Sterling Trucks is a manufacturer of heavy duty trucks. Sterling is a subsidiary of Freightliner LLCPortland, Oregon. As such, it is a member of the Daimler AG. It was originally the heavy truck division of Ford Motor Company, purchased and rebranded in 1997. Headquartered in Detroit, MI, its conventional trucks are built in St. Thomas, Ontario. Sterling-brand trucks are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand. The Sterling name was originally used by an independent truck manufacturer, bought by the White Motor Co. ca. 1953. It was retired two years later. Although technically the property of the White Motor Co., and conveyed to its successor, Volvo-White Motor Co., which evolved into Volvo Trucks North America, the trademark had lain dormant so long that there were no grounds for objection when Daimler-Benz subsidiary Freightliner resurrected it to supplant the Ford blue oval on their HN80 ("AeroMax") family of trucks after the purchase. Sterling builds a broad range of highly engineered trucks and tractors. These vehicles are used for everything from freight distribution to heavy vocational uses, such as construction, snow plowing and refuse collection. The company specializes in vocational trucks — those that are designed to perform jobs other than straight freight hauling. Examples include outfitted trucks for use as fire trucks, garbage trucks, dump trucks, concrete mixers, tanker trucks, school buses, and snowplows. Sterling's mission is to be the dominant manufacturer of class 5-8 vocationally-oriented trucks in North America. The company offers truck operators a level of product technology and customer support previously unavailable to vocational truck buyers. In 1999, Sterling introduced the Sterling Acterra, a complete new line of tough and stylish medium-duty trucks.
