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North American freight market softness again weighed on Daimler Truck profit and revenue in the third quarter of 2025, with the outlook for coming quarters murky, the parent company of Freightliner and Western Star said Nov. 7.

Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer said orders had picked up a little from a low base as the most recent quarter progressed, but conversations with carriers at American Trucking Associations’ 2025 Management Conference & Exhibition were downbeat.

“July and August [orders] were on a fairly similar level, but then September was quite a bit better than that,” Scherer told analysts and investors on Daimler Truck’s quarterly earnings call. “October was then also a bit better than September sequentially. We do see a positive trend continuing. I have to say, it is in a very low market environment that we are operating right now, but we do see that it is slowly picking up.”

Daimler Truck North America orders in the most recent quarter totaled 26,168 trucks and buses, down 29% year over year from 36,794 vehicles, but nearly double Q2’s 13,842 total.

Through the first nine months of 2025, DTNA orders totaled 71,750 trucks and buses, down 35% from 111,048 vehicles a year earlier.

Customer Sentiment

Still, customers remain pessimistic, Daimler Truck’s No. 2 executive said, referencing discussions she had during MCE.

“How’s the mood? Maybe slightly better. Obviously, one of the questions I asked most last week was, ‘When do you think we will see a recovery?’ Most of them are saying that they hope in the second half of next year, but also acknowledging that we expected that a year ago,” she said during the call.

“The earliest recovery that somebody sees is maybe toward the end of quarter 2. Quarter 1, I have not really heard much positivity around. It is still a wait-and-see mood, and we really need to see freight rates getting to a better level there in order to, I think, really see a changed mood and momentum. Nobody is excited about the market, I can tell you that much. A lot of players in the market are struggling because of that,” she added.

DTNA sold 30,225 trucks and buses in Q3, a 39% slump compared with 49,346 in the same period last year. Of those sales, 25,968 came in the U.S., a decrease of 37% year over year from 40,971 vehicles in Q3 2024. A 66% slump in Mexican sales to 1,338 vehicles was due to the Euro VI change in tailpipe emissions legislation.

The company produced 28,108 trucks and buses in Q3, a decrease of 42% from 48,527 vehicles in the year-ago period, and down 27.2% compared with 38,635 vehicles in the second quarter of 2025.

DTNA had 25,608 employees as of Sept. 30, down 10% from the start of the year, after laying off 2,000 production plant employees due to the weakness of demand.

Revenue at DTNA totaled $4.63 billion in the most recent quarter, down 33% compared with $6.94 billion a year earlier. The division’s return on sales fell to 6.4% from 12% in the year-ago quarter. Daimler Truck reports earnings in euros and conversions were correct as of Nov. 7.

DTNA’s overall truck and bus sales in 2025 are now expected to be between 135,000 and 155,000 vehicles, compared with prior expectations in a 155,000 to 175,000 truck-and-bus range.

Tariffs

The North American outlook for the rest of 2025 and especially 2026 is hazy, Daimler Truck said, particularly with the introduction of Section 232 import tariffs on heavy- and medium-duty trucks and parts on Nov. 1.

Daimler Truck is the last of the four largest North American Class 8 manufacturers to report earnings for Q3, and like its peers and engine manufacturer Cummins, is still hunting for more detail on the tariffs.

“Some specifics remain unsolved, and a full evaluation of the implications will require more time,” said Scherer.

“We have said before that we have a fairly high level of flexibility among our assembly plants in the U.S. and in Mexico, but I cannot tell you at this point whether we will be making any adjustments and how we would make them, because … we need to understand the details of the new tariff scheme a bit better,” she added.

Global Momentum

Meanwhile, Daimler Truck posted a $530.3 million profit in the three months that ended Sept. 30, a 27% decline compared with $726 million in the same period 12 months earlier.

Worldwide revenue totaled $13.26 billion in Q3, down 13% compared with $15.21 billion in the year-ago period.

Globally, vehicle sales totaled 98,009 trucks and buses in the most recent quarter, a 15% decrease compared with 114,917 vehicles in the year-ago period.

Orders in Q3 fell 1% year over year to 93,923 trucks and buses from 94,709 vehicles in Q3 2024, which Daimler Truck said was supported by positive momentum in Europe and a recovery in North America from very low levels in Q2.