In the late 1930s, Leland James, president of Portland, OR-based trucking company Consolidated Freightways , approached truck manufacturers with his idea of building truck components with lightweight aluminum instead of traditional steel.
The company changed its name to Freightliner Corporation in 1942, and the company would soon become North America’s leading heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer.
The U.S. Army counts on DTNA's Government Vehicles division for custom-built vehicles with military-specific modifications.
The Government Vehicles division also sells a broad range of Freightliner and Western Star trucks to both U.S. and Canadian federal agencies. In 1981, Daimler-Benz AG, one of the world’s premier automotive companies and builder of heavy-duty commercial vehicles, purchased Freightliner from Consolidated Freightways. In the next decade, vehicle sales more than doubled. With its vast technological resources, Daimler-Benz helped Freightliner reach the top of the North American heavy-duty truck market by 1992.
In 1995, Oshkosh Corporation’s chassis division was purchased, becoming Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation. Freightliner also acquired firefighting/emergency vehicle manufacturer American LaFrance that year. In 1997, it purchased the heavy truck division of Ford Motor Company, launching the Sterling brand soon after. In 2000 the purchase of Western Star Trucks.