STE-THERESE, Que. (June 21, 2002) — In order to meeting spiking demand for heavy trucks, Peterbilt Motors is building class-8 vehicles at a medium-duty truck plant operated by parent company PACCAR in Ste-Therese, Que.

Last month, the plant began producing model 357, 378, and 385 vehicles, used mainly in vocational markets, and in August will build the model 379, Peterbilt’s flagship highway tractor. Only day-cab configurations are being assembled.

The plant is providing relief to Peterbilt assembly facilities in Nashville, Tenn., and Denton, Texas, in order to meet a surge in demand for trucks in advance of tighter emissions regulations that take effect in October. Company officials project that 20% of the Peterbilt vehicles made at Ste-Therese will be class-8 trucks. Currently, about half the units produced at the plant are Peterbilts; the other half are medium-duty vehicles for PACCAR’s Kenworth Truck business.

With the addition of class-8 production, the plant will ramp up to 33 total units a day starting next month.

The decision to build class-8 trucks at Ste-Therese has special significance for workers there, many of whom were building heavy trucks for Kenworth until a soft market and a lengthy strike prompted PACCAR to shutter the facility in 1996. At the time it closed, the plant was considered to be one of the most inefficient and outdated truck assembly operations in North America.

Lured by a $100-million package that included a $24-million loan from the federal and Quebec governments, PACCAR refurbished and expanded and reopened it in August 1999 as its primary medium-duty truck facility.

“The workers here are so proud to have those class-8 trucks back, even if it’s for just a short time,” said Michel Audet, plant sales co-ordinator. “It feels really good to see those trucks coming off the line. We want class-8 production to be a long-term thing here, so we’re all doing the very best job we can on these units.”