Daimler Truck Q1 2026 earnings hurt by U.S. tariffs

Daimler Truck reported a steep first-quarter net decline, with sluggish North American volumes and import tariffs weighing connected the conception that generates the bulk of the group's profits.

On an adjusted basis, radical EBIT came successful astatine €498 million, astir fractional the €1.08 cardinal the institution posted successful the archetypal 4th of 2025. Adjusted instrumentality connected income for the concern concern dropped to 5.0% from 9.6%, the institution said. Earnings per stock came successful astatine €0.18, down from €0.94.

The harm was concentrated astatine Trucks North America, wherever portion income fell 25% to 29,432 arsenic the part absorbed the effects of debased bid intake successful the anterior year. Revenue astatine the conception dropped to €3.84 cardinal from €5.41 billion, and adjusted instrumentality connected income collapsed to 5.4% from 14.4%. Taken together, those pressures — weaker volume, currency headwinds, and the tariff load — represented a €624 cardinal deed to the North American part successful the period.

CFO Eva Scherer told analysts the tariffs that person weighed connected Trucks North America were felt successful afloat for the archetypal clip during Q1, with that outgo coming to a minimum of €100 million, Reuters reported.

Even so, Daimler Truck's enactment sounded cautiously optimistic astir what lies ahead. Group incoming orders roseate 50% successful the 4th to 114,043 units, led by an 86% surge successful North American bid intake. For Q2, Scherer projected that motortruck deliveries crossed North America would scope astir one-and-a-half times the measurement shipped successful Q1, Reuters reported.

CEO Karin Rådström said successful a statement: "We are good positioned for continued betterment implicit the people of the year, adjacent against the backdrop of a challenging archetypal quarter."

Free currency travel for the concern concern swung to a nonaccomplishment of €445 cardinal from a summation of €33 cardinal a twelvemonth earlier, driven by little EBIT and further inventory buildup tied to the higher bid intake.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks accrued gross by 4% to €4.6 billion, with portion income up 13%. However, adjusted instrumentality connected income slipped to 5.1% from 5.4%. Daimler Buses kept an adjusted instrumentality connected income of 8.6%, down from 9.4%, arsenic volumes dropped 20% owed to anemic markets successful Latin America and Mexico.

The institution stood down its full-year targets, which telephone for adjusted radical EBIT determination successful the €3.2 cardinal to €3.7 cardinal scope and an industrial-business instrumentality connected income of 6% to 8%. The institution said its outlook assumes the existent USMCA model remains successful spot and remains taxable to the effects of U.S. commercialized policy.