The legendary CAT 320 (323) D-series — once hailed as the “first-generation miracle machine” — has been in operation for over a decade and is now entering its twilight years. Known for their strong power and high fuel consumption, these machines are now giving their long-time owners a real headache as diesel prices have soared.

CAT’s official response to these concerns has been simple: replace the machine with a new model. Other than this suggestion (and their emission-reduction recommendations, which we will not discuss here), no official fuel-saving solution has been offered.

However, many owners still have machines with usable service life left. Abruptly replacing them would be too costly, yet continued operation means high fuel expenses. No one can predict how much longer fuel prices will continue to rise. Electric drive solutions are not yet practical, requiring enormous R&D investments and posing high risks — leaving many owners in hesitation and uncertainty.

In response, a group of retired engineers (mainly from northern China), along with chief engineers from major state-owned enterprises, have jointly explored and successfully tested a retrofit solution.
This reform allows current CAT D-series owners to significantly reduce fuel consumption with a modest investment, while still maintaining the original working capability of the machine — though with a slight reduction in efficiency to approximately the level of the GC series.

This trade-off is dictated by Newton’s laws — you can’t have both maximum efficiency and minimum fuel consumption at the same time. It’s like trying to buy a genuine LV bag on Taobao — everyone understands what that means.

As for retrofit costs, depending on the owner’s access to affordable components, the total expense can generally be kept under 30,000 RMB. After modification, the fuel consumption can be reduced by 4–5 liters per hour compared to the standard D-series, ending up only about 2 liters higher than a GC model, while still retaining the D-series’ superior heavy-duty capability.

Note:
This is a paid technical retrofit project. Under our guidance, some parts of the work can be completed by the owner, while others require professional assistance — all costs are included in the overall project estimate.

If the owner only requires our technical plan, we charge a design fee only, in order to protect our intellectual property.

CAT has clearly stated that it will not provide any economic (fuel-saving) retrofit for this model.