Freightliner to Build Mexico Truck Plant

Associated Press - - Freightliner LLC, a truckmaking unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, said Wednesday it plans to build a US$300 million (euro228.4 million) factory in Saltillo, northern Mexico.

The new facility is being built to boost capacity ahead of an anticipated upturn in demand in 2009, the company said in a statement

Construction of the new plant confirms "our bullish mid-term outlook for industry recovery post-2007," Freightliner Chief Executive Chris Patterson said.

The Saltillo plant is the second Freightliner manufacturing facility to be located in Mexico, joining the Santiago Tianguistenco plant which produces Freightliner-branded heavy- and medium-duty trucks for domestic Mexico sales as well as export to Latin America, the U.S. and Canada.

Shares in DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) rose 1.6 percent to euro46.95 (US$61.67) in Frankfurt trading.