The OEM plans to hire an additional 200 workers at the Mount Holly facility by the end of 2026 as part of plans to add a second shift. (Daimler Trucks North America)
key takeaways:
- Daimler Trucks North America plans to restore 400 jobs at its Mount Holly, N.C., Freightliner plant and hire more than 200 by the end of 2026.
- The move signals a rebound in the freight forwarder market, with Class 8 orders up 231% year over year in June and truck production continuing to post monthly growth.
- DTNA aims to add a second shift at Mount Holly while monitoring demand trends, although it has not yet reinstated workers at its Saltillo, Mexico plant.
Daimler Trucks North America is set to boost the workforce at its Mount Holly manufacturing plant in North Carolina, CEO John O’Leary told Transport Topics in one of the first public signs of the impact of the freight market rebound on truck demand.
The plant, which focuses on the production of Freightliner trucks, will bring back 400 employees laid off in July 2025 as part of 2,000 production plant job cuts at North American DTNA manufacturing facilities.
Additionally, DTNA plans to hire an additional 200 employees at the Mount Holly facility by the end of 2026 as part of plans to add a second shift.
O’Leary visited the Transport Matters Office on 9 July. (Seth Clevenger/Transportation Topics)
Along with the Cleveland and Gastonia facilities, Mount Holly – which opened in 1979 – forms the center of manufacturing capacity for America’s largest truck maker. The Cleveland Truck Plant is Freightliner’s largest U.S. manufacturing plant.
Meanwhile, DTNA’s Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner custom chassis units operate nearby facilities in High Point, N.C., and Gaffney, S.C. O’Leary told TT that several of the laid-off Mount Holly employees were offered positions with Thomas Built Buses.
Employees in Mount Holly and Gastonia as well as Detroit; Portland, Ore.; and Saltillo, Mexico, decommissioned in July 2025.
Mount Holly produces medium-duty models of the Freightliner. The Gastonia facility performs stamping, metal fabrication and sub-assembly of cab and chassis parts. The Detroit Manufacturing Plant in Radford Township, Michigan, is home to DTNA’s Detroit Diesel Engine Division.
The Portland plant builds Freightliner’s eCascadia and EM2 battery-electric trucks, as well as Western Star’s X-Series lineup. The Saltillo plant focuses on production of North America’s best-selling Class 8 on-highway tractor, the Freightliner Cascadia.
(Daimler Trucks North America)
At the time, DTNA was the third major truck manufacturer to announce a reduction in North American production facility head count. Volvo Group eliminated 1,000 positions in the spring of 2025, and Traton Group’s International Motors division cut 900 jobs at its plant in Escobedo, Mexico.
But production of Class 8 trucks at Mexican manufacturing facilities through 2026 is rising, even with additional tariffs imposed in November, though O’Leary said DTNA has not yet brought back any of the laid-off Saltillo workers.
Freightliner’s Saltillo and Santiago Tianguistenco plants built 9,379 trucks in June, a 9% year-over-year increase compared with 8,554 trucks in the same month in 2025.
Plants built 9,348 trucks in May, up 14% from 8,203 trucks in the same month in 2025, and up 16.8% from 8,006 trucks in April.
Truck manufacturing rates and sales are expected to accelerate further in the second half of 2026, with ACT Research data released July 3 showing that June orders increased by more than 100% year over year for the fifth consecutive month.
ACT data shows North American Class 8 orders totaled 31,400 trucks in June, up 231% from the year-ago period. Orders increased for the seventh consecutive month year on year in June.
