Daimler Posts Profit; N. American Truck Sales Drop

Daimler AG said Thursday it posted a fourth-quarter profit of $2.5 billion compared with a loss of about $17.5 million a year ago.

Revenue fell 1.9% to $37 billion, the company said. Germany-based Daimler reports its earnings in euros.

For the full year, Daimler earned $5.8 billion, up from $5.5 billion the previous year. Revenue rose slightly to about $145 billion.

Daimler Trucks sold 467,700 vehicles last year, down 9% from the previous year, the company said in a statement. The decline was largely due to significantly lower market volumes in some of the division’s key sales markets, including the United States, Canada and Japan.

The North American unit sold 119,000 vehicles last year, which was “a significant decrease compared to the prior year,” in which is sold 187,400 trucks, Daimler said.

Last August, Daimler sold Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, dropping the U.S. automaker from its corporate name.

Daimler renamed Freightliner LLC, its U.S. truck-building subsidiary, Daimler Trucks North America LLC. That unit makes Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star brand trucks in the United States.