e q u i p m e n t

Sterling: The New Heavy Truck

Sterling is the new name of Freightliner Corp.’s latest vocational heavy truck unit, which it purchased from Ford Motor Co. earlier this year.
The ex-Ford models under the new nameplate are the HN80-derived Louisville and AeroMax products and the Cargo. They will be distributed through former Ford Heavy Truck dealerships that become part of the new Sterling Truck dealer network. Sterling Truck Corp. is headquartered in Willoughby, OH.
Production of the Louisville and AeroMax shifts to St. Thomas, Ontario, with startup scheduled for February. The Cargo goes to Freightliner’s Mt. Holly, NC, manufacturing facility, with startup timed for January.
The St. Thomas plant has been expanded and will be dedicated to production of Sterling HN80 products. The facility can run two shifts, with a capacity ramping up to 80 trucks a day by midyear. Freightliner says this should be sufficient to meet near-term needs after the transition, since Ford sales are running at around 20,000 units annually. However, the company is very bullish on the potential of the new Sterling heavies so further expansion of St. Thomas is envisioned down the road.
The Cargo medium/heavy duty cabover will be substantially re-engineered, as it will be built on the Freightliner Business Class chassis.
Jim Hebe, Freightliner president and CEO said the name was chosen because “sterling” originally referred to the measure of purity of silver and has become synonymous with quality and value. “The highest standard of quality is what this organization will be all about,” he said. “Sterling is not just our name, it’s the reputation we intend to earn.”