Ford to Sell Heavy-Duty Truck Business

Ford Motor Co. announced plans to sell its heavy-duty truck business to Freightliner Corp. as it continues to refocus on cars and light trucks. Terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, were not disclosed. Heavy-duty trucks represented about 0.5% of Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford’s 1996 sales, and the market overall has been flat. Portland, Ore.-based Freightliner will get the right to assemble and sell Ford’s Louisville-AeroMax line of trucks and will own the remaining tooling for its L-series and cargo trucks that are being phased out of production. Such trucks are sold for commercial uses. Freightliner, a unit of Germany’s Daimler-Benz, is the largest heavy-duty truck maker in North America. The firms hope to complete the sale by early 1998.