DaimlerChrysler’s Renschler Sees Truck Demand Rising After ’07

aimlerChrysler, the parent company of U.S. truck maker Freightliner, expects the U.S. truck market to improve by the end of 2007 which will allow it to reverse some impending layoffs, said Andreas Renschler, the head of the company's truck unit, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Recovering demand will continue to improve in 2008 and 2009 and allow the company to re-hire some of the 4,000 truck workers it plans to lay off in North America, Renschler told Bloomberg.

Freightliner last week said it would lay off 800 workers at a Canadian manufacturing plant next year and would reduce its work force by up to 4,000 companywide due to a projected slowdown in heavy-duty truck demand. (Click here for previous coverage.)

Daimler’s truck unit has about 25,328 employees at 11 plants in North America, Bloomberg reported.