Despite supply chain issues, the truck and bus maker has sold more and earned handsomely. Things are also looking good for this year: the order backlog is high.
The truck and bus manufacturer Daimler Truck grew strongly in 2022 thanks to price increases and increased sales and is optimistic about the current year. “It was a very difficult year with many unpleasant surprises, but we fought our way through and ended it very, very well,” said CEO Martin Daum. The bottom line was a profit of 2.76 billion euros, 14 percent more than in the previous year, as the Dax group announced.
Sales climbed 28 percent to 50.9 billion euros. The group could continue to grow strongly: the order backlog has been high for some time, and Daimler Truck can hardly keep up with production. CEO Martin Daum wants to increase sales to 55 to 57 billion euros with increasing sales in the important North American market and increasing business with financial services.
For 2023, however, Daimler Truck expects further uncertainties due to the war in Ukraine and inflation. “We assume further delivery bottlenecks, but do not expect any major production losses,” said CFO Jochen Goetz. The aim is also to further reduce fixed costs, according to Daum. Daimler Truck recently presented plans for relocations at the subsidiary Evobus to the Czech Republic.
Percentage of e-vehicles negligible
The group estimates sales for 2023 at 510,000 to 530,000 trucks and buses worldwide, last year they rose by 14 percent to around 520,000. The business with electric trucks and buses still accounts for a fraction here: only 914 zero-emission vehicles were sold last year, a good 200 more than in the previous year. The background is the price and the lack of infrastructure.
Daum expects sales to increase next year in North America, the Swabians’ most profitable market. In the Asian business, however, Daimler Truck is cautious. Recently, among other things, the weakening market in China had significantly depressed the profit of the Trucks Asia division, the sales increase of nine percent was the weakest of the segments. The bus division, which was recently in deficit, returned to somewhat calmer waters in 2022. This was mainly due to increasing sales in Latin America.
The number of employees worldwide increased by five percent year-on-year to around 104,700. Daimler Truck announced a profit-sharing scheme of EUR 7,300 for around 25,000 employees in Germany.
Source: Stern
