Peterbilt Motors has launched its high-end, low-volume Model 589 at the Peterbilt-only Pride & Class Truck Show, Freightwaves reports.

The show featured more than 200 heritage models and a southern rock concert, with more 3000 people in attendance.

The history of Peterbilt’s traditional model stretches nearly 70 years to the 1954 debut of the Model 351. It was followed by the 359, 379 and finally the current-generation 389 introduced in 2007. The 589 continues a tradition of long-hood, squared-grille beasts with 7-inch vertical chrome exhausts and 15-inch-diameter chrome air cleaners.

“Over time, we have had evolutions of our traditional trucks, not revolutions,” Jason Skoog, Peterbilt general manager, said during the reveal.

The Model 589 and a Legendary special edition were a decade in the making. Skoog acknowledged the diesel-powered truck favoured by customisers could be on its last model.

“If you go back through our history, it’s every 15 to 20 years [that] we redo the traditional Peterbilt truck. So this will carry us at least into the 2040 time frame,” he said. “You can never predict the future, but I would say ‘quite possibly’ it is the last of an era.”

Peterbilt has widened the cab of its heavy-duty Model 367 and Model 379 by 7in to 6ft 9in.

Peterbilt chief engineer Scott Newhouse said this allows the plant to build three trucks on a single platform, saving the company engineering and design time and significant capital expense.

All bumper options from the 389 are carried over to the 589 but now come with LED running lights. A V-style visor replaces the 389’s rounded one. Bullet-style marker lights across the top are twice as bright as those on the legacy model.

The 589 also offers the Bendix Wingman Fusion suite of safety system technologies that include forward collision warning and lane departure warning.

Production of the 389 ends at the end of the year, with the 589 beginning in January. The first 589 trucks will get special interior badging and sequential numbering.