Freightliner Trucks
Freightliner Trucks is an American semi truck manufacturer. Founded in 1929 as the truck-manufacturing division of Consolidated Freightways, the company was established in 1942 as Freightliner Corporation. Owned by Daimler Truck from 1981 to 2021, Freightliner is now a part of Daimler Truck subsidiary Daimler Truck North America.
Freightliner produces a range of vans, medium-duty trucks, and heavy-duty trucks; under its Freightliner Custom Chassis subsidiary, the company produces bare chassis and cutaway chassis for multiple types of vehicles. The company popularized the use of cabover semitractors, with the Freightliner Argosy later becoming the final example of the type sold in North America.
The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon ; vehicles are currently manufactured in Cleveland, North Carolina, and Mount Holly, North Carolina, and Santiago Tianguistenco and Saltillo, Mexico.
History
Founding (1930s)
Freightliner traces its roots to 1929; following the founding of Consolidated Freightways in Portland, Oregon, company founder Leland James set up a company division to produce semitractors for company use. Developed in a CF maintenance facility, Freightways Manufacturing used Fageol vehicles as a starting point for the design, placing the cab above the front axle. Shorter in length, the new Freightways truck allowed for CF to use a longer trailer and remain in compliance of the stringent length laws of the time.In line with the company name, during the 1930s, Freightways Manufacturing began to brand its truck production under the "Freightliner" name. In addition to their shorter length, the trucks underwent weight reduction using aluminum instead of steel to maximize use of engine power.
1940s–1950s
In 1942, Leland James renamed Freightways Manufacturing as Freightliner Corporation; as part of the launch, the company debuts the first truck with an all-aluminum cab. Shifting to military production during World War II, Freightliner resumed truck production in 1947. In 1949, Freightliner sold its first vehicle outside of CF ; the vehicle is preserved in the Smithsonian collection in Washington, D.C.As it largely existed as a subsidiary of a trucking company, Freightliner sought to establish a distribution network for its product line, allowing for higher production volumes and reduced costs. In 1951, Freightliner entered into an agreement with White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio. One of the largest truck manufacturers in the United States at the time, White sold Freightliner COEs under the "White Freightliner" co-branding.
In 1953, Freightliner introduced a cab with an overhead-mounted sleeper. The first-generation "shovelnose" cab was retired for 1954 in favor of the taller, flatter "WFT" design; as an option, a "Mountaineer" 4x4 system was offered.
For 1958, the cab design was updated to tilt forward 90 degrees, increasing access to the engine.
1960s
To reduce import tariffs imposed by Canada, Freightliner opened its first Canadian manufacturing facility in 1961, in Burnaby, British Columbia. To increase production in the United States, assembly plants were opened in Chino, California, and Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1969, a second facility was opened in Portland for parts production.1970s
White Motor Company became troubled in the 1970s. Expansion into appliances 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 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 COE mainstay product. High COEs accounted for well over 50% of the US market in those days, owing to overall length regulations that limited the bumper-to-taillight dimension of a semitrailer unit to 55 ft on interstate highways. Conventionals were popular on western roads due to more convenient ingress/egress, better ride, and easier access to the engine for servicing.
In 1979, a new plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina, and a parts manufacturing plant in Gastonia, North Carolina, were constructed, both in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Volumes continued to increase.
The year 1979 marked a consequential event in the evolution of Freightliner, and of the whole trucking and truck manufacturing industries. President Carter signed bills into law deregulating transport both on the ground and in the skies. Deregulation changed the economics of trucking and removed the system of regulated carriage that protected carriers, instead allowing more competition.
1980s
Three years later, the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 relaxed weight and length standards and imposed a new excise tax on heavy trucks and the tires they use. No longer was the overall length of semitrailer combinations restricted. 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 era before deregulation, realized it was in a fight for its life. In May 1981, it sold its truck manufacturing business and the Freightliner brand to Daimler-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 closed permanently. Consolidated Freightways continued carrier business until 2002, when it ceased operation on Labor Day weekend.
In 1985 Freightliner introduced a new Medium Conventional series, using the passenger portion of the cabin from the then recently introduced Mercedes-Benz LK. Mercedes cabins gradually became used for a number of Freightliner trucks. In 1989, Freightliner acquired a standing plant in Cleveland, North Carolina, near Statesville, that had been producing transit buses for German manufacturer MAN.
1990s
In 1991, parent company Daimler-Benz withdrew from the medium-duty truck segment, shifting its presence to Freightliner. Serving as the replacement for the aging Mercedes-Benz L1117, the Business Class made its debut. Also called the FL series, the Business Class was a downsized version of the FLC112, sharing its cab with the Mercedes-Benz LKN cabover. Along with a lighter GVWR, the FL was given a shorter hood with two headlights. The first all-new entry in the medium-duty market in over a decade, the model line met with success.Another pronounced downturn in the industry's fortunes necessitated drastic measures to restore Freightliner to financial health, and Dieter Zetsche, now the chairman of Daimler-Benz's Board of Management, was dispatched to lead the project as CEO. The Burnaby assembly plant was closed, replaced by a new facility in St. Thomas, Ontario. Cost reduction programs across the company restored profitability when the market rebounded. Significantly, production also commenced in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico, about outside Mexico City, in a plant owned by Daimler-Benz. At that time, the plant was also producing buses, Brazilian-designed medium-duty trucks, and compact Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.
Following the introduction of the medium-duty Business Class, Freightliner saw further evolution to its model range. For 1996, the company introduced the Freightliner Century Class, its first completely new Class 8 conventional in over 20 years. A year later, the company began production of cowled bus chassis, with the FS-65 derived from the medium-duty Business Class. For 1999 production, the Freightliner Argosy debuted; directly replacing the FLB, the Argosy consolidated four previous Freightliner COEs into a single model range. The first clean-sheet COE design from Freightliner since the Daimler acquisition, the Argosy largely eliminated the engine intrusion into the cab, sharing many body components and electronics with the Century Class conventional. In 1997, Freightliner acquired the truck-producing division of the Ford Motor Company and rebranded it as Sterling.
In 1999, Freightliner built its one-millionth vehicle. The Century Class conventional model family was expanded, adding the Columbia conventional. While sharing the same cab structure, the Columbia is developed primarily for fleet applications.
Company diversification
The 1990s were a busy 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. During the decade, Freightliner made numerous acquisitions to further diversify itself:1995 – Oshkosh Custom Chassis in Gaffney, South Carolina, became Freightliner Custom Chassis, producing the underpinnings for walk-in vans used by companies such as UPS to deliver parcels and Cintas for uniform laundry services; diesel recreational vehicles; conventional school buses; and shuttle buses. The Oshkosh and Freightliner partnership has dissolved, and Oshkosh is no longer affiliated with Freightliner.
1996 – American LaFrance was purchased; a 130-year-old manufacturer of fire apparatus, it was Mr. Hebe's first employer. American LaFrance had fallen on hard times and was moribund at the time of the acquisition. At the end of the year, Freightliner acquired the rights of the heavy-truck product lines of Ford Motor Company.
1997 – As a result of the Ford heavy-truck acquisition, Freightliner created Sterling Trucks. Intended primarily as vocational trucks, the Sterling product line consisted of rebranded versions of the Ford Louisville/AeroMax and Ford Cargo.
1998 – Freightliner acquires bus manufacturer Thomas Built Buses, based in High Point, North Carolina. Sterling-brand trucks entered production in St. Thomas, Ontario.