TRATON Financial Services’ revenues increased in the first half of 2023 as unit sales picked up for trucks and buses.
TRATON Financial Services, the financing arm for TRATON, reported sales revenue for the first half of $815.2 million, up 21% year over year, according to the company’s earnings release Wednesday. Increased revenue was driven by portfolio growth and higher interest income, offset by higher cost of funds.
“TRATON Financial Services recorded a double-digit percentage growth on the back of an expansion of its portfolio and increased interest income,” Michael Jackstein, chief financial officer of TRATON, said during the company’s earnings call. “Higher funding costs and lower spreads had a counteracting effect on profitability.”
TRATON Financial Services is acquiring the future financial services activities for MAN and Volkswagen Truck and Bus that were previously provided by Volkswagen Financial Services. TRATON is a subsidiary of Volkswagen and will solely manage the financial services of MAN and Volkswagen Truck and Bus, as TRATON looks to establish its own global captive.
“With this, a number of employees today serving both MAN and Volkswagen Truck & Bus Financial Services will move over and join the TRATON Financial Services,” Jackstein said. “It will start with the 14 markets in Europe with a rollout that we expect to be fully completed in the second quarter of 2025.”
TRATON Financial Services is also relaunching Navistar Financial Services retail business in October, according to the company’s earnings presentation. As a result, TRATON raised its outlook for TRATON Financial Services revenue to a 10% to 20% increase in 2023 compared with 2022.
TRATON merged with Navistar in July 2021, according to the company.
Truck orders decline
TRATON North American truck sales totaled 40,321 units in the first half of 2023, up 29.3% YoY, according to the earnings release. Total TRATON truck sales tallied 139,843 for H1, up 21.4% YoY.
“As a result of strong unit sales and relatively low incoming orders, we were able to reduce the order book size,” Jackstein said. “However, the overall order book continues to be on a very high level with 2023 production fully covered and orders reached well into the year 2024.”
TRATON North American truck orders totaled 17,050 in H1, down 61.5% YoY, according to the earnings release. Total TRATON truck orders also decreased, down 27.5% YoY to 98,246 for H1.
“Global truck demand remains at a high level in our key markets, and we continue to be restricted in order intake,” TRATON’s Chief Executive, Christian Levin, said during the company’s earnings call. “The truck demand in both our most important markets for TRATON, which is Europe and North America, remains on a very high level, and our analysis comes to the conclusion that this mainly depends on the very high replacement need of old equipment with very high average age, especially in Europe.”
North American bus sales rise 23%
TRATON North American bus sales totaled 7,871 in H1, up 23.3% YoY, according to the earnings release. The company’s bus sales companywide numbered 14,848 for H1, up 15.2% YoY.
TRATON North American bus orders totaled 6,999 in H1, down 2.7% YoY, according to the earnings release. Total TRATON bus orders fell 11% YoY to 14,002 in H1, with the pandemic-induced market downturn still affecting bus operations.
“The bus and coach [industry] was heavily impacted by the pandemic, much more than the truck business,” Levin said. “Even if it is picking up, it is picking up rather slowly, and we do not expect it to come back to the levels that we had before the pandemic.”
