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Optimism is growing at truck maker Paccar about order levels and demand for new tractors in the second half of 2025 and in 2026, said CEO Preston Feight.

Truck manufacturer Paccar’s profit dived 35.3% year over year in the second quarter as the freight recession continued to hamper tractor sales, particularly among truckload carriers.

Truck maker Paccar, parent company of Kenworth and Peterbilt, will lay off 175 employees in its Sainte-Therese, Quebec, plant over weakening demand, according to local union Unifor.

The truck maker will make powertrains with the Paccar TX-12 PRO automated transmission and Paccar MX-13 engine combination available to T680, T880 and W990 customers.

Multiple adverse factors contributed to a much rougher three months for truck manufacturers in the first quarter of 2025 than was expected at the turn of the calendar year.

Aurora Innovation is putting a human back in front of the wheel of big rigs operating in Texas, reversing course less than three weeks after the company began commercial autonomous service.

Bellevue, Wash.-based Paccar reported net income of $505.1 million in the first three months of 2025, less than half the $1.2 billion profit posted in the year-ago period.

Peterbilt will make powertrains with a TX-12 Pro automated transmission and Paccar MX-13 engine combination an option available to buyers of its 579, 567 and 589 tractors.

Kenworth will stop making three of its legacy 1.9-meter cab Class 8 tractors in 2026, including the W900, the first examples of which began rolling off the production line as far back as 1963.

Jake Montero will become the top executive at Peterbilt, replacing Jason Skoog, who had held the general manager position since March 2018.