Daimler Truck Holding AG reported its third-quarter earnings on Friday and, as expected, the North American market's decline in sales is reflected in the numbers.
"With our year-to-date results for the first nine months, we are demonstrating the increased resilience of Daimler Truck in uncertain times," says Karin Radstrom, president and CEO. "We're the partner of choice for our customers — and that's a strong position to successfully deal with the current uncertainties."
Daimler's Q3 by the numbers
Group unit sales for the quarter were 98,009 units, down from 14% from last year's 114,917. Revenue was similarly down to $11.45 billion from $13.28 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) came in at $773 million, down 39% from last year's Q3 total of $1.27 billion.
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Daimler is seeing some recovery in North American orders in the third quarter as well as positive momentum in European markets. It also says sales of battery electric vehicles have grown by 175% to 1,833 units.
"Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Trucks Asia and Daimler Buses delivered stable results in Q3," says Eva Scherer, CFO. "As expected, however, group performance was impacted by challenging market conditions in North America. In today's uncertain global environment, we continue to focus on what we can control: improving operational and organizational efficiency, strict cost management, and fully committing to deliver strong value to our customers."
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In that challenging North American segment, unit sales were down 39% in the quarter to 30,225. Revenue was off 33% and EBIT was down 64%. Financial services reported a global fall in new business of 14%, but a slight bump in revenue of 3% and a jump in EBIT of 25%.
Daimler's outlook
Full-year guidance for 2025 is on track, the company says, with Daimler expecting global unit sales of 410,000-440,000 units and a revenue of $47.52-$50.76 billion. Adjusted EBIT at the group level is expected to range between $3.89 billion and $4.43 billion with an adjusted return on sales of 7-9%.
The company says today's "dynamic" global environment is still subject to macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, particularly U.S. trade policy and supply chain challenges.
