Daimler Truck’s supervisory board approved plans on Thursday for a new greenfield truck manufacturing plant in the United States, with construction expected to begin late 2026 and operations targeted to start in 2029. The decision affects thousands of future factory workers, though the company has not chosen a location.
Key Takeaways
- Daimler Truck’s supervisory board approved a new greenfield U.S. truck manufacturing plant on Thursday, with construction expected to begin late 2026.
- Operations at the new facility are targeted to start in 2029, and it will be Daimler Truck North America’s largest U.S. truck manufacturing plant.
- The plant is projected to employ workers in the thousands, though an exact headcount has not been released.
- A majority of Daimler Truck North America’s current assembly runs through Mexico, and the new plant is meant to shift more production to the U.S.
- Existing Daimler Truck North America plants are located in Cleveland, Gastonia, Mount Holly and High Point, North Carolina, and Gaffney, South Carolina, and the company has not confirmed the new site’s location.
The move signals a deliberate shift toward building more trucks on U.S. soil at a moment when Daimler Truck North America still routes a majority of its assembly through Mexico. John O’Leary, president and CEO of Daimler Truck North America, confirmed the plant will be the company’s “largest manufacturing plant in the U.S. for trucks.”
Supervisory Board Signed Off During Its Quarter-End Meeting
The supervisory board signed off on the plant during its quarter-end meeting, and O’Leary confirmed the news Thursday, framing it as a milestone years in the making. He told reporters that the board had approved plans to build a new truck manufacturing plant in the United States, a decision he described as a point of pride for the company.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2026, with the plant targeted to start operations in 2029, according to details Daimler Truck North America outlined in its announcement. That three-year runway is unusually long for a single plant, but it matches the scale of the commitment: this will be a greenfield site, built from scratch rather than retrofitted from an existing building.
The facility is purpose-built for vocational and on-highway vehicle production, meaning it will turn out the work trucks and long-haul tractors that make up the bulk of Daimler Truck North America’s commercial lineup. It will not build buses or powertrains, according to the company. Jeff Allen, senior vice president of operations at Daimler Truck North America, said the design brief was intentionally left open-ended, built around “the utmost flexibility for what the future might bring” rather than the rigid conveyance and paint systems that defined earlier plants.
Daimler Truck North America Keeps the Location Under Wraps
Daimler Truck North America has not named a state or city, and executives were careful not to let one slip during questioning from reporters. Allen said the shortlist will hinge on logistics access to customers and suppliers, availability of land at scale, proximity to technical talent and large labor pools, and a business climate favorable to manufacturing. The company is still narrowing the scope down, with a decision expected within the next couple of months.
Pressed by reporters trying to narrow the region, O’Leary declined to offer specifics but steered the room toward a conclusion by noting that major truck plants tend not to appear “up in New Hampshire, for example.” That comment points toward the Southeast, where Daimler Truck North America already runs plants in Cleveland, Gastonia, Mount Holly and High Point, North Carolina, along with Gaffney, South Carolina. Building near existing supplier networks and skilled labor pools in that corridor would reduce startup risk, even though none of those sites has been confirmed as a finalist.
Thousands of Jobs Planned as Mexico’s Share of Assembly Faces Rebalancing
The new plant is projected to employ workers in the thousands, though Daimler Truck North America has not released a precise headcount. Allen said automation will raise output per worker without shrinking the workforce needed to run the line, since the vehicles themselves are becoming more complex with the addition of vision systems, safety systems, and more sophisticated components.
A majority of Daimler Truck North America’s current assembly runs through Mexico, and O’Leary was direct about the imbalance he wants to correct. He acknowledged that a slight majority of the company’s production currently sits in Mexico and said the new plant would give Daimler Truck North America the ability to “flex back and forth” and increase the share of U.S.-built trucks, particularly at a moment when domestic production carries added significance with customers.
Asked whether tariff policy drove the timing, O’Leary pushed back and pointed to cost structure instead. He said the decision had little to do with tariffs and was driven by the need for modern, efficient plants that deliver a competitive total cost of ownership, a metric he said every fleet customer evaluates seriously.
Long-Running Capacity Planning, Not a Single External Shock, Drove the Decision
Karin Rådström, CEO of Daimler Truck, tied the plant directly to the parent company’s broader strategy rather than a single-market fix, stating that the facility supports long-term growth plans for North America. That framing matters because it positions the plant as infrastructure for years of anticipated demand, not a reaction to a single quarter or a single customer complaint.
Internally, the case for the plant predates Thursday’s approval by years. Allen said he had been pushing O’Leary for new capacity for several years, and that the convergence of technology shifts, changing operational needs, and the broader environment made this the right time to move forward. That timeline suggests the decision was shaped more by long-running capacity planning than by any single external shock.
O’Leary also linked the investment to delivery performance, noting that fleet customers who order a truck on a specific date cannot afford to wait even two weeks, because drivers are trained, seated, and ready to go on schedule. Allen echoed that urgency with Daimler Truck North America’s internal scorecard, known as SQDCM, which tracks safety, quality, delivery, cost and morale, and said the new plant is meant to compete on cost and speed against the rest of the company’s global network.
Portland Keeps Its Corporate and Engineering Functions
Not every part of Daimler Truck North America’s footprint is shifting. O’Leary confirmed that Portland, Oregon, retains its wind tunnel, corporate headquarters, engineering centers and warranty center. That separation matters for understanding the scope of the announcement. This is a manufacturing decision, not a corporate relocation, and Daimler Truck North America’s core engineering and administrative functions remain anchored in the Pacific Northwest even as production capacity expands elsewhere.
The company also left the door open to zero-emission vehicle production at the new site, even though it is not building those in volume today. O’Leary said the plant will have “full flexibility” to accommodate zero-emission vehicles if demand returns. Allen’s timeline points to a location decision within a couple of months, which would still leave more than a year before ground is broken in late 2026 and roughly three years before trucks roll off the line in 2029. Whichever state lands the plant will absorb a construction project and a multi-thousand-job employer, and the choice will say as much about where Daimler Truck North America sees its supply chains heading as any public statement has so far.
FAQs
When Will the New Daimler Truck Plant Open?
Construction is expected to begin in late 2026, with operations targeted to start in 2029. Daimler Truck North America has not released a more specific opening date.
Where Will the New Daimler Truck Plant Be Built?
Daimler Truck North America has not named a location and says it is still evaluating sites based on logistics, land availability, labor pools and a business-friendly environment. A decision is expected within a couple of months of the announcement.
How Many Jobs Will the New Plant Create?
The company projects the plant will employ workers in the thousands, though it has not given a precise headcount. Automation is expected to raise output per worker without eliminating the need for a large workforce.
Will the New Plant Build Electric Trucks?
Executives said the plant is being designed with flexibility to build zero-emission vehicles if demand increases, though it is not planned to produce them in volume initially. It will build vocational and on-highway trucks, not buses or powertrains.
Does This Affect Daimler Truck North America’s Mexico Production?
A majority of the company’s current assembly runs through Mexico, and executives said the new U.S. plant is intended to shift more of that balance toward domestic production. No specific target percentage has been announced.
Is the Portland, Oregon, Facility Closing?
No. Daimler Truck North America confirmed that its wind tunnel, corporate headquarters, engineering centers and warranty center will remain in Portland, Oregon. The new plant is a separate manufacturing investment.
Did Tariffs Drive the Decision to Build in the U.S.?
Daimler Truck North America’s CEO said the decision was not primarily about tariffs, pointing instead to long-term cost efficiency and modernized manufacturing as the driving factors. He noted that by 2029, when the plant opens, tariff conditions could look very different.
