Daimler Truck Profit Falls as North American Demand Craters
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Profit at Daimler Truck collapsed in the second quarter of 2025 as North American sales slumped, with little prospect of a near-term improvement if Q2 orders are anything to go by.
The outlook due to ongoing North American market uncertainty is so poor that the owner of the Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses cut its full-year sales and revenue guidance in North America and globally.
Net income at ’s parent company more than halved in Q2, slumping 61% to $353.9 million from $900.8 million in the second quarter of 2024.
Daimler Truck reports all earnings figures in euros, and conversions were correct as of July 31.
Revenue at the parent company fell 5% year over year in the three months that ended June 30 to $14.41 billion from $15.22 billion.
We have published strong Q2 results:
Revenue Industrial Business (IB) of €11.8 billion, adjusted Group EBIT of €1.12 billion and adjusted ROS (IB) remained stable at 9.3%. — Daimler Truck (@DaimlerTruck)
DTNA revenue totaled $5.81 billion in Q2, also down 15%, compared with $6.86 billion in the same period 12 months earlier.
DTNA sales in the most recent quarter totaled 38,580 trucks and buses, a decrease of 20% compared with 48,246 vehicles in the year-ago period.
Sales are not broken down individually for Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses.
Daimler Truck counts U.S., Canada and Mexico sales in these estimates. A 79% slump in sales in Mexico in Q2 dragged on the overall truck and bus shipment figures.
Freightliner and Western Star’s share of North American Class 8 sales in Q2 rose to 40.4% from 38.5% in the year-ago period. The two brands’ full-year 2024 market share averaged 39.8%. However, DTNA’s share of the Classes 6-7 market fell year over year to 30% from 34.8% in Q2 2024.
However, the division’s orders in the most recent three-month period tumbled 53% year over year to 13,842 trucks and buses from 29,604 vehicles.
Full-Year Guidance Reduced
Looking further ahead, Daimler Truck cut its full-year guidance for the North American Class 8 market to 250,000 to 280,000 trucks, from 260,000 to 290,000 vehicles previously.
In the wider truck and bus market, DTNA’s sales in 2025 are now expected to be between 135,000 to 155,000 vehicles, compared with previous expectations in a 155,000 to 175,000 truck and bus range.
Still, Daimler Truck’s top executive, CEO Karin Radstrom, complimented DTNA’s performance in the most recent quarter.
“Trucks North America achieved remarkable results in a challenging market,” she said in a statement accompanying the results.
DTNA posted a return on sales of 12.9% in Q2, which, although weaker than the year-ago period’s 14.6% figure, matched the full-year 2024 ROS.
Tariffs, Labor Deals Pushed Costs Higher
Portland, Ore.-based DTNA benefited from price increases but saw material and manufacturing costs rise due to tariffs and labor deals, even as sales fell, its parent company said in an investor report.
DTNA is cutting its cloth accordingly given the current environment in the North American over-the-road freight market.
Earlier in July, DTNA said it will lay off around 2,000 employees at five sites. Employees at the production facilities in Mount Holly and Gastonia, N.C.; Detroit; Portland, Ore.; and Saltillo, Mexico, will be laid off.
“As we navigate a challenging economic environment, we’ve seen a notable slowdown in new truck orders, particularly in our medium-duty, on-highway, and electric vehicle segments. To align with current market conditions, we’ve made the tough decision to implement workforce reductions across several facilities,” DTNA told Transport Topics at the time.
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DTNA currently has about 28,000 employees across North America. Mount Holly produces Freightliner’s medium-duty models. The Gastonia facility carries out stamping, metal fabrication and sub-assembly of cab and chassis parts. The Detroit Manufacturing Plant in Redford Township, Mich., is the home of DTNA’s Detroit Diesel engine division.
The Portland plant builds Freightliner’s eCascadia and eM2 battery-electric trucks as well as Western Star’s X-Series lineup. The Saltillo plant, which opened in 2009, focuses on production of the Freightliner Cascadia, North America’s best-selling Class 8 on-highway tractor.
DTNA is doubling down on diesel as appetite for alternative fuel powertrains lags earlier expectations, senior executives including Radstrom said at Daimler Truck’s Capital Market Day at the start of July.
A push also is being made into heavy-duty vocational segments as a result of the soft on-highway market, particularly with the X-Series, executives told analysts and investors at the Capital Market Day, an area Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer said DTNA had historically underperformed in.
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