DTNA to increase Mount Holly plant staffing after 2025 layoffs

Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) will restore 400 jobs and add 200 more workers at its Mount Holly, North Carolina Freightliner plant by the end of 2026, CEO John O’Leary confirmed to Transport Topics. The move reflects a rebound in the freight market, with North American Class 8 truck orders up 231% year-over-year in June 2026 and sustained increases in truck production. DTNA plans to reinstate the laid-off employees and introduce a second shift at Mount Holly, though no workers have been recalled yet at its Saltillo, Mexico plant. The Mount Holly facility, which opened in 1979, is a key production hub alongside Cleveland and Gastonia, producing Freightliner’s medium-duty models. The Cleveland Truck Plant serves as Freightliner’s largest U.S. manufacturing site, while DTNA’s Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner Custom Chassis units operate nearby facilities in High Point, North Carolina, and Gaffney, South Carolina. The Gastonia plant handles stamping, metal fabrication, and subassembly of cab and chassis parts. DTNA’s Detroit Manufacturing Plant in Redford Township, Michigan, houses the Detroit Diesel engine division, and the Portland, Oregon 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 the Freightliner Cascadia, North America’s best-selling Class 8 on-highway tractor. Despite layoffs at multiple North American facilities in July 2025—including Mount Holly, Gastonia, Detroit, Portland, and Saltillo—Freightliner’s Saltillo and Santiago Tianguistenco plants built 9,379 trucks in June 2026, a 9% year-over-year increase. May 2026 saw 9,348 trucks built, up 14% from May 2025, and April 2026 output rose 16.8% compared to April 2025. Truck build rates and sales are expected to accelerate further in the second half of 2026, with ACT Research reporting June orders up more than 100% year-over-year for a fifth consecutive month. North American Class 8 orders totaled 31,400 trucks in June 2026, a 231% increase from the prior year. Orders have risen year-over-year for seven straight months. The rebound follows layoffs at DTNA and other major truck makers, including Volvo Group (1,000 positions) and Traton Group’s International Motors division (900 jobs in Escobedo, Mexico) in spring 2025.