Who Makes Western Star Vans And The place Are They Manufactured?

Among the many vans on North American roads at this time, Western Star is not usually the primary identify that involves thoughts. It lacks the recognizability of different manufacturers like Kenworth, Mack, or Freightliner, as an illustration, however they’re nonetheless fairly serviceable vans however. To not point out that they are effectively famend by house owners and specialists alike for his or her heavy-hauling and off-highway utility. However who makes them? The reply is rather less apparent than you may anticipate, particularly contemplating the place they’re made.

Western Star is definitely a subsidiary of Daimler Truck A.G., the identical firm that produces Freightliner, Mitsubishi Fuso, and extra. Daimler Truck is the corporate liable for creating the world’s first self-propelled truck as we all know it, the “Liefrungswagen” (Supply Truck) of 1896. It featured a two-cylinder engine making a whopping 4 horsepower, however had a powerful 1.5 metric tons of payload (about 3300 kilos). Clearly, extra trendy stuff hauls just a little greater than that, and is arguably extra snug than sitting on an unsprung piece of wooden. However the DNA hasn’t actually modified with the occasions; trendy Western Star vans excel at excessive hundreds in in any other case hostile environments.

As for the place Western Star vans are manufactured, it is in North America, quite than Germany, the place one may anticipate. There are two crops producing totally different fashions of Western Star, situated in Portland, Oregon (the place the corporate is headquartered), and Cleveland, North Carolina. The crops themselves are owned by Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), with the Cleveland facility sharing flooring area with different producers like Freightliner.

Western Star Vans was initially a Canadian heavy-hauler truck producer, producing specialised autos for the logging, mining, and oil industries, amongst others. Initially opening in 1967 underneath the designation of White Motor Firm with manufacturing in Kelowna, British Columbia, it is served alongside different longtime heavy-duty corporations like Pacific, although considerably much less singular in focus because of its prevalent freeway truck lineup. The corporate produced autos alongside AutoCar and shared the identical cabs, with an early typical and later cab-over design.

The corporate’s early historical past is muddled, to say the least, having been purchased and offered quite a few occasions over the course of its life. Western Star discovered itself underneath the management of assorted corporations, starting in 1981 when Volvo took the helm and formed it into the Western Star model we’re conversant in at this time. Firm demand skyrocketed, particularly in Australia, the place Western Star vans discovered service as street trains. In 1991, Western Star was purchased out by Australian businessman Terry Peabody, additional refining and focusing the model on heavy-duty logistics. Western Star even discovered its means into army service underneath his course with the LSVW light-duty automobile.

Lastly, in 2000, Western Star Vans was acquired by its present proprietor, DTNA, as a part of the German agency’s mission to amass and develop a number of totally different manufacturers all through the Nineties. These included the Freightliner Customized Chassis Company, American LaFrance, Ford’s heavy-duty truck division, Thomas Constructed Buses, and eventually, Western Star itself. The corporate makes use of varied powertrains as effectively, together with one of many longest-lasting diesel engines of all time, the Caterpillar C15.

Although it began as a Canadian firm and featured Australian holdings, Western Star vans at this time are produced solely in the USA in one in all two crops. The primary, situated in Portland, Oregon, produces the 4700, 4800, 4900, and 6900-series, every in varied configurations reminiscent of axle layouts and wheelbase lengths. The most important amongst these, the 6900, is what you’d generally see in extreme-duty functions reminiscent of quarry and mining work, and is powered by both the Detroit Diesel DD15 or DD16 (essentially the most highly effective diesel engine Detroit ever made), or the Cummins X15. The 4900, additionally in-built Oregon, is the corporate’s hottest and numerous mannequin, with a various (and complicated) set of letter suffixes denoting the varied configurations it is accessible in, such because the 4900 EX, XD, TS, and so forth.

The Cleveland, North Carolina, plant, in the meantime, produces the Western Star 47X and 49X, each of that are heavy-duty vans match for varied duties reminiscent of winter work and development websites, amongst different functions. This facility shares flooring area with Freightliner, producing a powerful 850,000 vans whole as of July 2025. Different Western Star vans are nonetheless on the roads, such because the highway-capable 5700-series, although these are now not in manufacturing. Western Star Vans has a difficult historical past. It is a Canadian-born firm, headquartered in Oregon, with DTNA, an organization with a German dad or mum agency. Nonetheless, each new truck put to work at this time, regardless of the place the job web site is situated, is definitely produced in the USA.