Radstrom says Daimler Truck gained agility after going public

Karin Radstrom will mark two years as Daimler Truck's chief executive on Oct. 1. (Keiron Greenhalgh/Transport Topics)

HANNOVER, Germany — Daimler Truck became nimbler over the past nearly five years in an ever-changing world, according to CEO Karin Radstrom, as was intended when the world’s largest truck maker went public Dec. 10, 2021.

“We were part of — and maybe you don’t notice this as much in North America as in Mercedes-Benz Trucks — this big Daimler without anyone really intending it to be kind of slow and bureaucratic because it was just such a big company with so many different businesses,” Radstrom said in a sit-down with North American reporters at the IAA Transportation conference.

Radstrom will mark two years as Daimler Truck’s top executive Oct. 1.

Daimler Truck is the ultimate parent company of Freightliner and Western Star. The brands are part of Daimler Truck North America, which has been helmed throughout the nearly five years since the spinoff by John O’Leary.

The truck and bus maker’s ambitions upon being spun out of Daimler AG were to more thoroughly embrace battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell and autonomous vehicles as well as building out Daimler Truck Financial Services and its aftermarket operations, the company said.

Agility accomplished

“Today, we’re much more nimble, faster. Still, we can be even more fast, and we work on that. We talk a lot about simpler, faster, stronger, which I think is like the cultural mindset we need to have. I would say we got faster and a little bit less complicated,” Radstrom told reporters in response to a question posed by Transport Topics.

“I think most importantly, everyone has this truck and bus focus. Because trucks and buses … [are] really different from working with cars, especially luxury cars,” she said. “I think that’s something you feel throughout. It’s like, how do we do this for these customers?”

Radstrom’s background is focused on customers. She joined Daimler Truck in February 2021 as head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks after previously overseeing sales and marketing at Swedish truck manufacturer Scania, which is owned by Traton Group.

Bolstering Merecedes-Benz

Upon ascending to the role of Daimler Truck CEO, Radstrom was credited with reshaping Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ bottom line and advancing sustainability initiatives. Radstrom’s predecessor, Martin Daum, had steered Daimler Truck since 2017, moving into the post after running DTNA.

Daimler Truck’s flexibility has been invaluable over the past five years because it has been a bumpy ride around the globe, particularly over the past two years.

The company in July 2024 said it would take a $130.8 million write-down on the value of its Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Chinese joint venture due to a persistently weak market in Asia’s largest economy, subsequently lowering its profit guidance. The company’s Indian operations were later folded into Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

At home in Germany, Daimler Truck revealed plans to ax around 5,000 jobs in July 2025. The company said it was looking to expand in high-margin product areas such as defense while carrying out cost cutting elsewhere.

Diesel powertrains

The “Stronger 2030” strategic overhaul included refocusing on diesel powertrains and rowing back battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell ambitions prioritized when Daimler Truck went public.

Radstrom told the company’s 2025 Capital Market Day at DTNA’s largest truck manufacturing site, the Cleveland Truck Plant: “We are the heavy-duty diesel champ!”

Shortly afterward, DTNA laid off 2,000 production plant staff as the longest North American freight market recession in industry memory worsened. At the time, DTNA had about 28,000 employees across North America.

But the North American on-highway market in particular is looking up as the freight market rebounds.

Radstrom said in Hannover that orders and sales in North America continue to trend higher as 2026’s recovery has yet to start flagging. She also is positive about the prospects for orders from larger fleets, with many deals likely to be closed during American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in October. “I would say I’m fairly optimistic that ’27 could be a good year,” she said.

U.S. Manufacturing

Looking further out, Daimler Truck in early August unveiled plans for what would be its largest manufacturing plant in the United States, promising an expedited timeline to begin construction by the end of 2026 due to an expected increase in truck demand in the United States and Canada.

The company has narrowed the hunt for the greenfield site to a couple of locations, Radstrom said during the sit-down with reporters. A decision on the location is approaching rapidly, she added.

Daimler Truck has high hopes for its vocational operations in North America too.

DTNA is looking to increase its heavy-duty vocational truck sales by 60% by 2030, led by Western Star’s 47X and 49X models.

Western Star launched the X Series in the early 2020s: the 47X, 49X and 57X. The last of the three to launch, the on-highway 57X model, which debuted in August 2022, was phased out in the first quarter of 2026 as the portfolio was re-evaluated. However, DTNA executives say the 47X and 49X continue to outperform expectations.