Daimler Truck Faces North American Market Slowdown Impacting Third Quarter Earnings in 2025

North American Market Softness Hits Daimler Truck’s Results

The third quarter of 2025 brought a familiar story for Daimler Truck as softness in the North American freight market weighed on its profit and revenue figures. Despite a slight uptick in orders, the overall environment remains challenging, clouding the outlook for the coming months. This development is significant within the transport and logistics sectors, where shifts in order volume and market sentiment can ripple through supply chains and freight forwarding operations.

Order Trends and Market Mood

Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), the parent company of Freightliner and Western Star, reported orders totaling 26,168 trucks and buses in Q3, representing a substantial 29% decline compared to the previous year’s 36,794 units. However, this figure nearly doubles the 13,842 units ordered in the prior quarter, hinting at a tentative recovery.

Conversations with carriers during the American Trucking Associations’ 2025 Management Conference revealed a prevailing cautiousness. While the number crunchers noted improvement from July and August to September and October, the overall market remains at a low ebb. As CFO Eva Scherer remarked, the improvement is happening in a very subdued market environment, and expectations for a meaningful recovery are still cautious.

Quarterly Order Overview

Customer Sentiment and Industry Outlook

Market sentiment remains lukewarm, with fleet operators still reluctant to embrace a full rebound. According to one of Daimler Truck’s top executives, discussions with industry players exposed a “wait-and-see” attitude. The earliest anticipated recovery is eyed for the latter half of 2026, with optimism for the early part of next year notably absent.

Freight rates need to firm up to alter this mood significantly, which is critical because trucking businesses hinge heavily on these rates to sustain profitable operations. Without that uplift, many are finding the market conditions tough to navigate.

Q3 Sales and Production Figures

Vehicle sales in Q3 highlight the ongoing difficulty, with DTNA selling 30,225 trucks and buses—a plummet of 39% compared with 49,346 in the year-earlier period. Particularly, sales in the U.S. dropped by 37%, down to 25,968 units from 40,971 in the prior year’s quarter.

Mexico’s downturn was even sharper, with a 66% decline to 1,338 vehicles, largely influenced by recent changes in Euro VI emissions standards. Meanwhile, production capacity tightened due to demand, with the company producing 28,108 vehicles in Q3, a fall of 42% year over year.

Consequently, DTNA reduced its workforce by about 10% in 2025, laying off around 2,000 production plant employees to align with the soft demand environment.

Sales & Production Summary (Q3 2025 vs Q3 2024)

• Vehicles Sold: 30,225 (down 39%)
• U.S. Sales: 25,968 (down 37%)
• Mexico Sales: 1,338 (down 66%)
• Vehicles Produced: 28,108 (down 42%)
• Workforce Reduction: 10% decrease in employees

Financial Impact and Revised Forecasts

Revenue for DTNA fell to $4.63 billion in Q3, shrinking by a third compared with $6.94 billion a year before. This revenue squeeze pushed down the division’s return on sales to 6.4%, nearly halving from 12% in the prior year’s period. Profitability is expected to remain under pressure until market fundamentals shift upward.

Reflecting the current reality, DTNA lowered its full-year 2025 sales expectations to between 135,000 and 155,000 vehicles, down from a previous estimate of 155,000 to 175,000 units.

Impact of New Tariffs

The uncertainty extends into production cost structures as well, with Section 232 import tariffs on heavy- and medium-duty trucks and parts coming into effect in North America from November 1. Daimler Truck and its peers are still assessing how these tariffs will influence their supply chains and assembly strategies.

While Daimler boasts flexibility in its U.S. and Mexico assembly plants, the full impact of the tariffs remains unclear. Adjustments to operations could follow once the details become better understood, potentially reshaping logistics around production and distribution.

Global Performance and Broader Market Trends

Despite challenges in North America, Daimler Truck’s worldwide activities show a mixed picture. Global vehicle sales for the quarter reached 98,009 units, a 15% decrease from last year, while orders slipped only slightly by 1%, buoyed by some recovery in North America and steadier momentum in Europe.

Daimler Truck Q3 2025 at a Glance

Key Takeaways for the Logistics Sector

Sluggish demand in North America, combined with evolving regulatory measures like tariffs, makes for a challenging landscape in freight and haulage logistics. A dip in truck sales impacts the availability of new vehicles for fleet renewal, influencing transport capacity planning and delivery reliability in the region.

Globally, the effects are less severe, but this patchy performance puts pressure on logistics providers to adapt quickly—whether that means recalibrating inventory flows, managing freight rates, or navigating production shifts across borders.

The Bottom Line on Market Sentiment and Freight Activity

• North American freight softness dampens Daimler Truck’s earnings and outlook.
• Order volumes show tentative signs of recovery but from a very low baseline.
• Tariffs add uncertainty and potential cost pressures on assembly and distribution.
• Global markets show modest declines but more stable compared to North America.
• Logistics and freight stakeholders must prepare for continued variability and adapt operations accordingly.

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Підсумки та заключні думки

Daimler Truck’s Q3 2025 report paints a clear picture of a North American market grappling with ongoing softness, affecting sales, production, and profitability. While signs of gradual recovery emerge, uncertainty looms around tariffs and freight rate stabilization. Globally, the landscape is mixed but generally less volatile, showing resilience in some regions.

For the logistics and freight industry, these dynamics translate into closely watched fluctuations in haulage capacity and costs, not only impacting truck availability but forwarding and distribution strategies worldwide. Using platforms like GetTransport.com streamlines the logistics process, offering reliable, cost-effective, and convenient transport solutions for a wide array of cargo needs—from international shipments to local house moves.

In the intricate dance of global shipping and freight, staying ahead demands flexibility and access to diverse transportation options, exactly what GetTransport.com delivers, making it a go-to platform for logistics professionals and everyday movers alike.