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April 28, 2005 12:00 PM, EDT

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aimlerChrysler AG said Thursday its first-quarter net income fell but its truck sales surged.

The German company earned about $372 million or 28 cents a share, down from $532 million or $41 cents a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.

The company’s commercial vehicles unit earned about $922 million, triple from last year’s first quarter, Bloomberg said. Truck sales rose 43% to almost 180,000 units worldwide.

DaimlerChrysler is the parent company of Freightliner LLC, which includes U.S. units Freightliner Trucks, Sterling Trucks, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses.

DaimlerChrysler officials said in February that its truck division’s earnings will surge this year. (Click here for previous coverage.)

The company’s Mercedes luxury-car unit took a loss, as it had in the fourth quarter, losing about $1.2 billion in the quarter, Bloomberg said.