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Essay about The history of Detroit Diesel

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Have you ever wondered how Detroit Diesel has become what it is today. Detroit Diesel Corporation manufactures diesel and alternative fuel engines for use in trucks, buses, commercial and pleasure marine craft, military and so on. This is how Detroit Diesel has progressed over the years with engines and help of other distributors and dealers.
The history of Detroit Diesel started in 1938 just as WWII was heating up. In the same year General Motors formed the GM Diesel Division which is the ancestor of Detroit Diesel. This was an epic time when tradition of strength, quality, and dependability was born.( Detroit Diesel )
After the war had ended, GM Diesel recognized the growing opportunity in the on-highway truck market. In 1957, GM …show more content…

The incentive to develop such engines came from the idea to replace steam in the locomotive industry. Alfred P. Sloan, president of GM during the 1920s-1930s said that Charles F. Kettering can be credited with the foresight and drive behind the practical diesel power. Kettering supervised experiments at GM as early as 1921 to develop a smaller, more efficient diesel. The small, practical GM diesel engine might have never been developed is Kettering hadn’t been a yachtsman. Kettering purchased a diesel engine for his yacht and was so impressed, he convinced Sloan to buy the Cleveland, Ohio company named Winton that made the engine. After this, GM began to develop a diesel powered locomotive engine during the 1920s and 1930s. (Detroit Diesel Corporation)
Locomotive companies where impressed with the power and efficiency of the engines compared to the steam locomotives they had been operating for years. No other major manufacturer built a diesel locomotive engine until after WWII. The importance of the railroad began to decline after WWII , but Detroit Diesel had already moved into the trucking industry. Detroit Diesels main competitor in the post years, Cummings Engine Co. , began to fight seriously for market share in the 1960s. However, the trucking industry was booming and there

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