By Amir Orusov and Andrey Sychev
(Reuters) -Daimler Truck, one of the world’s largest truckmakers, launched a billion-dollar cost-cutting programme in Europe on Friday after a poor performance in the region weighed on earnings.
The efficiency programme aims to cut costs in Europe by one billion euros ($1.08 billion) by 2030 at the latest, the company said.
Its stock was up 3.4% at 1110 GMT; analysts at J.P. Morgan pointed out a solid outlook for 2025.
Group earnings are expected to grow by 5%-15% in 2025 after they fell 15% to 4.7 billion euros in 2024, the company said.
The truckmaker declined to provide details on the cost cuts but said there would be staff reductions, mainly in Germany.
Daimler Truck’s works council said their positions were “far apart” after talks with the board and negotiations will continue.
When it comes to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the company which also has plants in the U.S. and ships parts from Mexico, said it will pass costs on to customers, but the impact was as yet hard to calculate.
The uncertainty around tariffs has already weighed on the first quarter order intake, it added, without providing further details.
Daimler Truck’s shares fell on Thursday after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would reverse vehicle emissions rules, leaving investors worried that fleet firms would stop pre-ordering electric trucks.
The firm’s guidance for North America is not dependent on the pre-buy effect of future EPA27 regulations, Daimler, one of the leading battery electric truck (BEV) producers, said on a post-earnings call.
The owner of U.S. truck brand Freightliner, meanwhile, guided on Friday for its North American unit sales to be roughly flat this year.
European truckmakers faced challenges last year as sales declined following a record-breaking performance in 2023, fuelled by pent-up demand from the pandemic.
Shares in European truckmakers have been volatile so far this year, rallying on hopes of higher orders ahead of U.S. tariffs and production shifts to the United States, but then hit by the cautious outlook for European sales and U.S. efforts to reverse electric vehicle related rules.
($1 = 0.9219 euros)
(Reporting by Amir Orusov, Andrey Sychev, and Ilona Wissenbach, additional reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Rashmi Aich and Elaine Hardcastle)
