Overhaul plans at Freightliner aren't straining DaimlerChrysler’s sagging bottom line, say company officials.
What's more, Freightliner is launching an aggressive program to push sales of thousands of trucks piling up on dealers' lots, according to a report in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
Company restructuring, which includes nearly 5,000 job cuts, is already factored into the big-picture recovery plans outlined last month by the German-based company, contrary to a Wall Street Journal report, a spokesman told the Associated Press.
After unveiling a $3.9 billion, three-year, recovery plan last month aimed at restoring its Chrysler division to profitability, DaimlerChrysler turned its attention to Freightliner, which continues to see its sales fall but expects to be back on track by 2002.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Freightliner President and CEO Jim Hebe told dealers in a Feb. 13 letter that "business as usual will just not work. Bold steps must be taken." The letter did not, however, say what those steps would be.
Similarly, Hebe told truck journalists in January that to protect used truck values, the company would be "rewriting the rules for Freightliner and its customers." Furthermore, he said the industry as a whole has to act together. "If nothing is done on the used truck situation, the (trucking) industry structure will change forever. We must protect dealers, our customers and their assets," he said, promising new programs from Freightliner that would take competitors by surprise. "By Mid America (Trucking Show), unique changes from Freightliner to preserve and protect value of used trucks will startle this industry."
Details of the plan are not yet available.