VTNA, Mack Q1 Sales Fall on 25%-30% Plant Output Cutbacks

Mack Trucks debuted the Keystone tractor at the ConExpo exhibition in Las Vegas in March. (Mack Trucks)

Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks sales in the first quarter of 2026 fell a combined 34% to 9,486 trucks from 14,315 trucks in the year-ago period due to planned weeklong production stoppages, parent company Volvo Group said April 24.

“U.S. truck manufacturing operations … were standing still approximately 25%-30% of the available time in the quarter,” CEO Martin Lundstedt told analysts during the parent company’s Q1 earnings call. “That was a conscious, tough, but correct decision.”

VTNA and Mack halted production lines for individual days in the fourth quarter of 2025 and did so again in April, said the parent company, which expects facilities to be running normally again in May. The company cut output on the back of weak order levels in the second half of 2025.

Sales typically lag orders by around six months. VTNA sales in the most recent quarter fell 39% in Q1 to 3,968 trucks from 6,510 trucks in the year-ago period. Mack’s North American sales fell 29% year over year to 5,494 trucks from 7,684.

Orders across all of North America’s Class 8 truck makers far surpassed expectations in the first three months of 2026, with March orders jumping more than 100% year over year for a second consecutive month.

Volvo Group’s combined order intake in North America soared 78% to 18,221 trucks from 10,217. VTNA orders jumped 63% in Q1 to 7,540 trucks from 4,621 in the year-ago period. Mack’s North American orders rocketed 91% higher to 10,649 trucks in the most recent quarter from 5,581 in Q1 2025.

Through March, the Volvo brand’s heavy-duty truck market share grew to 8.5% from 7.2% in the year-ago period, and Mack’s slice of the pie rose to 8.7% from 6.9% on the back of an improved supply chain and relatively good demand in the vocational segments, the parent company said.

“We are now at 8.7% [for Mack], and we see a good momentum here [now] that we are not hampered by our own industrial system and other deficits,” said Lundstedt.

“One example is the [cabover] waste collection units where Mack has always had a leading position. When we had the problems here, 1.5 years ago, we were down to 30% market share in that specific segment. Now we are back to 50%,” he said.

However, Volvo kept its full-year 2026 North American Class 8 retail sales forecast unchanged at 265,000 trucks after raising the prognostication in January when releasing full-year 2025 earnings.

Lundstedt said the North American deliveries estimate remained unchanged because of the weakness in third- and fourth-quarter orders.

He said sales momentum is expected to return in the second half of 2026, but the company did not expect a “material pre-buy.”

VTNA President Peter Voorhoeve warned recently that North American Class 8 truck purchases in 2026 and 2027 will increase compared with 2025 but are unlikely to live up to the promise of record February orders.

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Volvo Trucks North America President Peter Voorhoeve, shown at MCE 2025. In February, VTNA started production of its revamped regional-haul tractor, the VNR, at its Dublin, Va., plant. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)

Class 8 tractors and trucks are set to become more expensive, whether that is because of tariffs or changes to regulations, leading to a pre-buy — a colloquialism for fleets purchasing trucks before stiffer Environmental Protection Agency tailpipe emissions become effective.

The U.S. freight environment remained weak, said Volvo Group, noting that recent spot freight rate increases were driven by capacity normalization rather than freight demand.

Overhauled On-Highway Portfolios

But VTNA and Mack have both overhauled their on-highway portfolios in recent quarters ahead of the expected rebound in the over-the-road segment of the North American freight market.

In February, VTNA started production of its revamped regional-haul tractor, the VNR, at its Dublin, Va., plant. In January, Mack began production of the revamped Anthem in Macungie, Pa.

“We are more and more now completing the rollout and are getting ready for having a well-greased system in North America, and up to a level that we have seen in Europe before,” the group’s top executive said.

Construction spending is little changed from 2025, which Volvo said brought some stability to the demand for vocational trucks.

In March, Mack Trucks launched a revamp of the Granite truck and debuted the Keystone tractor at the ConExpo exhibition in Las Vegas.

After increasing its sales demand forecast for North America earlier in the year, Volvo Group did the same for Europe in the most recent results.

Gradual Growth in Europe

Volvo currently sees Europe’s heavy-duty market demand totaling 310,000 trucks in 2026, compared with 305,000 previously. The company said demand in Europe was continuing to grow gradually.

Globally, the company’s orders in Q1 rose 14% to 62,755 trucks from 55,227.

Volvo Group sold 47,504 trucks in the most recent quarter, a decrease of 2.7% from 48,833 trucks in the year-ago period.

The delivery pace in Europe was offset by the North American production halts as well as lower sales in South America and Asia, the company said. However, with the increase in orders in North America, production from VTNA and Mack facilities will be in better balance from May, it added.

Profit at Volvo Group — which includes the construction equipment, boat and power generation divisions — declined 16.7% year over year to $900.9 million in Q1 from $1.081 billion. The company’s sales revenue decreased 9% to $120 million from $131.9 million in 2025. Volvo reports earnings in Swedish krona and currency conversions were correct as of April 24.