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VTNA, Mack to Pause Production for a Week at Points in Q1
Yet the Truck Maker Is Lifting Its Full-Year Sales Expectations by 15,000 Trucks or 6%
Key Takeaways:
- VTNA and Mack assembly plants will pause at some time in Q1.
- Optimism grows, with full-year sales expectations increased by 15,000 trucks or 6%.
- Volvo Group revenue in Q4 decreased by 11% to $13.95 billion from $15.6 billion.
Production at Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks assembly plants is set to pause for an unspecified number of isolated weeks in the first quarter of 2026 due to weak demand in the U.S. and Canada, parent company Volvo Group’s top executive said Jan. 28.
However, the truck manufacturer is increasingly optimistic about the prospects for North American demand growth as 2026 progresses, lifting its full-year industrywide sales expectations by 15,000 trucks or 6%, CEO Martin Lundstedt said during Volvo Group’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call.
VTNA and Mack halted production plants on individual days in the final quarter of 2025, but demand from carriers remains so subdued that facilities will stop assembly lines for a week at a time at various points in Q1, Lundstedt told analysts, avoiding the need for any downsizing.
“On the back of the weak U.S. demand during the fall, we will … have some stop weeks for Volvo and Mack in the U.S. in the first quarter. And we [will] take stop weeks, as I said, in quarter one, rather than to structurally adjust further downwards,” said Lundstedt.
VTNA’s primary assembly plant is in Dublin, Va., while all Mack Class 8 trucks — including the flagship longhaul Pioneer model launched in 2025 — are assembled in Macungie, Pa., at the Lehigh Valley Operations plant.
Both truck makers downsized their production plant head counts in 2025 due to ongoing market weakness.
“And the reason is that we anticipate — supported by recent order activity — a gradual recovery during the course of the year,” he said, noting that Volvo Group’s full-year industrywide North American Class 8 guidance was being raised to 265,000 trucks.
Preliminary Class 8 orders soared 118% in December to 42,700 units from 19,547 in November and rose 16% year over year, according to ACT Research data.
“What we can say is that the later part of quarter four and also in the beginning of this year, we are starting to see somewhat better activity level. If that is a sign that will prevail, maybe [it is] too early to say, but of course, there are a number of parameters supporting that,” said Lundstedt.
“If we can continue to see that what has been put on the table now in terms of tariffs from different regions, flows, etc., and on top of that, the EPA ’27 clarification and uncertainty, I think that is very, very important for our customers.
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Mack's flagship longhaul Pioneer model was launched in 2025. (Michael Freeze/Transport Topics)
“The cautious stance among customers has rightly so been what will happen, how does it look like, etc. And we see that also a little bit in the volatility in the order intake because, of course, some of the bigger fleets, depending on where they are sourcing, said: ‘OK, we place orders, but we will also have a discussion later on.’ ”
That optimism comes after a brutal final quarter for sales at VTNA and Mack as a result of the ongoing freight recession that carrier executives have characterized as the longest in the past half century.
VTNA sold 5,378 trucks in the most recent quarter, a decrease of 17% from 6,448 vehicles in the year-ago period.
North American truck sales at Mack in the three months that ended Dec. 31 totaled 6,087 vehicles, a 14% year-on-year decline from 7,104 trucks a year earlier.
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Lundstedt
VTNA won orders for 5,472 trucks in Q4, a 39% dive compared with 8,960 trucks in the year-ago period. Mack orders in North America totaled 5,615 trucks in the most recent quarter, a 30% slump year over year from 7,969 trucks.
Overall in 2025, VTNA sold 21,281 trucks, a decline of 29% from 29,852 vehicles in 2024. North American sales by Mack in 2025 totaled 26,930 trucks, virtually unchanged from 26,993 vehicles in 2024, Volvo Group data shows.
Mack’s North American orders in 2025 fell 8% to 20,516 trucks from 22,407 a year earlier. Orders at VTNA in 2025 totaled 18,400 trucks, an 18% year-over-year decrease from 22,467 trucks.
The North American truck market weakness saw Volvo Group post net income of $1.08 billion in Q4, down 10.7% compared with $1.21 billion a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter decreased by 11% to $13.95 billion from $15.6 billion in Q4 2024. Volvo Group earnings are reported in Swedish kronor, and conversions were correct as of Jan. 28.
Volvo Group’s worldwide truck sales in the most recent quarter totaled 56,683 vehicles, down 3.4% from 58,706 in the year-ago period. Truck orders totaled 53,688 vehicles in Q4, down 12.3% from 61,200 in the year-ago period.
Global sales performed better than North American levels in large part due to a recovery in European demand, particularly from larger fleets, Volvo Group said.
For the full year, Volvo Group net income totaled $3.9 billion, down 31.5% compared with $5.69 billion a year earlier. Revenue totaled $54 billion, a decrease of 8.9% from $59.3 billion in 2024.
The company’s worldwide truck sales totaled 202,911 in 2025, down 7.5% from 219,377 in 2024. Truck orders totaled 193,810, down 3.5% from 200,895 in 2024.
In 2025, VTNA North American heavy-duty truck market share was 8.4%, down from 9% a in 2024, the parent company said, while Mack’s share rose 8% from 6% on the back of an improved supply chain and relatively good demand in the vocational segments.
