Daimler Trucks to cut 2,100 jobs in the U.S. and Germany

Daimler AG, the world’s largest truckmaker, plans to cut as many as 2,100 jobs at its commercial-vehicles unit in order to improve profitability.

Daimler is negotiating with the United Auto Workers union to cut as many as 1,300 factory jobs in North America, Daimler spokesman Bernd Weber told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The truck manufacturer will also eliminate 800 non-production positions in Germany, Weber added, confirming comments made by Daimler Trucks boss Andreas Renschler in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper. Weber said the German job cuts will be made through voluntary departures. Daimler said it was notifying its U.S. production workers about possible layoffs two months in advance, in accordance with federal law.

Daimler is the world’s largest producer of commercial vehicles by revenue, but is behind Volvo AB and VW’s Scania AB in profitability. Renschler pledged in 2012 to reduce the margin gap to Daimler’s competitors after Daimler investors questioned the logic behind reuniting trucks and Mercedes-Benz luxury cars in the same company.

Daimler produces commercial vehicles ranging from the Citan delivery van to city buses to the long-haul Actros truck. In 2011, the truck division accounted for about 25 percent of Daimler’s 107 billion euros in revenue.