Daimler opens Mexico truck plant despite crisis

Daimler AG, the world's biggest truck maker, opened a new truck plant in Mexico on Friday, switching some output from Canada and the United States and positioning itself for a recovery in sales.

Chris Patterson, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, said the plant in the northern city of Saltillo had cost $274 million to set up and would produce up to 30,000 trucks a year for sale in the North American market.

"Saltillo offers both the manufacturing flexibility and the space for future expansion that will enable Daimler Trucks North America to respond to a rebound in the truck market," Patterson said in a statement.
Daimler, which began building the Saltillo plant in early 2007, warned in October that orders for its commercial trucks were falling in the United States and said it saw no quick recovery.

Daimler Trucks North America said last year that it was cutting capacity by 20 percent by closing a factory in St. Thomas, Ontario, in March and a plant in Portland, Oregon, in June 2010 to improve annual earnings by $900 million by 2011.

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