There are trucks on the premises of the Daimler Truck AG truck plant in Wörth: sales figures are falling in the USA. Photo: Uli Deck/dpa
Berlin. The truck manufacturer Daimler Truck sold significantly fewer commercial vehicles last year due to weak demand in its most important market, the USA. Sales fell by eight percent to 422,510 units, as the DAX group announced on Friday. The US market recorded the largest decline of more than a quarter to just 141,814 vehicles. In the other markets, sales remained stable or increased slightly.
Daimler Truck had forecast annual sales of 410,000 to 440,000 vehicles. The US economic policy under President Donald Trump is not only causing rising costs in truck production through increased tariffs, but also uncertainty in the economy as a whole. Freight forwarders are therefore holding back on purchasing new trucks.
In the fourth quarter alone, Daimler Truck sold 27 percent fewer vehicles in what is usually its most profitable market. The company is the market leader in the USA with the Freightliner and Western Star brands.
Recently, however, there have been signs that the order situation on the market is improving. The investment house Bernstein Research assumes that the low point in the USA will be reached in the first quarter.