Daimler Truck unit sales and group revenue are down

German commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck today reported lower year-over-year unit sales and group revenue in the second quarter. 

The fall came from increased risk, Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer said on today’s earnings call. 

“The driver for this decline is cost of risk, which increased substantially … due to the risk of higher credit losses in America, especially due to the U.S. trade recession and the default of one big customer,” she said. 

Scherer did not identify the defaulting customer. 

Demand shifting to vocational and medium-duty segment trucks is partially responsible for the change, according to a Daimler Truck presentation. 

BY THE NUMBERS: 

While units and orders declined, other metrics increased in Q2. 

• Revenue fell 4% to 13.3 billion euros ($14 billion); 

• Financial services revenue rose 31% YoY to $894.6 million;  

• Contract volume rose 7% YoY to $32.8 billion; 

• North American truck units sold fell 5% YoY to 47,900 and incoming orders dropped 10.8% YoY; and 

• Daimler’s zero emission vehicles performed better than in 2023, with a 77.1% increase in orders YoY in the first half of 2024, and a 118% increase YoY in unit sales in the first half of 2024. 

“In North America, [we’re] on track to match our records here, and this time the busses are on the way to exceed our previous expectations,” Chairman and Chief Executive Martin Daum said on the earnings call. 

Daimler expects an overall decrease in North America’s heavy-duty market and Europe’s heavy truck market compared to last year, Scherer said in the earnings call.  

Editor’s note: Figures have been converted from euros to USD. 

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