Freightliner moving into the pickup truck market

[CharlesinGA]

Daimler Truck North America LLC, which is the new name for Freightliner is going to introduce a pickup truck to compete with the Ford, RAM, Toyota and GM/Chevrolet. Nissan was not mentioned, possibly because the are about out of the pickup truck business (see below) Freightliner has named it the Frontier (wonder what Nissan thinks of this?), and it will have v6 and v8 power, but nothing more was given for details.

I am wondering if there are plans to use Damiler engines.

Nissan is discontinuing the Titan probably in 2025, as US sales less than 20,000 units. See the list below.
Year - Units sold
2005 86,945
2006 72,192
2007 65,743
2008 34,053
2009 19,042
2010 23,416
2011 21,994
2012 23,152
2013 15,691
2014 12,527
2015 12,140
2016 21,880
2017 52,924
2018 50,459
2019 31,514
2020 26,441
2021 27,406
2022 15,064
2023 19,189

Charles

 

[Skookum]

I'm having a hard time finding any legitimate, credible info about Freightliner producing a light duty pickup truck.

Freightliner was acquired by Daimler in 1981. Freightliner's corporate parent name was changed to DTNA/Daimler Trucks North America, in 2008, so not exactly a new name for them....

 

[CharlesinGA]

I found one Youtube video which I too am wondering about the soundness of the information. I suppose time will tell, but there may be something to it. Probably will turn out to be a Sprinter cab and chassis with a flat bed and fold down sides on it

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Daimler Truck North America LLC, which is the new name for Freightliner

I'll nitpick a bit and note that Daimler Truck North America is the parent company of several brands and subsidiary companies, e.g. Freightliner Truck, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Detroit Diesel, Thomas Bus, etc. The Freightliner brand name is not being renamed.

Back in 2015 Daimler-Benz announced that it would be building a Mercedes-brand pickup based on the Nissan Frontier. This was part of a cooperative agreement between Daimler and Renault-Nissan. At that time Daimler had no intention of marketing their pickup in the USA.

I saw a news article back in 2020 that the Mercedes-branded Frontier pickup was being discontinued. Has that changed?

 

[Skookum]

Oh, the Mercedes X-Class pickup. Yeah that was short-lived.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/mercedes-benz-x-class-pickup-truck-discontinued/

 

[JLICATA]

As a VP at a Freightliner Dealer, I have no information on an $8000 Freightliner Pickup Truck. Yesterday a gentleman came in and showed me a 30 minute you tube with 0 credibility, most of the trucks they showed are from the Sportschassis website. Sportschassis modifies the M2 in their Oklahoma facility and does a phenomenal job...... they are not $8000. From my personal opinion, Daimler has way too much on their plate now with EPA regulations to waste time in the very competitive pickup truck market. Caterpillar and John Deere are taking their run at it.... let's see how it goes for them

 

[Larry N.]

Thanks, JLICATA.

 

[gwinger]

Caterpillar is supposed to roll out a 2025 pickup. Looks to me like a rebadged Ford with luxury extras and poweful engine.

 

[kwplot34]

Caterpillar is supposed to roll out a 2025 pickup. Looks to me like a rebadged Ford with luxury extras and poweful engine.

If you do some more research you will find that the CAT truck is nothing more than a rebadged Ford truck. Same 6.7L diesel from Ford.

 

[uchu]

Caterpillar is supposed to roll out a 2025 pickup. Looks to me like a rebadged Ford with luxury extras and poweful engine.

The 2025 CAT truck:

 

[uchu]

If you do some more research you will find that the CAT truck is nothing more than a rebadged Ford truck. Same 6.7L diesel from Ford.

The base model comes with a gas 5.0L, turbocharged V8. They also offer the diesel version you mentioned and a hybrid gas/electric version.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Squeeze a Detroit class 8 in a 1 ton truck and I’ll jump right on it.