Over the next five years, Daimler Truck will undertake a major restructuring process, resulting in the elimination of 5,000 positions in Germany by 2030. The announcement came during the Capital Markets Day held on 8 July 2025 in Charlotte, United States. The job cuts form part of a broader programme aimed at boosting the Group’s efficiency, titled Cost Down Europe, which seeks to reduce costs by one billion euros over five years.
This plan stems from declining sales across the Group, particularly for the Mercedes-Benz Trucks brand. Global sales in 2024 dropped by 12 percent compared to the previous year, and the first quarter of 2025 saw a further decline of 8 percent—rising to 18 percent when looking solely at Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
The job reductions will affect five production sites, including the Wörth am Rhein plant, the Group’s largest and one of the biggest worldwide, employing 10,000 workers who assemble commercial vehicles. The other sites involved are Gaggenau, which specialises in transmissions; Kassel, which produces axles; Mannheim, which manufactures engines and axles; and Stuttgart, home to the Group’s headquarters.
The Cost Down Europe programme will target multiple areas. In terms of personnel, job cuts will affect not only production staff—with some operations relocated to lower-cost countries—but also administrative and research and development departments. The Group also plans to reduce expenditure in procurement, infrastructure, information technology and administration.
In 2024, Daimler Truck signed a union agreement covering workforce reductions, which rules out collective redundancies until the end of 2034. Most job losses will be managed through normal turnover and early retirements. Additionally, targeted voluntary redundancy schemes and severance packages will be offered to administrative staff. Despite this, Michael Brecht, chairman of Daimler Truck’s general works council, said, “the announcement of 5,000 job cuts took us by surprise,” stressing that no specific figure had previously been agreed upon.
During the 2025 Capital Market Day, chairwoman and CEO Karin Rådström also outlined a future strategy built on five key pillars and a renewed ambition for profitability, stating that “we are aiming for a return on sales above 12 percent by 2030.” The first pillar is about unlocking the Group’s full potential through scale, efficiency and targeted growth. A symbolic move in this direction is the merger of Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino, which boosts critical mass in Asia.
The second pillar focuses on an increasingly customer-centric approach: in 2024 alone, service-related activities generated over eight billion euros in industrial revenue, with further investment planned in the sales and after-sales network. The third pillar concerns technology, with investment in both conventional powertrains and zero-emission solutions, using a modular approach and strategic partnerships such as the Coretura joint venture with Volvo Group, centred on software-defined vehicle platforms.
The fourth pillar involves a cultural transformation within the company, guided by the principles “Simplify. Accelerate. Empower.” The aim is to create leaner structures, faster decision-making, distributed responsibility, and a performance-based incentive system. The final pillar is the Cost Down Europe plan. Alongside this overarching programme, Daimler Truck has also launched a dedicated plan for Mercedes-Benz Trucks, known as Mbt One, designed to streamline the product portfolio, reduce complexity and leverage global scale.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks' growth initiatives are focused on four areas: doubling its highly profitable Defence business, achieving 25,000 zero-emission vehicle sales in Europe by 2030, expanding operations in India, and strengthening its parts and services activities. As stated by Achim Puchert, member of the Board of Management and head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the Indian brand BharatBenz, “we are ready to grow where there is potential, relying on efficiency, global talent and high-margin markets.”
