Daimler’s 3Q Truck Profit Slips; Sales Rise
Daimler AG said Wednesday its truck unit’s third-quarter earnings slipped, but revenue rose on higher sales in North America and Asia.
Earnings before interest and taxes at its truck unit fell 9% to $657 million, while revenue improved 6% to $10.5 billion, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said.
The parent company of Freightliner Trucks sold 8% more trucks in the U.S. market from a year ago to almost 30,000 units and 7% more in North America to just over 35,000.
Despite a recent slowdown, the North American heavy- and medium-duty truck market “is likely to be the most important driver of demand” with an approximately 10% expansion, the company said.
But “due to the decreasing dynamism of orders received by industry in the year to date, the dampened economic outlook and a high comparative base, growth rates will continue to fall towards the end of the year and could be negative in some cases,” Daimler said of the North American region.
Daimler Trucks’ worldwide sales rose 3% to 119,100 units and the company projects higher 2012 sales led by both North America and Asia. But it added said that “China, the world’s biggest truck market, will probably post a significantly double-digit market decline.”
Third-quarter truck sales jumped 22% in Asia to almost 43,000 units, declined 11% in Western Europe to 14,200 and dropped 28% in Latin America to 12,500 units.
