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Daimler Truck reported a steep first-quarter earnings decline, with sluggish North American volumes and import tariffs weighing on the segment that generates the bulk of the group's profits.
On an adjusted basis, group EBIT came in at €498 million, roughly half the €1.08 billion the company posted in the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted return on sales for the industrial business dropped to 5.0% from 9.6%, the company said. Earnings per share came in at €0.18, down from €0.94.
The damage was concentrated at Trucks North America, where unit sales fell 25% to 29,432 as the division absorbed the effects of low order intake in the prior year. Revenue at the segment dropped to €3.84 billion from €5.41 billion, and adjusted return on sales collapsed to 5.4% from 14.4%. Taken together, those pressures — weaker volume, currency headwinds, and the tariff burden — represented a €624 million hit to the North American division in the period.
CFO Eva Scherer told analysts the tariffs that have weighed on Trucks North America were felt in full for the first time during Q1, with that cost coming to a minimum of €100 million, Reuters reported.
Even so, Daimler Truck's leadership sounded cautiously optimistic about what lies ahead. Group incoming orders rose 50% in the quarter to 114,043 units, led by an 86% surge in North American order intake. For Q2, Scherer projected that truck deliveries across North America would reach roughly one-and-a-half times the volume shipped in Q1, Reuters reported.
CEO Karin Rådström said in a statement: "We are well positioned for continued improvement over the course of the year, even against the backdrop of a challenging first quarter."
Free cash flow for the industrial business swung to a loss of €445 million from a gain of €33 million a year earlier, driven by lower EBIT and additional inventory buildup tied to the higher order intake.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks increased revenue by 4% to €4.6 billion, with unit sales up 13%. However, adjusted return on sales slipped to 5.1% from 5.4%. Daimler Buses kept an adjusted return on sales of 8.6%, down from 9.4%, as volumes dropped 20% due to weak markets in Latin America and Mexico.
The company stood behind its full-year targets, which call for adjusted group EBIT somewhere in the €3.2 billion to €3.7 billion range and an industrial-business return on sales of 6% to 8%. The company said its outlook assumes the current USMCA framework remains in place and remains subject to the effects of U.S. trade policy.