In an agreement which only involves Volvo Penta's marine commercial activities, Volvo's engine deliveries to Wartsila will comprise mainly engines in the power range of 300 to 2,000hp.

Wartsila's marine engines are considerably larger, extending to outputs of over 100,000hp.

The product ranges of the two companies are expected to complement each other well.

Goran Gummerson, responsible for Volvo Penta's marine engines said, 'The cooperation strengthens Volvo Penta's position as an engine supplier within commercial shipping.

Wartsila has a worldwide reputation in the industry in terms of products as well as service and we believe that through this cooperation we can strengthen both companies' total customer offering.'

Tage Blomberg, Group Vice President at Wartsila's Service Division, added, 'Including the largest Volvo Penta marine engines in our product and service offering marks a significant step for Volvo.'

Volvo Penta has just launched a totally newly developed generation of high performance marine diesel engines for commercial applications such as rescue craft, water taxis and patrol boats. The four cylinder, 210hp D4 and the six cylinder, 310hp D6 engines are developed completely from scratch with one of their design objectives being to create compact external dimensions combined with large cylinder volume. Bristling with the latest technology, which includes electronically controlled, common rail direct fuel injection, with turbo and charge-air cooling, the new engines deliver powerful torque and high output power combined with noise levels and exhaust emissions certified for IMO and EPA2 while also meeting the comprehensive environmental requirements planned for introduction in Europe in 2007.

The D4 and D6 are also equipped with EVC, Volvo Penta's new CAN-bus based platform which enables the engine, control and instruments, as well as other functions of the boat to communicate and exchange information. The engines are available with Volvo Penta Duoprop drive, as inboard engines with hydraulic transmissions, or for waterjet installations. They will be type classified with RINA and DNV by the end of this year and also fulfil the requirements of SOLAS.

The new D4 and D6 will be top of the line products in Volvo Penta's range. The previous KAD, KAMD and TAMD series of marine turbo-diesels will remain in production and will continue to be available in parallel with the new series engines.

MJ Information No: 18702