Over 50 new jobs will be created when the engine goes into full production.

JCB will start producing six-cylinder engines with the addition of the JCB Dieselmax 672 to its engine line-up.

The first JCB engine rolled off the UK production line in November 2004 and since then, engine production has extended to JCB India's headquarters at Ballabgarh, where the first engine was manufactured in 2011. To date, more than 250,000 JCB engines have been produced globally.

The introduction of the new six-cylinder engine represents an investment of around GBP45 million (USD70.5 million). More than 50 new jobs will be created when the engine goes into full production.

JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford says over 70% of JCB's machines are powered by the company's own engines. "The move into six-cylinder engine production is a historic moment for our business and a natural step to take and we look forward to setting new standards in performance and fuel efficiency."

The JCB Dieselmax 672 is based on the company's four-cylinder 4.8-litre Dieselmax engine, with a high degree of parts commonality across the two engine platforms.

Initially, the Dieselmax 672 will be produced to meet Stage II emissions standards, for growth markets including Russia, Brazil and China. The engine will be seen first in JCB's JS360 crawler excavator for those territories, but will be used in additional machines in future.

The six-cylinder engines will be built on a dedicated line at JCB Power Systems' purpose-built facility in Foston, Derbyshire, UK. In development for more than two years, the engines have already completed more than 50,000 hours of testing, 30,000 of which have been in machines working in the field. The engine will be offered with ratings of 140kW (188hp.), 165kW (221hp.), 190kW (255hp.) and with a maximum output of 225kW (302hp.).