Daimler Truck Defence: Defence business expected to grow by 2028

Decided with consistency Daimler Truck Aims to Expand Globally Through Defence Contracts

2026-06-17 Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

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Commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck is expanding its activities in the defence sector to secure its future.

With these military trucks, for example, the newly founded company Daimler Truck Defence aims to use increased sales in the defence sector over the next few years to at least partially offset certain shortfalls that have arisen in Daimler Truck’s standard truck business.(Source: Daimler Truck) — With these military trucks, for example, the newly founded company Daimler Truck Defence aims to use increased sales in the defence sector over the next few years to at least partially offset certain shortfalls that have arisen in Daimler Truck’s standard truck business.
(Source: Daimler Truck)

The Daimler Group is consolidating its global operations under the new umbrella brand Daimler Truck Defence, which will be headed by Dennis Kinzelmann, and is systematically positioning its business for global growth, according to an announcement by the company based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart. For Daimler Truck, the defence business is now a clear growth driver for the coming years. The goal is to achieve revenue of around one billion euros in this sector by 2028. (Last year, the group’s total revenue was 49.5 billion euros). And in 2025, revenue in the defence sector reached a mid-three-digit million figure, as the group notes. In terms of sales volume, military vehicles currently account for a low single-digit percentage. As one can infer, the lion’s share still belongs to traditional trucks and buses. Technically speaking, Daimler Truck Defence draws from the group’s civilian model range, such as the Unimog or Arcos, but also intends to collaborate with partner companies.

Wörth am Rhein will serve as the command center for the new strategy

As part of its strategic expansion of the defence business, Daimler Truck says it will also be expanding its development, production, sales, and service capacities over the next few years. A total of around 1,000 people are currently employed in this sector. The growth strategy will primarily be implemented at the Wörth am Rhein site in Rhineland-Palatinate, not far from Karlsruhe, which will also lead to a corresponding need for qualified specialists. The team in Wörth is expected to be expanded by over 100 new specialists. In the future, however, the portfolio will not be limited to Mercedes-Benz Truck vehicles. In addition to Mercedes-Benz models, the group also offers Western Star in North America and Bharatbenz from India, as we have learned. The decision to expand into the defence sector is also driven by the fact that profits in the commercial vehicle division plummeted by 34 percent last year (to two billion euros), partly due to U.S. tariffs and weak demand in the United States.

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