Freightliner Projects 20% Sales Growth, Paper Says

April 14, 2005 10:00 AM, EDT

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reightliner expects truck sales to rise 20% in 2005, outgoing chief executive officer Rainer Schmueckle told the German newspaper Handelsblatt Thursday, news reports said.

First-quarter sales for the DaimlerChrysler commercial-vehicles unit rose to $3.7 billion from $2.7 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing Handelsblatt.

Freightliner, the leading Class 8 manufacturer, boosted its U.S. production by 33% to 48,300 trucks during the first quarter, the paper said.

Schmueckle is stepping down as Freightliner’s CEO to move to Daimler’s Mercedes automobile unit and will be replaced by Chris Patterson, DaimlerChrysler said April 2.

(Click here for previous coverage.)