The American customers of Daimler Truck are unsettled because of their president’s customs policy. The freight forwarders do not know how many goods from all over the world have to arrive in the ports on the east and west coasts in the coming months and have to be distributed over the United States. They also fear that the uncertainty could paralyze the entire US economy. The result: you do not buy vehicles from the world’s largest truck manufacturer. “Customers are worried about what happens to the US economy and how the freight volume develops,” said Daimler Truck, CEO, Karin Rådström, to present the half-year figures on Friday. This prospects for the company. Daimler Truck therefore lowered the winning forecast for the year 2025 – it is the second time after the manufacturer had already corrected its destinations down in May. Rådström and CFO Eva Scherer now assume that at the end of the year they can only achieve an operational profit (EBIT) of 3.6 to 4.1 billion euros. That would be a decline of up to 23 percent compared to the previous year. “The customers simply lack the security they need for their investment decisions,” said Rådström: “And this does not only affect Daimler Truck, that affects the entire industry.” The manufacturer also corrected the forecasts for sales and sales. In the worst case, the number of vehicles sold could decrease by eleven percent to 410,000 and sales decrease by 13 percent to 44 billion euros. Daimler Truck is aiming for a brand of between seven and nine percent for the operational return return (EBIT), and in the previous year it was 8.6 percent. The company actually wanted to generate a margin of eight to ten percent. The shareholders of the DAX group reacted disappointed on the stock exchange. The securities temporarily lost seven percent in the course. “In July we saw a slightly better order input again – it remains to be seen whether this is a trend,” said Rådström. In the first half of the year, however, almost 40 percent fewer orders were received for Daimler Truck in the United States. In order to meet this uncertainties, the company decreases its production capacities in North America and build 2000, as Scherer explained, and it is still not clear what US President Donald Trump plans for the border tariffs between Mexico and the US becomes. “Our forecast is based on the assumption that we can act as part of the current USMCA agreement,” said CFO Scherer. If the tariffs change, Daimler Truck can also produce all the models that are currently being built in Mexico, but not to the required extent for a long time. More on the topic of amaminations will remain after the forecast despite the severe drop in sales with a return of ten to twelve percent of Daimler’s most profitable market. For Europe, Rådström expects a stable development with a margin half as high. There, the “Cost Down Europe” savings program is to make business and the Mercedes-Benz Trucks brand more profitable again. In July, CFO Scherer had quantified the job cuts associated with the program to around 5000 and the works council had put the works council in mind, which, although savings, but does not want to support HR reduction in this amount. Rådström now defended the program again: the costs in Germany are not competitive. “If I collect everything together, personnel reduction of 5000 jobs is necessary in Germany.”
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