Freightliner Said to Aggressively Cut Unsold Truck Inventories

DaimlerChrysler's (DCX) Freightliner unit, the No. 1 heavy-truck maker in North America, is about to begin an aggressive and costly program to move thousands of new and used heavy trucks piling up on dealers' lots, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Freightliner, which owns 40% of the market for big rigs, may have a loss of $350-$500 million this year.

In order to move the unsold inventory may result in a write-off for the company.

In Jan., combined sales of Freightliner's three Class 8 brands dropped 37%, and some analysts are expecting demand for big rigs to plunge as much as 40 percent from last year's levels.

This crisis comes at a poor time for the company, as it struggles to staunch losses at its U.S. Chrysler unit, and at its Japanese affiliate Mitsubishi.

In other news, DaimlerChrysler was downgraded to sell from hold by Prudential after management highlighted the difficulty in attaining the company's turnaround goals.