March 12 (Reuters) - Daimler Truck on Thursday guided for a broadly stable 2026 profit margin in its industrial business and said it expected the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half.
The company, one of the world's biggest truckmakers, expects its adjusted return on sales in the industrial business to be between 6% and 8%, compared with 7.9% in 2025.
Daimler Truck anticipates 2026 unit sales of between 330,000 and 360,000 vehicles, up from 315,000 units from continuing operations
in 2025, it said.
The outlook is subject to macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, particularly U.S. tariffs, and excludes potential impacts from supply chain disruptions or the Middle East conflict, the company said.
"For 2026, we are positioned for operational improvement on higher volumes and efficiency gains compensating materially higher tariff effects," CFO Eva Scherer said in a statement.
European truckmakers, including Traton and Volvo, had been hit by softer North America demand as weaker freight activity and tariff‑related volatility weighed on orders.
Daimler Truck also said it achieved net savings of over 100 million euros ($115.49 million) in 2025 from its cost-cutting programme in Europe and aims to generate at least an additional recurring 250 million euros in net savings in 2026.
($1 = 0.8659 euros)
(Reporting by Amir Orusov; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
