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DTNA Q2 sales climb 8% in first year-on-year rise since Q3 '24
Truck and bus maker’s sales soar 41.6% compared with Q1
Key Takeaways:
- Daimler Truck North America posted its first year-over-year quarterly sales gain in six quarters, with Q2 2026 sales rising 8% to 41,687 vehicles.
- The rebound reflects improving freight demand and order momentum despite earlier weakness tied to tariffs, with Q1 sales down 24.5% and first-half totals still 8% lower.
- Stronger industry orders, including a June surge exceeding 100% year over year, signal potential further gains in Q3.
Daimler Truck North America’s sales of trucks and buses rose 8% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, the first quarterly sales increase compared with a year-ago period in six quarters.
The parent company of Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses sold 41,687 vehicles in Q2, compared with 38,580 trucks and school buses in the year-ago period, in the first quarterly year-on-year rise since the third quarter of 2024.
Portland, Ore.-based DTNA’s sales also jumped 41.6% compared with the first three months of 2026 as carrier confidence in the ongoing freight market rebound ratchets up.
DTNA sales fell 8% year over year in the first half of 2026 to 71,119 trucks and buses from 77,572 vehicles in the year-ago period, parent company Daimler Truck said July 8.
The division’s Q1 sales totaled 29,432 trucks and buses, a 24.5% decrease compared with 38,992 in the year-ago period. Those results were the lowest Q1 total seen since 2010, Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer told analysts and investors during Daimler Truck’s May 6 quarterly earnings call.
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Scherer
Daimler Truck said the Q1 sales weakness was largely due to soft 2025 order intake as a result of the Trump administration’s introduction of tariffs and related market uncertainties.
Sales and orders were so weak last year that DTNA laid off 2,000 employees at five North American production sites in July 2025: Mount Holly and Gastonia, N.C.; Detroit; Portland, Ore.; and Saltillo, Mexico.
However, with a freight market turnaround underway, sales and orders are forging ahead as 2026 progresses.
Omdia Automotive data shows industrywide sales climbing as Q2 proceeded, with Class 8 sales in the U.S. rising 8.4% to 17,280 trucks in May from 15,941 in April.
Class 8 sales in the U.S. fell 8% year over year in May from 18,778 trucks in May 2025. Sales through the first five months of 2026 totaled 73,419 Class 8 trucks, a 16% decrease compared with 87,447 sales in the same period 12 months earlier. May’s sales total was the 11th consecutive year-over-year decline, Omdia data shows.
Improved results are expected for the third quarter of 2026, with ACT Research data released July 3 showing June orders rose by more than 100% year over year for the fifth consecutive month. North American Class 8 orders totaled 31,400 trucks in June, a 231% jump compared with the year-ago period, preliminary ACT data shows. Orders rose year over year in June for a seventh straight month.
DTNA is the first major North American truck manufacturer to report Q2 sales.
Globally, Daimler Truck sold 86,707 vehicles in the most recent quarter, an 8% increase compared with 80,607 trucks and buses in Q2 2025. Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ sales rose 10% year over year to 38,970 vehicles in Q2 from 35,299 trucks in the year-ago period.
Daimler Truck is scheduled to report full earnings for Q2 on Aug. 7.
