Western Star forms own engineering team (February 22, 2010)

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Western Star Trucks now has its own engineering division.

Parent company Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) has afforded its flagship brand its own engineering division encompassing nearly 50 dedicated engineers and engineering systems, focusing exclusively on Western Star trucks, the company announced.

Randy DeBortoli will head the new division as director of engineering.

“Many of our engineers in the new team have significant experience in Western Star product and in providing solutions for heavy-duty applications like those that are experienced throughout the world,” said DeBortoli. “It is important that the Western Star product evolves with its customer base and that base is about heavy duty trucks with custom engineering solutions.”

“This is a clear indication of the faith that Daimler has in the growth and demand for Western Star Trucks going forward,” added Jim Looysen, Western Star Trucks sales manager. “The success of the Western Star product in Canada has significantly influenced Daimler Truck’s decision to invest in this additional engineering resource and a substantially large amount of this new resource will be dedicated to Western Star product and options for the toughest applications on and off highway.”

The engineering division will be based near Western Star’s truck plant in Portland, Ore.

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  • The cult following associated with W-Star still survives in Canada even if the plant did not. Jim Heibe VP Navistar tells us “the end of the extended BBC tractor is near” not according to W-Star! As a contrarian design engineer, I’m with those at Western Star who are committed to an optimistic furture for the Star and for trucking as a whole. Good luck guy’s.