German manufacturers have been sand bagging power numbers for years. One for the reason you listed, second so they have some wiggle room over the next several years to annually announce increased power numbers for marketing purposes in the horsepower wars without actually making any significant physical changes to their engines. At least this is what a lot of the car community believes. Everyone expects bigger and better each year and one car manufacturer announcing vehicle "x" has the exact same horsepower as last year's model doesn't create much buzz, especially when their competitor announces their vehicle does have more power this new model year.
In the modern day of everything being turbocharged it's pretty easy to add power to an engine incrementally with just slight tuning changes, in most cases. For example, the new 992 generation Porsche 911 Carrera S/4S comes from the factory with a 443hp 3.0L twin-turbo flat-six in stock form. With just an aftermarket ECU tune that engine will do ~570hp to the wheels while remaining emissions compliant. I bet Porsche announces a 10-20hp increase each year for the next 3-5 years without actually making any physical changes to the engine. Porsche doesn't have to do much themselves and the customer is excited at the prospect of a more powerful car each year.
I imagine Ford, currently in the diesel horsepower war with Ram and GM, is sandbagging in a similar way. Ford just retook the crown for most powerful diesel engine in the segment against Ram and GM, who will now try to one up them again, so it makes sense for them not to show their full hand right away so that when Ram or GM announces numbers that beat Ford's slightly Ford can then again quickly announce new power numbers of their own to retake the power crown for marketing purposes without having to make any significant physical changes to their Powerstroke platform. If the 2020 6.7L Powerstroke can do let's say 500-550hp/1,100-1,200hp at the crank while meeting emissions requirements, but they only need to beat GM's 445hp/910lb-ft and Ram's 400hp/1,000lb-ft then it makes sense (to me at least) to start lower and raise the "official" listed power level as needed.
Thoughts?
Interestingly, it seems GM is either content with their L5P Duramax's 445hp/910lb-ft power level or has hit a wall with balancing increased power and continuing to meet current emissions standards. Seems Ram/Cummins has also struggled with increasing the 6.7L's horsepower level and meeting emissions, since they've lagged behind Ford and GM in horsepower for years, or is also content with their platform's current power level. God knows these trucks haven't actually needed more power for a while now.
Also, anyone here driven the new 2020 Fords yet? Curious how guys like the new 10-speed in them.
