Daimler Trucks says its sales for trucks in North America are down 25% year over year.
The company sold 29,432 trucks in the first quarter of 2026 and 38,992 in the first quarter of 225. Globally, sales were down 9%, from 75,758 to 68,849.
Last year, unit sales in North America were off 26% on a weak freight market and uncertainty around tariffs and EPA regulations.
"Our most influential market, North America, faced special exogenous challenges in 2025," Chairman Joe Kaeser noted in Daimler's Annual Report, delivered earlier this year. "Erratic tariff policy has a negative impact in two respects: It unsettled customers who held back planned investments and it directly impacted the company's profitability and value chains."
Some of that uncertainty has settled with the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs and some clarity on EPA 2027 regulations. Analysts point to those reasons as to why Class 8 orders shot up in recent months.
"Net orders were subdued through November," FTR Senior Analyst Dan Moyer says, then, in December "shot up like the moon rocket." As of March, net orders are up 137% year over year and it may be a sustainable march upwards as freight fundamentals, such as rates and manufacturing outputs, continue to improve.
For 2026, Daimler expects the North American Class 8 market to support 250,000-290,000 trucks.
