 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive industry |
| Founded | 1906 (original) 1997 |
| Defunct | 1953 (original) 2009 |
| Fate |
|
| Successor | Freightliner Trucks |
| Headquarters | Redford Township, Michigan, U.S. |
Key people | William Sternberg (Founder) |
| Products | Trucks |
| Owner | Daimler-Benz (1997–1998) DaimlerChrysler (1999–2007) Daimler AG (2007–2009) |
| Parent | Freightliner Corporation (1997–2008) Daimler Trucks North America (2008–2009) |
| Website | sterlingtrucks.com |
Sterling Trucks Corporation (commonly designatedSterling) was an Americantruck manufacturer. Founded in 1998, Sterling was created following the 1997 acquisition of the heavy-truck product lines ofFord Motor Company byFreightliner.[1] Taking its nameplate from a long-defunct truck manufacturer, Sterling was slotted between Freightliner andWestern Star within the Daimler product range (laterDaimler Trucks North America).
Introduced as a rebadged version ofFord Louisville/Aeromax product line, the Sterling product range was expanded in the 2000s with medium-duty (Class 5–7) trucks. After years of struggling to meet sales expectations, Daimler discontinued the Sterling Trucks line in 2009.[1]
Headquartered inRedford Township, Michigan (Detroit), Sterling assembled its conventional-cab vehicles inSt. Thomas, Ontario and Portland, Oregon.[1] Sterling-brand trucks were sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.
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The original company was founded in 1906 by William Sternberg as the Sternberg Motor Truck Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Early models offered were of cab-over design, in 1-, 1.5- 3.5- and 5-ton capacities. Sternberg changed the company name to Sterling at the onset of World War I. Sterling built many different heavy-duty trucks for commercial, construction and military customers in the ensuing years. In 1938, Sterling sold 267 units and in 1939 it increased to 326 trucks.[2]
The company was bought byWhite Motor Corporation on June 1, 1951. About two years later, the Sterling nameplate was retired.
As the Sterling trademark had become dormant for so long, when Freightliner (whose own trucks were distributed by White Motor Corporation from the 1950s to 1975) sought to use the name in 1997, there were no grounds for objection from Volvo.
The Sterling name was applied by Freightliner to Class 8 tractors, as well as a range of medium- and heavy-duty cab/chassis vehicles as a continuation of the Ford L-Series after Freightliner's purchase of Ford's heavy truck product lines and the Louisville production facility. With bodies added by third-party upfitters/body builders, these cab/chassis vehicles were used for freight distribution as well as heavy vocational uses, such as construction, snow plowing and refuse collection.
In the last few years of operation, the company also marketed light to medium-duty cab/chassis vehicles from corporate siblings, such as the 360 (a rebadgedMitsubishi Fuso Canter) and Bullet (a badge-engineeredDodge Ram Chassis Cab). These were typically outfitted with bodies suitable for use as lighter vocational trucks — those designed to perform jobs other than straight freight hauling — includingfire trucks,garbage trucks,dump trucks,concrete mixers,tanker trucks, andsnowplows.
On October 14, 2008, Daimler Trucks North America announced a plan to discontinue the Sterling product line in an effort to consolidate its North American truck manufacturing operations under theFreightliner andWestern Star brands. The company stopped taking orders for new trucks in January 2009, the St. Thomas manufacturing plant closed in March 2009, and the Portland, Oregon, plant was closed in June 2010.[3]
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From 1997 to 2009, Sterling produced several lines of trucks. Within Daimler-Benz, the Sterling product range was slotted between the Freightliner and Western Star product lines. Through much of its existence, the Sterling product range served as continuation of the second-generation Ford Louisville/AeroMax conventional product line (introduced in 1996).
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