Q&A: Daimler Trucks North America’s Kary Schaefer
Kary Schaefer Photo: Daimler Trucks North America
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Kary Schaefer Photo: Daimler Trucks North America
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Early this year, Daimler Trucks North America named Kary Schaefer general manager, marketing and strategy. We spoke with her last month after Freightliner unveiled its next-generation Cascadia. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
HDT: What are the most exciting and unique things about the new Cascadia?
Schaefer: I think the Driver’s Loft, the new updated interior that we’ve introduced; I really think that’s a leap forward in our interior design and a big improvement in driver experience. We’ve got that Murphy bed configuration that’s easy to set up and take down, and the interior noise level when you’re driving the truck is outstanding. We’ve improved the storage, trim levels are really nice…. it’s a great improvement in the driver’s living space.
Fuel economy is my second one for you. Between aerodynamic improvements with our new aero packages and drivetrain development changes, we’ve improved the fuel economy by 8% over a model year ’16 Cascadia Evolution, so it’s another big leap forward for us in terms of fuel economy leadership. And the changes we made to the driveline, we’ve been able to introduce a super fine finish on transmission gears, so it can use low viscosity oil which reduces friction losses. And axle lubrication management — it reduced all of the churning loss of the ring gear as it goes through the oil. Then the Intelligent Powertrain Management. We’ve incorporated additional map data and extended the intervals for coasting, which also improves fuel economy. It’s really impressive performance.
HDT: It’s interesting that you brought up the interior first. One of your recent jobs at DTNA was leading the cab engineering department. We’ve seen a lot of attention in recent years to cab design in new trucks as a …Read the rest of this story
