Sterling eliminated

simon says

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

The url above is at least one article I found about this. The plant in St. Thomas will close in March, and another in Portland after labor contracts. I think the St. Thomas plant had a strike a couple years ago, albeit a brief one, and recently, the entire second shift was eliminated. I have delivered nothing to them for some time now.

Sign of the times, all truck sales are slow, and I think International made big inroads into Sterling's vocational market. While their O/O trucks were very plain Jane, they gave some a nice platform for sleepers. (Soon ya'll will be buying only Freightliners and "Heinies" tsk, tsk...) I feel sorry for those who buy that junk, along with Alumi of same quality.
 

piper1

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I'm generally a Freightliner fan but how did they ever expect the Sterling brand to grow when they never did any really serious changes to the original Ford models?

I know someone who works in QC at the St.Thomas plant and the morale in the plant started to tank when they lost the FLD and starting making Sterlings.

The shift to Mexico is a shame too, real Western Star fans will be ticked......don't see much of a future for the brand now either.
 

FIS53

Veteran Expediter
A shame really. I was past the St. Thomas plant back over a month ago and they had a load of buggies just sitting in the yard.
Rob
 

jaminjim

Veteran Expediter
Production of Western Star trucks will be transferred to a plant in Santiago, Mexico. Freightliner is sticking to plans to start making its Cascadia model at a new factory in Saltillo, Mexico.

Commenting on the plant closings and the lost jobs, Renschler defended his company’s long track record history as an employer in the U.S., but said it would be “bad leadership” to ignore the current economic downturn.

“This is the best option to ensure the long-term competitiveness of Daimler Trucks North America,” he said. “We will get Daimler Trucks back into fighting shape.”


I wonder what THEIR idea of NORTH America is. Daimler could give Sh!t where something is made.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
Well at least Jim they are still in North America.....some parts will be made in the U.S. and Canada and shipped there....
 

barney

Expert Expediter
Here's the bottom line with the plant closings and the government buy out ( not bail out, Buy out ). We all need to practice saying " Hi Komrad ". I never was any good at spelling but you get the point.
 
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