Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Corporation is a one stop shop that makes fire trucks, tactical vehicles, news vans, mail trucks and construction lifts, among other things. It serves about 20 different end markets and pulled in about $8.3 billion in sales in 2022. Its Pierce brand is also the largest maker of firetrucks in North America. A single truck can cost up to $2.5 million and all of them are custom made for the roughly 27,000 fire departments that battle thousands of fires each year. From 2012 to 2021, home fires alone took nearly 3,000 lives, caused more than 11,000 injuries and nearly $9 trillion in damage. Now, Pierce and the rest of the Oshkosh portfolio is electrifying - which is no mean feat, given the sheer size and weight of the vehicles Oshkosh makes. It also won a $3 billion contract to build the next generation USPS delivery truck. But this success is offsetting failure elsewhere - it recently lost a $9 billion defense contract that made up more than half of its annual defense revenues. And some say the defense business, which in total is about a quarter of Oshkosh’s sales, has to go.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:40 — Building a firetruck
03:31 — The mothership
06:15 — Challenges
07:52 — An electrified future

Produced by: Robert Ferris
Edited by: Maria Chiu
Camera by: Colin Systma
Animation: Jason Reginato, Josh Kalven
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi

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Who Makes Money From America’s Firetrucks