CarBrandLogos archive · International · 2004

InternationalXT

A commercial truck chassis sold, briefly, as a pickup for private buyers.

Photo: Thilo Parg · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in International history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the International XT, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

For four years in the mid-2000s, International sold medium-duty trucks to people who did not need them. The XT line took the company's commercial chassis and fitted crew-cab pickup bodies: the CXT was the largest, built on 7300-series underpinnings with the DT466 inline-six; the MXT was an all-wheel-drive derivative of the military MXT programme; the RXT was the rear-drive, road-biased version.

International CXT pickup · Bruce Fingerhood from Springfield, Oregon, US · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

All three were enormous. A CXT stood taller than most adults and used Allison automatics rated for genuine commercial work. That was the point — the trucks sold on presence, to construction firms who wanted a rolling advertisement and to private buyers who simply wanted the biggest pickup on the road.

International MXT · dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0

In production

The market for such a thing was always narrow, and it closed quickly. Fuel prices climbed, the recession arrived, and International ended production in 2008. Assembled in Garland, Texas and Springfield, Ohio, the XT is now mostly the answer to a trivia question, and the reason a handful of driveways needed reinforcing.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Engine

365 cuin VT365 V8

Body

2-door extended cab

Technical specification

The XT, in detail.

Production: 2004–2008
Class: Full-size pickup truck (heavy duty)
Body style: 2-door extended cab (CXT); 4-door crew cab (CXT, RXT, MXT)
Layout: RXT: FR layout; rear-wheel drive; CXT, MXT: All-wheel-drive
Engine: 365 cuin VT365 V8; 466 cuin DT466 inline-6
Transmission: 5-speed Allison 2500HD automatic (CXT); 5-speed Allison 2200 automatic (RXT); 5-speed Allison 2000 automatic (MXT)
Assembly: Garland, Texas; Springfield, Ohio
Manufacturer: Navistar International