STUTTGART, Germany -- Freightliner LLC, a truckmaking unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, said Wednesday it plans to build a factory in Saltillo, northern Mexico, for about $300 million.
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. The Santiago Tianguistenco plant 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 rose 1.6 percent to 46.95 euros ($61.67) in Frankfurt trading.
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