LA GRANDE — A large Northwest truck company with a strong La Grande connection is boosting its Interstate 84 presence.

Gordon Truck Centers, which owns the Freightliner Northwest dealership in La Grande, recently purchased the Western Idaho Freightliner dealership in Nampa, Idaho. It began doing business as the Freightliner Northwest dealership in Nampa on March 13.

The Nampa dealership is among the largest of the 14 that Gordon Truck Centers has in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. All sell Freightliner and Western Star trucks, parts and service.

The Nampa Freightliner Northwest site has $1 million in parts inventory and more than 20 technicians, said Bob Kautz, the regional operations director for Freightliner Northwest’s dealerships in La Grande and Hermiston. Freightliner Northwest of Nampa is the first dealership Gordon Truck Centers has had in Idaho.

“Adding the Boise market is a natural fit and expands our service coverage area east on I-84 into the greater Boise area,” said Gordon Truck Centers President Scott Gordon in a press release.

Gordon Truck Centers now has three dealerships along Interstate 84. The company also has dealerships in Albany, Coburg, Redmond and Medford, plus six in Washington in Ridgefield, Mount Vernon, Pacific, Olympia, Yakima and Spokane. The company’s Hawaii store is on the island of Oahu in Kapolei.

Gordon Truck Centers’s La Grande dealership has 15 employees including seven technicians. The vehicles it services and sells parts for include more than Western Star and Freightliner trucks. Buses, motorhomes and agricultural rigs for hauling produce also are among the vehicles it services and provides parts for.

Freightliner Northwest dealerships often service buses and motorhomes because many have a Freightliner chassis, said Kautz, who lives in La Grande.

Gordon Truck Centers in 2015 purchased the Freightliner Northwest dealership in La Grande. Before the acquisition it was an Eagle Freightliner dealership.

Prior to taking his present position Kautz was the branch manager of Freightliner Northwest’s La Grande dealership. He has been the regional operations director for Freightliner Northwest’s dealerships in La Grande and Hermiston since 2019.

Kautz said his job is fulfilling.

“I just love working with the teams at both locations and the customers,” he said.