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Freightliner LLC
Type	Subsidiary of Daimler AG
Founded	1942
Headquarters	Portland, Oregon, United States
Key people	Chris Patterson, President, CEO Juergen Kritschgau, CFO, Finance and Control Roger M. Nielsen, COO
Industry	Heavy Truck and Chassis Manufacturer
Products	See complete products listing.
Revenue	▲$32.294 billion USD (2006)
Operating income	▲$3.014 billion USD (2006)
Net income	▲$1.806 billion USD (2006)
Employees	approximately 24,000 (2007)
Slogan	Run Smart
Website	www.freightliner.com

SNC Century

Freightliner LLC was a manufacturer of heavy duty trucks, chassis and semi-trailer trucks. Freightliner LLC had a name change to Daimler Trucks North America. Freightliner LLC was part of Daimler AG. The company is known mainly for the heavy duty class 8 diesel trucks that it produces, as well as class 5-7 trucks. As of 2005 Freightliner is the largest manufacturer of heavy duty trucks in North America with annual earnings of over $17 billion (2005 est.) and over 22,000 employees (including Detroit Diesel). Due to the fact that Freightliner LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler, a non American corporation, it is not included in Fortune 500 rankings. Were it to be ranked however it would list as the 125th largest company in America based on the criterion used in said ranking. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... A subsidiary, in business, is an entity that is controlled by another entity. ... DaimlerChrysler AG (ISIN: DE0007100000) is a German car corporation and the worlds fifth largest car manufacturer. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Nickname: Location of Portland in Multnomah County and the state of Oregon Coordinates: , Country State Counties Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas Incorporated February 8, 1851 Government  - Type Commission  - Mayor Tom Potter[1]  - Commissioners Sam Adams Randy Leonard Dan Saltzman Erik Sten  - Auditor Gary Blackmer Area  - City 376. ... Manufacturing is the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale, or intermediate processes involving the production or finishing of semi-manufactures. ... For the tax agency in Ireland of the same name, see Revenue Commissioners. ... USD redirects here. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), also known as operating income and operating profit, is a term used to describe a companys earnings. ... USD redirects here. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. ... USD redirects here. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about work. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Look up slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Trucks can refer to several things: The plural of: Truck, the motorized vehicle Truck, other uses of the singular As a name: Trucks was a rock band Trucks is a short story by Stephen King Trucks is a movie based on the Stephen King short story Trucks! is a television... Look up Chassis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 18 wheeler redirects here. ... DaimlerChrysler AG (ISIN: DE0007100000) is a German car corporation and the worlds fifth largest car manufacturer. ... Class 8 - Heavy Duty Trucks as defined by the Federal_Highway_Administration (FHWA): Less than five-axle tractor/single trailer, medium-haul delivery. ... North American redirects here. ... Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC), headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, USA, is part of the Freightliner - Trucks NAFTA Business Unit, and is a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG. The company produces on-highway medium and heavy-duty Diesel engines for the commercial truck market, and for other commercial and automobile use. ... The Fortune 500 is a ranking of the top 500 United States corporations as measured by gross revenue. ...

History

In the 1930s, Consolidated Freightways decided to produce their own truck line out of reconstructed Fageols, after finding that most existing heavy trucks did not have sufficient power to climb the steep grades found in the mountain regions of the western United States. The trucks were branded "Freightliners", with the first units produced in Consolidated Freightways' maintenance facility in Salt Lake City ca. 1942. After production was interrupted during WWII, manufacturing began again, in CF's home of Portland, OR. The first truck sold outside of Consolidated Freightways went to fork lift manufacturer Hyster, also based in Portland. Today, that truck is in the Smithsonian collection in Washington, D.C. Consolidated Freightways logo Consolidated Freightwas was the 3rd biggest trucking company in the US unil the company filed for bankrupcy in 2002. ... Fageol was founded in 1922 and was the first company to build a bus from the ground up. ... Hyster Company was a manufacturing company specializing in forklifts and other materials-handling equipment. ...

Lacking distribution capability, and seeking higher volume to reduce production costs, CF entered into an agreement to sell their trucks through the White Motor Company, of Cleveland, OH, and their dealer network in the U.S. and Canada. This relationship would endure for the next quarter century, and the co-branded "White Freightliner" high cab-over-engine models became a familiar sight on the highways across the continent, far from its roots in the Pacific Northwest. White Motor Company, American automobile manufacturers In 1876, Thomas H. White incorporated his business in Cleveland, Ohio, as the White Sewing Machine Co. ...

Manufacturing began in Burnaby, B.C., in 1961, to reduce the duty penalty on the complete vehicles sold in Canada. Assembly plants in Indianapolis and Chino, CA, complemented the main plant on Swan Island in Portland, serving the U.S. market. In 1969, an all-new assembly plant was opened on North Basin St., about a mile from the older building, which in turn was converted to exclusively produce parts for production.

White Motor Company became troubled in the 1970s, expansion into white goods and agricultural equipment consumed capital without producing a return, and the relationship with Consolidated Freightways became frayed. In 1974, the distribution agreement was terminated, and Freightliner Corp. began life as a freestanding manufacturer and distributor. Many of the first dealers were from the White Motor Co. network, but some entrepreneurs also signed up to represent the popular trucks without the White Motor Co. franchise as a complement.

At the same time, the company introduced its first conventional model, an adaptation of the high cab-over-engine mainstay product. HCOE's accounted for well over 50% of the U.S. market in those days, owing to restrictive overall length regulations that limited the bumper-to-taillight dimension of a semi-trailer unit to 55' on interstate highways. However, conventionals were popular on western roads owing to more convenient ingress/egress, better ride, and easier access to the engine when service was required.

In 1979, a new plant was constructed in Mount Holly, North Carolina, and, nearby, a parts manufacturing plant in Gastonia, North Carolina, both in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Volumes continued to build. Mount Holly is a city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. ... Gastonia is a city in Gaston County in North Carolina, a state in the southeastern United States. ...

1979 marked another very consequential event in the evolution of Freightliner, and of the whole trucking and truck manufacturing industries. President Carter signed into law bills deregulating transport both on the ground and in the skies, which fundamentally altered the "rules of the game" for both. The echoes are still being felt today, with the financial crises being endured by the mainstream airlines. Deregulation changed the economics of trucking, and removed the protective shield of regulated carriage that protected carriers from competition and allowed the Teamsters Union to develop a stranglehold on the nation's economy by virtue of the Master Agreement with all significant freight transport companies.

Three years later, the Surface Highway Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 relaxed weight and length standards and imposed a new excise tax on heavy trucks and the tires that they use. No longer was the overall length of semi-trailer combinations restricted; rather, only the trailer was specified, to be not greater than 53' in length. Individual states retained more restrictive overall length laws, but fundamentally, the rules had changed forever.

Consolidated Freightways, a traditional, unionized carrier that flourished in the pre-deregulated era, realized it was in a fight for its life, a fight it would ultimately lose in 2002, when it closed its doors forever on the Labor Day weekend. White Motor Co. filed for bankruptcy in 1980, as the mistakes of the previous two decades combined with a serious economic downturn and turmoil in its core customer base to render it insolvent. CF examined making a bid for White, but two larger and dedicated vehicle producers from Europe, AB Volvo and Mercedes-Benz AG, had deeper pockets and CF quickly dropped out of the bidding.

Ultimately, AB Volvo acquired the U.S. assets of the defunct White Motor Co., while the Canadian unit was purchased by a consortium comprised of Alberta-based energy companies, and was renamed Western Star.

Discussions with M-B intensified, however, and in May of 1981, Consolidated Freightways sold its truck manufacturing business to Mercedes-Benz, allowing it to concentrate its management attention and financial resources on its traditional trucking business. Around this time, the Chino and Indianapolis plants were shuttered permanently.

In 1989, the company acquired a standing plant in Cleveland, North Carolina, near Statesville, that had been producing transit buses for German manufacturer MAN, apparently without profit. In 1991, the company displaced a poor-selling line of Mercedes-Benz medium duty vehicles with an all-new, range of medium duty trucks designed for North America that the company called the Business Class. Sharing some cab components with the Mercedes-Benz LKN mid-range European cabover, the truck was a conventional design which was the first all-new entry in the medium-duty market in over a decade. It proved quite successful. Cleveland is a town located in Rowan County, North Carolina. ... MAN AG (German: Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, ISIN: DE0005937007) is a German transportation company. ...

Another pronounced downturn in the industry's fortunes necessitated drastic measures to restore the company to financial health, and Dr. Dieter Zetsche, now the Chairman of Daimler's Board Of Management, was dispatched to lead the project as CEO. The Burnaby assembly plant was closed, a new facility in St. Thomas, Ontario, replaced it, and cost reduction programs in all corners of the company restored profitability when the market rebounded. Dieter Zetsche Dr. Dieter Zetsche (also known as Dr. Z) (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is the Chairman of DaimlerChrysler. ...

Significantly, production of Freightliners also commenced for the first time in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico, about 30 miles outside Mexico City, in a plant owned by Mercedes-Benz and producing at that time also buses, Brazilian-sourced medium-duty trucks, and compact Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.

The 90s were a go-go era for truck manufacturers in general, and for Freightliner in particular, under the leadership of flamboyant James L. Hebe, a former Kenworth sales executive who joined the company in 1989. Freightliner became the leading heavy truck nameplate in 1992, added new products at a rapid clip throughout the period, and made a number of acquisitions as well:

1995 - Oshkosh Custom Chassis in Gaffney, South Carolina becomes Freightliner Custom Chassis, producing the underpinnings for walk-in vans used by companies like UPS to deliver parcels and Cintas for uniform laundry services; diesel recreational vehicles; conventional school buses; and shuttle buses. It should be noted that the Oshkosh and Freightliner partnership has dissolved, and Oshkosh is not affiliated with Freightliner any longer. Gaffney is a city in Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States. ...

1996 - American LaFrance, a 130 year-old manufacturer of fire apparatus that was Mr. Hebe's first employer. LaFrance had fallen on hard times and was moribund at the time of the acquisition. American LaFrance (ALF) is an emergency vehicle manufacturer, based in Ladson, South Carolina. ...

1997 - the heavy duty truck ("AeroMax") products of the Ford Motor Co. were acquired, and renamed Sterling (from an early White Motors brand). Ford dedicated its monstrous Louisville, KY, facility to more profitable light truck production

1998 - Thomasbuilt Buses, of High Point, NC, producer of all classes of school bus bodies, and forward control chassis.

2000 - Western Star Trucks, Inc., the successor to the White Motor Co. of Canada, and its assembly plants in Kelowna, BC, and Ladson, SC.

2000 - Detroit Diesel Corp., Redford, MI, the former General Motors subsidiary had been revived by Roger Penske and was attractive to DaimlerChrysler as a point of entry into the North American heavy duty diesel industry. This company was actually acquired by another unit of DaimlerChrysler, but operations were gradually integrated into Freightliner. Penske PC23 car Roger Penske (born February 20, 1937 in Shaker Heights, Ohio) is the owner of a very successful automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. ...

Throughout this era, as well, a number of small fire and rescue apparatus manufacturers were acquired and rolled into the American LaFrance entity.

However, by 2001, the company was awash in used trucks it couldn't sell, and saddled with a number of non-performing operations at a time when the core business, still the Freightliner over-the-road truck offerings, was in recession. Former Freightliner CFO Rainer Schmueckle was dispatched by DaimlerChrysler to once again turn the company around. The Kelowna Western Star plant was closed, as was a Thomasbuilt facility in Woodstock, Ontario and parts manufacturing at the old Portland plant was discontinued. American LaFrance production was consolidated in the former Western Star plant in Ladson, SC, but the attempt to integrate complex, specialized emergency vehicles into a company noted for high volume production capabilities ultimately proved unworkable, and American LaFrance was sold late in 2005 to a private equity fund.

Today, Freightliner remains the leading brand in heavy-duty trucks, and in commercial vehicles in classes 5 through 8 in North America. It leads the school bus, diesel Class A recreational vehicle chassis, and walk-in van markets. Its Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz engine offerings are also industry leaders.^{[citation needed]} The Freightliner badge also adorns the Sprinter, a Class 2 van produced by Mercedes-Benz in Europe and marketed through Freightliner dealers, as well as through Chrysler dealers as a Dodge-branded offering. For other uses, including the Chrysler Brand, see Chrysler (disambiguation). ...

After DaimlerChrysler sold the Chrysler division and changed their name to Daimler AG in 2007, it was announced Freightliner LLC will change its name to Daimler Trucks North America LLC on January 7, 2008. Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ...

Models

• Cascadia
• Coronado
• Century Class S/T

• Columbia
• Classic and Classic XL
• FLD SD
• Business Class M2e Hybrid
• Business Class M2 106
• Business Class M2 112
• Business Class M2 106V
• Business Class M2 112V
• Sprinter
• SelecTrucks Used Trucks

References

External links

• Official Corporate site
• Official brand site
• White-Freightliner and Freightliner Pictures (Hank's Truck Pictures)

v • d • e Trucking industry in the United States
Regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Regulations	Commercial driver's license  · Hours of service  · Federal Bridge Gross Weight Formula  · Electronic on-board recorder  · Motor carrier safety rating  · Motor Carrier Act of 1980
Manufacturers	Trucks (Freightliner LLC  · Navistar International  · Peterbilt  · Kenworth  · Volvo Trucks  · Mack Trucks  · Sterling Trucks  · Western Star  · White Motor Company - defunct)  · Engines (Caterpillar Inc.  · Detroit Diesel  · Cummins)
Motor Carriers	Truckload Carriers (Swift Transportation  · Schneider National  · J.B. Hunt  · Covenant Transport  · USA Truck  · Werner Enterprises  · C.R. England  · PAM Transport)  · Less than truckload & Parcel Carriers (United Parcel Service  · FedEx  · ABF  · Yellow Transportation  · Con-way)  · Moving Companies (Mayflower Transit  · United Van Lines  · Allied Van Lines  · Global Van Lines  · North American Van Lines  · Atlas Van Lines  · The Bekins Company)
Truck Stops	Iowa 80  · Flying J  · TravelCenters of America  · Pilot Travel Centers  · Road Ranger
People	Reginald Denny  · Jimmy Hoffa  · Fred Smith  · John B. Hunt  · Kelly Reno  · Iyman Faris
Organizations	Teamsters Union  · Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association  · American Trucking Associations  · SmartWay Transport Partnership
Glossary	List of trucking industry terms in the United States
Popular Culture	Movies (Smokey and the Bandit  · Smokey and the Bandit II  · Smokey and the Bandit III  · F.I.S.T.  · Convoy  · Black Dog  · Duel  · They Drive by Night  · White Line Fever  · The Gang's All Here)  · TV Shows (Trick My Truck  · B.J. and the Bear  · Movin' On  · Ice Road Truckers)  · Music (Convoy  · Teddy Bear  · Six Days on the Road)  · Misc. (The Rolling Memorial)