Freightliner Trucks is an American semi truck manufacturer.[1] Founded in 1929 as the truck-manufacturing division of Consolidated Freightways (from which it derives its name), the company was established in 1942 as Freightliner Corporation.[2] Owned by Daimler AG from 1981 to 2021, Freightliner is now a part of Daimler Truck subsidiary Daimler Truck North America (along with Western Star, Detroit Diesel, and Thomas Built Buses).[3]
Freightliner produces a range of vans, medium-duty trucks, and heavy-duty trucks;[1] 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 (COE) semitractors, with the Freightliner Argosy later becoming the final example of the type sold in North America.
The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon (the city of its founding); vehicles are currently manufactured in Cleveland, North Carolina, and Mount Holly, North Carolina, and Santiago Tianguistenco and Saltillo, Mexico.[4]
Legal controversy
As of December 2020, Freightliner is under a court order to improve safety, and was fined $30 million by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Adninistration) after an investigation found that Freightliner had failed to recall dozens of known safety defects in its vehicles.[5] In 2019 alone, Freightliner was forced to issue safety recalls 24 separate times by the NHTSA, and there have been over 100 recalls total on its flagship truck, the Cascadia. The judge found that Freightliner had no system in place to track faults, and ordered $5 million of the fine be applied to upgrading outdated paper-based systems and converting to recall software used by other automakers for decades.[6]
As of May 2021, Freightliner has at least three open investigations against it for electrical issues, including several fires.[7]
Several weeks after the fine was issued by the NHTSA, Freightliner CEO Roger Nielsen was replaced by John O'Leary, a senior executive from Mercedes Benz trucks, and former CFO of their parent company Daimler Trucks.[8]
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Why would you buy one?
Maybe Trump'll do away with the NHTSA. That'll take care of that.
Daimler Truck AG, the holding company that owns Daimler Trucks North America, has their corporate offices in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany. Their company "about" page, says they employ over 100,00 people in over 40 locations around the world.
Daimler Truck's home page showcases their etrucks.
Here's a pie-chart that shows the distribution of the 823 million outstanding shares of Daimler AG as of August 9, 2024.
Freightliner, as mentioned in the Wiki article, is owned by Daimler Trucks North America, which is owned by Daimler Truck AG and is just one of their many brands.
I thought it interesting that the eCascadia on Freightliner's website gets almost no mention. Whereas on Daimler Trucks North America the top of their website features a video that includes images of a number of environmental issues and presents the company as concerned, forward-thinking and emphasizes they're leading the transition to autonomous driving.
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