Daimler Truck North America operates some of North Carolina’s largest manufacturing facilities, including a Freightliner truck plant in Mount Holly, a Freightliner and Western Star plant in Cleveland, a components and logistics center in Gastonia, and a Thomas Built Buses plant in High Point. It employs some 6,800 North Carolinians in the Charlotte area alone.

Make that employed, past tense. In mid-July, Daimler’s footprint shrank by about 600 jobs in our state — and 2,000 across all its North American locations. Company executives hope the layoffs will only be temporary. They are, however, in no position to make it a promise.

Why is Daimler shedding employees in North Carolina and elsewhere? Because sales are trending down, by about 9% according to the company’s current estimate for 202

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