Oshkosh is no longer affiliated with Freightliner. 1996 – American LaFrance was purchased; a 130-year-old manufacturer of fire apparatus, it was Mr. Hebe's first employer. American LaFrance had fallen on hard times and was moribund at the time of the acquisition. At the end of the year, Freightliner acquired the rights of the heavy-truck product lines of Ford Motor Company. 1997 – As a result of the Ford heavy-truck acquisition, Freightliner created Sterling Trucks (using a long-dormant nameplate once owned by White Motor Company). Intended primarily as vocational trucks, the Sterling product line consisted of rebranded versions of the Ford Louisville/AeroMax and Ford Cargo. 1998 – Freightliner acquires bus manufacturer Thomas Built Buses, based in High Point, North Carolina. Sterling-brand trucks entered production in St. Thomas, Ontario (sold concurrently with the final Ford heavy trucks). 2000s At the beginning of the 21st century, Freightliner was part of DaimlerChrysler, following the 1998 merger of its parent company with Chrysler; several changes in 2000 were made by the merged company that affected Freightliner. Canadian-based Western Star Trucks, a premium truck manufacturer was acquired in its entirety, giving Freightliner a third truck brand (along with assembly plants in Kelowna, British Columbia, and Ladson, South Carolina). Originally an entity of General Motors, DaimlerChrysler acquired Detroit Diesel, integrating its operations within Freightliner. Coinciding with the fragile economy, Freightliner was awash in used trucks it could not sell; following the rapid expansion of the previous decade, Freightliner was left with multiple poor-performing operations outside of its core truck brand which was in decline in a poor economy. Seeking new leadership, DaimlerChrysler installed former company CFO to begin a turnaround for Freightliner. By 2002, the Kelowna Western Star plant was closed (shifting to Portland), along with a Thomas facility in Woodstock, Ontario (consolidating entirely to High Point). For 2002, the Freightliner product line underwent multiple updates. For the medium-duty segment, Freightliner introduced a second generation of the Business Class, the Business Class M2, ranging from Class 5 to Class 8 severe-service conventionals. In place of the cab derived from Mercedes-Benz, the M2 was designed entirely by Freightliner. The Century Class model family was expanded further, debuting the Freightliner Coronado premium conventional. Styled similar to the FLD132 Classic XL, the Coronado shared its cab structure and technology with the Century Class and Columbia, marketed towards owner-operators. In a further expansion of the vocational model line, the Freightliner Condor