Shake, rattle, roll: Tour Daimler's HDPG

MADRAS, OR. The official first day of summer was still a month away, but the Pacific Northwest rainy season gave way to brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures just in time to allow Daimler executives and community leaders to forecast a bright future for a new truck testing facility here.

A couple of hours south and east and across Mt. Hood from DTNA's award-winning Portland headquarters building, the High Desert Proving Grounds is a $19 million road course and engineering center designed right down to the grooves in the pavement to reinforce the truck maker's market leadership and to develop customer-focused products "faster, quicker, better" than competitors can.