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DTNA Q4 Truck, Bus Sales Decline 27.5% Year Over Year
'Difficult Market Conditions' See DTNA 2025 Sales Fall 25.7%
Key Takeaways:
- Daimler Truck North America sold 34,017 trucks and buses in the fourth quarter of 2025, down 27.5% year over year.
- DTNA sales fell 25.7% in 2025, but industry data showed momentum building late in the year
- Globally, Daimler Truck’s Q4 sales slipped 5.2%, while Mercedes-Benz Trucks rose 11.5%.
Daimler Truck North America sold 34,017 trucks and buses in the fourth quarter of 2025, down 27.5% from 46,906 vehicles in the same period a year earlier, parent company Daimler Truck said Jan. 16, as demand continued to be hampered by the ongoing freight rate recession.
DTNA — parent company of truck brands Freightliner and Western Star — sold 141,814 trucks and buses in the 12 months that ended Dec. 31, down 25.7% compared with 190,727 vehicles in 2024.
Daimler Truck said DTNA sales “continued to be impacted by difficult market conditions in the U.S.” in Q4. However, the year-on-year comparisons improved as 2025 progressed.
DTNA sold 30,225 trucks and buses in the third quarter of 2025, a 39% slump compared with 49,346 vehicles in the same period a year earlier. Sales in the second quarter of 2025 tumbled 53% year over year.
Industrywide December order numbers also promised an improvement in original equipment manufacturers’ fortunes.
ACT Research said preliminary Class 8 truck orders jumped 118% in December to 42,700 units from 19,547 in November and 16% year over year from 36,500 trucks.
FTR Transportation Intelligence — which calculated a 42,200 order total — noted that the 10-year average for the month is 29,351 units and that orders were the highest on a monthly basis since October 2022.
Greater clarity over the Trump administration’s position on a Biden-era requirement that will cut nitrogen-oxide emissions for 2027 model-year heavy-duty trucks helped fleets’ confidence to commit to orders, analysts say. The requirement will drop to 35 milligrams per horsepower-hour from 200 mg/hp-hr. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to publish an updated rule in March or April.
Still, confidence about an upturn in freight activity and rates is opaque as the trucking industry enters a fourth calendar year of a historically lengthy downturn. The number of carriers seeking bankruptcy protection continues to rise, and while rates may climb, cost increases are likely to match if not outpace any upside relief, analysts say.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks Fortifies Global Performance
Globally, Daimler Truck sales slid 5.2% to 117,974 trucks and buses from 124,386 vehicles in Q4 2024, as Mercedes-Benz Trucks shipments rebounded. Sales at Mercedes-Benz Trucks in the most recent quarter totaled 48,841 vehicles, an increase of 11.5% from 43,806 in the year-ago period.
Overall in 2025, Daimler Truck sold 422,510 trucks and buses, a decrease of 8.2% compared with 460,409 in 2024. Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ 2025 sales totaled 159,871 vehicles, inching higher from 159,540 sales in 2024.
Daimler Truck did not provide details on whether the integration of its Chinese and Indian businesses into Mercedes-Benz Trucks provided the impetus for the Q4 jump or if the division’s legacy European operations were behind the increase.
Further details will be provided when Daimler Truck releases its full Q4 and annual results March 12.
