Karin Rådström is trying to reshape Daimler Truck from the inside while the outside world gets harder to manage. Since she became CEO in 2024, the company’s share price has increased almost 40%, from €33.15 to €46.24, and zero-emissions vehicle sales rose 67% in 2025.
The gain has come alongside a more aggressive push to strip out layers of decision-making. Rådström has called for a 'simpler, faster, and stronger' culture, and Klas Bergelind, managing director and industrial tech and mobility analyst at Citi, said she has created a more decentralized organization and encouraged staff to shed more bureaucratic practices.
Even so, the financial picture remains mixed. Daimler Truck reported a 5% uplift in revenue in its Q2 financial results, but net profits dropped 48% compared with the same period last year. The company said profitability was primarily hit by tariffs, while earlier-announced price increases and a more favorable tariff arrangement with the U.S. are expected to boost earnings for the rest of the year.
Rådström has also had to deal with a long list of headwinds, including supply-chain challenges, semiconductor shortages, the war in Ukraine, geopolitical issues and tariffs in the U.S. She said the company needs to move faster because 'you never have 100% of the information you’d like,' and waiting can mean missing big opportunities.
The biggest structural threat may be China. The broader European automotive market is being buffeted by Chinese competition, and Chinese electric cars accounted for 14.2% of purchases in the Western European market in the first five months of 2026, up from 3% in 2024, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. Meanwhile, the share of China’s car market occupied by foreign brands is in steep decline.
Howard Yu, a professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School and codirector of the Future Readiness program, said many Chinese-made cars are technologically superior to much of the competition. In Southeast Asia, he said, that is making European vehicles look outdated.
For investors, the lesson is plain: capital rewards clear rules, speed and accountability, not layers of bureaucracy. Rådström’s overhaul may be improving Daimler Truck’s internal discipline, but tariffs and Chinese competition still show how quickly margins can come under pressure when policy and industrial execution move in opposite directions.
