CLEVELAND, N.C. - October 9, 2017 - Today, Freightliner Trucks and Old Dominion Freight Line celebrate its longtime partnership at Daimler Truck North America's (DTNA) Cleveland, N.C. manufacturing plant. The first unit of a new Freightliner Cascadia® rolls off the assembly line today in a ceremonial drive with Old Dominion vice chairman of the board and CEO, David Congdon, behind the wheel. This truck - which marks the 15,000th Freightliner purchased by the Thomasville, N.C. less-than-truckload carrier since 1991- is also the first new Cascadia model to be built at the Cleveland truck manufacturing plant.
Freightliner customized the new Cascadia to Old Dominion's specifications to maximize utility, safety and efficiency for its nationwide operations.
"The new Cascadia is the market leader that improves safety and fuel economy, and based on our long-term partnership, it's only fitting that the first one we make in Cleveland would be for Old Dominion," said Henning Bruns, general manager of the Cleveland truck manufacturing plant. "Old Dominion always says, it's not just a shipment, and to us, they're not just a customer. This is a fitting way to start the next chapter of our partnership."
The ceremony is at the plant's truck museum, where some of DTNA's most notable trucks and the company's history in Cleveland is showcased. Old Dominion executives will tour the assembly line, inspect the robotics and manufacturing processes, and meet with the plant employees who helped build the truck, before a ceremonial key handover and drive off.
"Old Dominion continuously invests in our equipment and technology to meet the needs of our customers," said Thomas Newby, Old Dominion's vice president of equipment and maintenance. "For more than two decades, Old Dominion has repeatedly turned to Freightliner for dependable, best-in-class tractors that help us deliver the on-time, premium service our customers expect."
Freightliner and Old Dominion have similar backgrounds. Old Dominion started in 1934 and quickly became one of the nation's leaders in hauling material needed for World War II. Meanwhile, Leland James launched Freightliner Trucks in 1942 because he could not find a company that would build a lightweight tractor to navigate the western Rocky Mountains.
Today, 75 years after James started building his own trucks, Old Dominion is one of his company's biggest customers.
"Here are two companies that since day one, wake up every morning, tighten their boot straps, and aggressively make sure that day-in-and-day out, they deliver on time and with quality," said Roger Nielsen, president and CEO, DTNA. "It's an honor to support Old Dominion as it delivers premium service to their customers across the United States."
Already, customers have booked more than 25,000 of the new Cascadia truck models, topping the combined number of orders for the first three years after the 2007 launch of the original Cascadia, which is the leading on-highway truck in North America.
The new Cascadia offers:
•Up to 8 percent fuel efficiency improvement over a similarly spec'd previous Cascadia model.
•A revolutionary new interior and design.
•Detroit™ Connect Virtual Technician?? , which allows full remote diagnostics and many upgraded features that help customers optimize both uptime and their business results.
•Detroit Assurance® suite of safety systems, which provides a number of safety technologies including adaptive cruise control in congested traffic. It also gives drivers full braking on stationary and moving objects, as well as warning and partial braking on pedestrians. No other Collision Mitigation System (CMS) for commercial vehicles offers these capabilities.
As an LTL industry leader, Old Dominion maintains one of the most modern fleets on the road which the new Cascadia will augment. Old Dominion's fleet includes:
•More than 8,400 tractors
•More than 32,000 trailers
•227 service centers in the United States
"We look forward to continuing our partnership with Freightliner to maintain an advanced fleet crucial to OD helping our customers keep their promises," Newby said.
According to Newby, since 2006 Old Dominion has invested more than a billion dollars to significantly expand and improve its service center network and fleet, resulting in a unique ability to offer national, inter-regional and regional shipping solutions through a single network.
For more information about Freightliner, visit www.freightliner.com, and Old Dominion Freight Line at www.odfl.com or call (800) 432-6335. On Twitter: @Freightliner and @ODFL_Inc and Facebook: Freightliner Trucks and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc.
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