Daimler Truck Financial reached its 35th anniversary in the trucking industry this week, boasting a portfolio of $5.4 billion and more than 43,000 contracts.
The company has put over a million trucks on the road since the mid-1970s.

The company started out as Freightliner Financial in 1974, with just a few employees and several contracts. Today, Daimler houses 230 employees throughout its locations, which include a new operations center in Fort Worth, Texas, and others in Fort Mill, S.C., and Farmington Hills, Mich.

"With our moves to Fort Worth and Fort Mill last year, we are taking critical steps to ensure our long-term success," said Richard Howard, vice president and head of Daimler Truck Financial, in an e-mail to employees. "Although the market is extremely challenging at the moment, we've seen and survived our fair share of tough times."

The company launched in the middle of the world's first oil shock in 1974 that led to the first energy crisis and gasoline shortages, according to Daimler. Today, the company's portfolio is diversified across trucking industry segments, including fleet at 51 percent, dealers at 29 percent, vocational at 10 percent and owner-operator at 9 percent.

Recently, Daimler Truck Financial launched an online training portal to help dealerships learn finance and insurance initiatives. The company was also awarded financing from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to purchase environmentally compliant hybrid trucks. Daimler also recently started offering insurance packages bundled into its financial products for fleets and dealerships.