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A 35% slump in VTNA sales to 4,395 trucks from 6,744 in the year-ago period accounted for the majority of the decline. (George Walker IV/Associated Press)

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Volvo Group truck sales in North America in the third quarter of 2025 fell 20% year over year, hurting profit and prompting the company to cut its full-year truck demand forecast for the region again and predict 2026 would be even worse.

Gothenburg, Sweden-based Volvo Group — parent company of Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks — sold 9,622 trucks in North America, compared with 12,026 a year earlier, .

A 35% slump in VTNA sales to 4,395 trucks from 6,744 in the year-ago period accounted for the majority of the decline.

Mack’s North American Q3 sales inched 1% lower to 5,219 trucks from 5,261 vehicles a year earlier.

“The North American longhaul freight market remains in recession with decreased freight volumes and freight prices,” the parent company said in comments accompanying the results.

“The straight truck and the cab-over-engine segment, such as refuse trucks, has held up better,” it said. “Continued uncertainty regarding [Environmental Protection Agency] 2027 emissions standards and tariffs also adds to customers taking a cautious stance.”

Orders Rise 10% Due to Weak VTNA Comparison

Volvo’s North American truck orders rose 10% year on year in Q3 to 9,434 from 8,614 trucks in the year-ago period. A weak Q3 2024 total for VTNA aided the comparison, the company said.

VTNA’s orders jumped 23% year over year in the most recent quarter to 4,176 trucks from 3,405 in Q3 2024.

Mack’s North American Q3 orders nudged 1% higher to 5,240 trucks from 5,197.

Globally, Volvo sold 44,631 trucks in the most recent three-month period, a decrease of 4% compared with 46,266 trucks in Q3 2024.

“Our deliveries in Europe increased, with production rates being raised before summer, while volumes in North America and South America decreased, reflecting production adjustments to the more difficult market conditions there,” CEO Martin Lundstedt said in commentary accompanying the earnings.

Volvo Group truck orders totaled 37,134 vehicles globally in Q3, down 15% compared with 43,234 in the year-ago period.

“Order intake has softened in Europe, but following the good order momentum we had in the first half of the year our order backlog is on a good level,” Lundstedt said.

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Lundstedt at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)

Volvo’s truck division posted an operating margin of 9.1% in Q3, significantly below the year-ago period’s 11.7% but handily higher than the second quarter’s 6.7%.

“We are in a period, as you know, with weaker demand in our key regions,” Lundstedt began Volvo’s Oct. 17 earnings call. “Especially then for North America, with the high level of uncertainty and wait-and-see mode among our customers.

“We are therefore continuing to adjust production levels in addition to what has already been done during spring and summer here, but also other costs to minimize the under-resourcing going forward,” he said.

Volvo cut 1,000 jobs across its U.S. production plants in April, in the first of a series of layoffs by North American truck makers.

“Secondly, of course, even if that is a good timing from another perspective, we still have some effects from the continuous ramp-up of the all-new on-road ranges for both Volvo and Mack, where extra resources still are needed,” he said.

Between January 2024 and June 2025, VTNA and Mack’s on-highway tractor portfolio underwent a transformation. The VNL, VNR and Anthem all saw substantial overhauls while Mack launched the Pioneer.

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A Mack Pioneer readies to roll off the Macungie, Pa., plant production line. (Mack Trucks)

“I think it’s important also in a period that we are into now to reiterate that even if the situation in [North America] affected rather heavily than the global [truck group’s] margin negatively yet another quarter, we have high ambitions for North America. We have a strong platform to maneuver from now, and the continuous ramp-up of the new range is important,” Lundstedt added.

Volvo executives announced in November 2024 they wanted a 25% share of the North American heavy-duty truck market by 2030. VTNA and Mack won a combined 16.9% share of Class 8 retail sales through the first nine months of 2025, according to Wards Intelligence data.

The Pioneer launch is key to this goal, according to Lundstedt.

“For Mack in particular, this is more or less like re-entering into almost like a greenfield situation when it comes to the long haulage, the heavy-long haulage. The excitement is big. We will take it step by step with the right type of commercial quality as well because the product is great,” he told analysts on the call.

The product launches came during what is now a more than three-year U.S. freight recession, with the parent company again cutting its forecast for 2025 North American industrywide heavy-duty truck demand.

Outlook Down 16.7% So Far in 2025

Volvo now expects demand to total 265,000 trucks, down 10,000 compared with its last forecast and 16.7%, or 50,000 trucks, below expectations at the start of the year.

The upcoming year is not expected to be better, although there is acute uncertainty, said Lundstedt, with Volvo expecting North American heavy-duty truck demand to total 250,000 vehicles.

Overall, meanwhile, revenue at Volvo Group — which also manufactures buses, construction equipment, marine and power generation engines — totaled $11.74 billion in Q3, down 5% compared with $12.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The company posted an $803.6 million profit in the most recent quarter, a decrease of 5.4% compared with net income of $1.07 billion in the year-ago period. Volvo reports in Swedish krona, and conversions to dollars were correct as of Oct. 17.

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