knight Transportation, P.A.M. Transport, Tyson Foods, Mesilla Valley Transportation and Celadon.

"We are also seeing a great deal of interest from fleets who have not operated Cummins products for several years." Jeff Jones, Cummins' vice president for sales and service, said. "Many of these competitive fleets have decided to evaluate the new products, and I'm confident that these tests will lead to significant orders for Cummins power in 2003."

Cummins was the first engine manufacturer to have an engine compliant with the EPA's new emission regulations for on-highway diesel engines. Cummins also received certification for a line of on-highway engines, including their ISM and ISB engines.

In August, the company introduced an Uptime Guarantee program to provide additional confidence for customers trying the new heavy-duty on-highway truck engines.

"The cooled EGR subsystem, based on the already-proven performance of the ISB, ISM and ISX engines, has undergone more real-world testing than any previous new product launch," Tom Kieffer, Cummins' executive director for marketing, said. "By all measures, this is turning out to be one of the best product launches in Cummins history."