Freightliner president Jim Hebe resigns

PORTLAND, Ore. (May 25, 2001) — Mired in the most dramatic heavy-truck sales slump in years, DaimlerChrysler AG said today that the president of its North American trucking operations has resigned.

Jim Hebe, president and CEO of Freightliner LLC, has been replaced by Rainer Schmueckle, senior vice-president of controlling at DaimlerChrysler. Schmueckle, a German national, served as chief financial officer of Freightliner from 1994 to 1997.

Roger Nielsen, previously vice-president of Freightliner’s specialized vehicles unit, was named chief operating officer.

In a press release, DaimlerChrysler said the collapse and continued weakness in the demand for heavy trucks “has initiated a comprehensive profit improvement program, which, under the direction of new management, will focus on reducing production capacity and cutting costs.”

The parent company recently blamed first quarter operating losses of $3.4 billion US on Freightliner and its Chrysler divisions.

Hebe has been one of the trucking industry’s most outspoken and charismatic leaders, building Freightliner from a minor player to the largest commercial truck producer in North America with nearly 40% market share. Major gains were made through the acquisitions of Ford Motor Co.’s heavy-truck division, now called Sterling Trucks, and Kelowna, B.C.-based Western Star.

Some industry analysts saatributed Hebe’s demise to an initiative to sell trucks to big fleet customers with a guaranteed residual. Freightliner has been forced to accept used vehicles worth far less than the company had anticipated, leaving it with a corporate inventory of used equipment in excess of 45,000 vehicles and depressed prices on new vehicles.