Freightliner LLC Announces Construction of New Truck Manufacturing Plant in Mexico

-- $300 million facility will be located in Saltillo and produce up to 30,000 Freightliner and Sterling trucks annually
-- Start of production planned for early 2009
-- New plant expected to set benchmark standards for DaimlerChrysler Truck Group manufacturing facilities worldwide

PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 20 -- Freightliner LLC announced today that it plans to construct a new $300 million truck manufacturing plant in Saltillo, Coahuila, in northern Mexico. Dedicated to the production of Freightliner and Sterling trucks, the new facility will provide additional capacity to accommodate Freightliner's long-range product planning including an expected upturn in industry demand in 2009.

"This new facility underscores our confidence in the NAFTA truck market, and our bullish mid-term outlook for industry recovery post-2007," said Freightliner LLC President and CEO, Chris Patterson. "Frankly, we were not able to produce what we could have sold in 2006 due to capacity constraints. We expect another surge in customer demand in 2009 prior to the next round of EPA emissions regulations, and the construction of this new plant will ensure that we are fully prepared."

The Saltillo plant is the second Freightliner LLC manufacturing facility to be located in Mexico...

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-Jim