Daimler Truck to shift production volume from Germany

The announcement was made at Daimler Truck’s Cleveland, North Carolina manufacturing facility

Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler Truck is to cut costs by relocating some of its vehicle production from Germany to an as-yet unnamed ‘best-cost’ country as part of plans to save €1 billion by 2030, while expanding its defence business.

Speaking at a company event at its North Carolina manufacturing facility, Eva Scherer, Daimler Truck’s chief financial officer, provided details of the truck maker’s ‘Cost Down Europe’ policy which she described as a “comprehensive and detailed restructuring plan”.

This includes “a shift of production volume” to a “best-cost country” and “further measures”, which are expected to lead to significant job cuts in Germany by 2030 – although the company said it would employ “natural attrition and expanded early retirement options” to pursue the reductions to the workforce in a socially responsible manner.

“By consistently executing our new strategic priorities, we will deliver a step-change in financial performance, driven by our comprehensive Cost Down Europe efficiency program,” said Ms Scherer.

“The combination of resilient growth, disciplined capital allocation, and improved profitability will significantly elevate our strong cash generation. We will continue to reward our shareholders by reaffirming our dividend policy of 40 to 60 per cent payout ratio, and by implementing our new share buyback program of up to two billion euros.”

While the identity of the ‘best-cost’ country to which production volume would shift from Germany was unclear from the announcement, Achim Puchert – the Daimler Truck management board member with responsibility for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Daimler’s Indian subsidiary BharatBenz – said: “We will fully leverage our new ‘One global team’ with India and China being part of Mercedes-Benz Trucks – this includes leveraging our global talent pool and best-cost countries, while also boosting our global scale. And we will grow in areas with major potential, such as zero-emission trucking in Europe.”

Daimler Truck said it aims to sell 25,000 zero-emissions trucks in Europe by 2030, as well as to double the size of its ‘high-margin’ defence business. It will also seek to boost profits from its service activities.

Andreas Gorbach, management board member responsible for truck technology, said: “Our flexible, modular technology strategy enables Daimler Truck to transform at the speed of right. Depending on the transformation speed in different markets, we deliver the right technologies at the right time, to make the business of our customers more successful and to create global scale for Daimler Truck. This accounts for both diesel and zero-emission propulsion systems as well as for software and electronics in the truck.”

Hydrogen powertrain development will be Europe-focused, and Daimler Truck suggested that series production of hydrogen fuel cell trucks will not now happen until the early 2030s, due to slow progress in the construction of hydrogen refuelling facilities.