Daimler Trucks North America

Daimler Trucks North America has chosen the Swedish-American energy storage manufacturer NorthStar Battery Company as the supplier of Ultra High Performance Pure Lead AGM batteries on its next generation Cascadia truck.

The new Cascadia is loaded with improvements ranging from the layout of the gauges and switches in the driver compartment to features inside the sleeper area, including a new Driver’s Loft configuration.

DTNA boss Martin Daum calls the fuel-efficiency gains with the new Cascadia mind-boggling. He said the design target was 5% over the current Cascadia Evolution model, but the design team's efforts produced a truck that bests the Evolution by a full 8%. Daum said new Cascadia in full AeroX trim is 19% more fuel efficient than the current base-model Cascadia.

Freightliner's new Cascadia was revealed formally on Thursday, September 1. Reporters were told more about the truck and they had to opportunity ride in one and take photos. Equipment Editor Jim Park has these photos from press day.  

Watch as Daimler Trucks North America President & CEO Martin Daum unveils the next-generation Freightliner Cascadia the night of August 31 in Colorado Springs with great fanfare, but not a lot of details.

Detroit has introduced Detroit Connect Analytics as part of its Detroit Connect suite of connected vehicle services, to give customers “important insights about their vehicles to help them make critical business decisions.”

Every aspect of the next-generation Freightliner Cascadia unveiled Sept. 1 “has been re-imagined,” said Richard Howard, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Daimler Trucks North America. It’s a "completely brand new truck"... not Cascadia 2.0.

As of this moment, we still don't know much about Freightliner's next-generation Cascadia model for 2017, but DTNA's CEO did say, "It delivers fuel efficiency far beyond what we thought was possible."

Freightliner Trucks revealed its next-generation Cascadia model for 2017 on Aug. 31, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The official launch date is Sept. 1, but Freightliner threw back the curtain a few hours early with 12 trucks in fleet colors as a tribute to the largest customers in the Cascadia stable. Jim Park was there and has these photos.

Volvo Group has outlined how it plans to use $20 million in federal funding to further the freight-moving efficiency of heavy-duty trucks as part of the SuperTruck II initiative.

Daimler Trucks North America plans to lay off an additional 115 workers at its Gastonia, N.C., components and logistics facility.

Daimler Trucks North America will start production on its entry into the medium-duty market in October. The DD5 was unveiled to trucking press in late July. Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge was there and has these photos.

Daimler Trucks North America showed off its new engine for the medium-duty market, the peppy four-cylinder Detroit DD5, to trucking reporters. Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge has a closer look at the DD5 in this video.

Daimler Trucks North America's new Detroit DD5 engine will begin production in October. The four-cylinder engine offers several benefits over competitive medium-duty engines, including maintenance intervals, fuel economy and durability.

Car and truck maker Daimler AG reported a slight increase in its second quarter profit, but it expects significantly lower truck sales for this year. Meanwhile, one supplier is feeling the effects of the slowing North American commercial vehicle market.

As part of a program founded in 2002, Daimler Trucks North America presented the 2016 Ride of Pride truck to Schneider during a special ceremony commemorating military veterans

DTNA has announced a workforce reduction across its North American production facilities, laying off about 1,240 workers in response to sustained reductions in truck orders.

Daimler Trucks North America is now offering a SmartValve option on Freightliner trucks that is designed to make drop-and-hook operations faster and safer.

UPDATED -- Daimler Trucks North America has signed a letter of intent to exhibit at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show, a new biennial trucking show to be held September 2017 in Atlanta, Ga.

The parent company of Freightliner and Western Star said it now forecasts that the overall North American market for Class 6 to 8 trucks will “contract by approximately 15% in 2016.”