The G16 is a type of road switcher designed by EMD specifically for export to operators whose axle load is restricted to less than 20 tonnes. Their general layout resembled the standard road switchers offered for the domestic market at the time. Introduced in 1958, it had the 16-cylinder variant of the 567 series engine with an output or originally 1,800 hp. Several rail gauges between 1,000 and 1,668 mm were offered. Production initially started directly at EMD and at GMD in Canada, but as usual, soon licenses were granted for production in other countries.

The biggest customer were the Yugoslavian State Railways which received 218 locomotives, with two more supplied to the “Nikola Tesla” power plant in today's Serbia. The JŽ operated them as class 661 and they became the most numerous Yugoslavian diesel locomotive, nicknamed “Kenedi” in reference to the American president. Later they were used in most of Yugoslavia's successor states, for example becoming class 2061 of the Croatian HŽ. Most were retired by 2013, but Kosovo rebuilt them starting in 2008 with the more modern 8-710 engine and two cabs.

Egypt received 128 locomotives, 17 of which were the wide-nose G16W model. Spain initially got ten G16 in 1965 directly from EMD, but soon started licensed production at MACOSA. These were initially series 1900 and later became series 319, together with newer EMD J16 and J26. Brazilian customers got 41 locomotives, with 37 still being operated by the Vitória-Minas Railway (EFVM). In Australia, Clyde Engineering built six G16 which were used by Victorian Railways as class X. Additionally, 24 were built for Mexico, 20 for Iran and four for Hong Kong.