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About Freightliner

If you have driven an American interstate, you have seen a Freightliner, probably dozens of them. The brand is the market leader in heavy trucks in North America, and its Cascadia tractor is as common on long-haul routes as gas stations. Freightliner grew out of Consolidated Freightways, a trucking company that began building its own lightweight, aluminum-intensive trucks in the early 1940s because nothing on the market suited it, and the brand remains headquartered in Portland, Oregon, as part of Daimler Truck North America, which also includes Western Star and Thomas Built Buses.

Daimler-Benz bought Freightliner in 1981, giving it access to global engineering and eventually to Detroit Diesel engines, which now power most of its heavy trucks. Over the decades it built its reputation on practical, fuel-efficient trucks that fleets could rely on, rather than on the chrome-heavy styling associated with some rivals. Its lineup today spans the Cascadia highway tractor, the 114SD and 122SD vocational trucks for construction and heavy hauling, and the medium-duty M2 that serves as a delivery and utility workhorse.

Freightliner has been a leader in safety technology, with its Detroit Assurance suite and automatic emergency braking systems, and in electrification, with the battery-electric eCascadia and eM2 trucks in production for regional and urban routes. It competes with Paccar's Peterbilt and Kenworth, Volvo and Mack from the Volvo Group, and International, now part of Traton. Its sheer scale gives it enormous influence over the direction of the American trucking industry, and its manufacturing plants in the United States and Mexico are major employers.

This page covers new models and updates, safety and technology developments, recalls, production and employment news, electric and autonomous trucking projects, and the trucks themselves as they appear on the used market and in fleet orders. Watch for how Freightliner handles tightening emissions rules, the expansion of its electric lineup and its work on autonomous trucks with technology partners. As the largest player in the market, its decisions often set the pace for the entire industry, and its fortunes track the health of freight itself.