Daimler Truck Output Set to Climb 30% by 2030, Led by India and the US

Daimler Truck built 284,200 trucks in 2025, down 14%, and Automotive World forecasts output will grow roughly 30% by 2030 — driven not by Europe, but by India and the United States.

The near-term picture is a rebound first. Production should recover 13% to 321,600 units in 2026, then dip 4% in 2027. The reason: North American demand falls back after the EPA 2027 pre-buy (fleets pulling purchases forward before stricter US emissions rules take effect). Weak freight demand and US tariffs drove the 2025 decline, and the market is expected to stay volatile through the regulatory transition.

Where will the trucks actually be built?

Mexico remains Daimler Truck's largest source of output for now. That balance shifts once the company's new greenfield US plant — its largest in the country — starts production in late 2029. It's a confirmed construction program, but the timing of volume ramp is the announced intention to watch.

Europe follows a familiar emissions-cycle arc. Germany's output should lift to 72,500 trucks in 2028 on a pre-buy ahead of Euro 7 (the EU's tighter pollutant limits). Then volumes fall again by 2030, as the EU's CO₂ targets push up the BEV share of the mix and the new Cheb plant in the Czech Republic builds its first 5,000 trucks.

India is the standout story in relative terms.

The Oragadam plant, near Chennai, is expected to more than double output from 2025 levels to 51,000 trucks in 2030. That growth comes with a strategic role: Oragadam becomes the company's hub for Asia-Pacific. No other Daimler Truck site matches that growth rate through the forecast window.

What does this change for the supplier base?

A lot, depending on region. A US greenfield plant starting in late 2029 means new tooling, new logistics contracts and new tier-one localization around the site. A doubling Oragadam means capacity expansion in India's components corridor. Germany's post-2028 decline, plus rising BEV share, pressures incumbents tied to diesel powertrain volumes.

The forecast itself comes from Automotive World's latest OEM Outlook, which tracks production plans against demand — worth reading for the full volume tables.

What to watch next

• 2026: whether the forecast 321,600-unit recovery actually lands as US freight demand stabilizes.
• 2028: the Euro 7 pre-buy peak in Germany at 72,500 units — and how sharp the fall is after.
• Late 2029: start of production at the new US greenfield plant, Daimler Truck's largest in the country.
• 2030: Oragadam hitting 51,000 units and Cheb building its first 5,000 trucks.