A countermotion at the truck manufacturers annual general meeting on May 6th by the Association of Ethical Shareholders raised concerns that the company’s lobbying against climate regulations “jeopardizes progress in Daimler’s most important market and threatens global electrification efforts and the competitiveness of the enterprise”. 

The investor pressure comes as the company’s 2025 financial results reveal a significant downturn, with profit plummeting 34% and sales in North America, its most critical market, down 26%.

The countermotion cites the Tesla Semi’s entrance into the U.S. market and new market entrants in Europe “with significant cost advantages”. Daimler Truck controls over 38% of the U.S. diesel truck market, the biggest share of any manufacturer, but just 18.9% of the electric truck market.  New data shows a strong preference among U.S. fleets for the Tesla Semi, with 90% of applications for California’s electric trucks incentive program used to buy the Tesla Semi between January 2025 and February 2026, a big turnaround from 2024 when 61% of the funding went to buy trucks from legacy manufacturers such as Daimler. The Tesla Semi’s price is $170,000 below Daimler’s Freightliner eCascadia and its range is more than double.

The Association of Ethical Shareholders points to similar competitiveness risks around Chinese competitors entering the European market and questions whether Daimler has a “strategy that is sustainable in the long term in the context of the transformation to zero-emission road freight transport” and “whether the current strategic approach is sufficient to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the enterprise.” It cites “a tension between short-term profitability and the necessary scaling of emission-free technologies”.

Just 1.6% of the vehicles (6,726 units) Daimler Truck sold last year were “emission-free vehicles”, despite its stated target of 25,000 annual electric truck sales in Europe by 2030 and new truck sales to be carbon free in Europe, US and Japan by 2039.

Investors questioned Daimler about its “aggressive steps to slow down or reverse regulatory controls in the US to accelerate the transition to cleaner trucks”.

These include:

  • Suing California over an agreement to advance truck electrification goals.
  • Its lobby group is intervening on the side of the Trump administration against a lawsuit aiming to protect the Endangerment Finding, a cornerstone policy that underpins U.S. law protecting health and the environment. 
  • Daimler was the only vehicle manufacturer to publicly support the repeal of the Endangerment Finding. 
  • Daimler also lobbied the EU to weaken rules on CO2 emissions, which the EU member states  recently signed off on. 

Daimler Truck’s CEO last year declared the manufacturer a “diesel champ” and unveiled a new strategy that pivots the manufacturers away from electric trucks.

The trucking industry is suffering in the U.S. and Europe as diesel prices surge, making the delays in the shift to electric by dominant market manufacturers like Daimler Truck more difficult for the industry.

“Daimler is following a disastrously familiar playbook. Suing to stop the future because they aren’t ready to compete in it. By fighting to dismantle the Endangerment Finding, they aren’t just attacking a regulation, they are trying to blow up the legal foundation of the entire clean energy economy. It is a masterpiece of strategic incoherence to pledge carbon neutrality in a press release while your lawyers argue in court that no climate action should be required. While Daimler fights for diesel, its own U.S. electric market share is slipping and competitors are already on the road winning on economics. This isn’t just an ethical failure- it’s a massive financial gamble that cedes the future to anyone willing to innovate while Daimler stays anchored to the past,” said Craig Segall former Deputy Executive Officer and Assistant Chief Counsel of the California Air Resources Board

“Weakening regulation while trying to scale electric trucks competitively is a contradiction. Investors are right to ask whether prioritizing short-term diesel profits over long-term success risks undermining the transition, the company’s competitiveness, and ultimately the future of its workforce,” said Merlin Jonack, Project Lead Heavy-Duty Vehicle Decarbonisation, NABU Germany 

“With Chinese OEMs entering the EU market this year, the luxury of ‘wait and see’ has expired. Daimler leads the race to electrification in Europe today, and slowing down now is not an option. Any weakening of transition goals would be a self-inflicted wound. Daimler can choose whether to lead the path towards the truck market of the future or to open the door for new competitors to seize it,” said Stef Cornelis, Fleets and Freight director at T&E 

“Daimler is acting like a dinosaur in a digital age, clinging to a legacy business model while the meteor grows ever closer. By starving its electric transition of necessary resources and lobbying aggressively against the regulations that incentivize adoption, the company is leaving the door wide open for Tesla and other new 100% electric entrants to seize its throne.

The Ethical Shareholders are concerned by this behavior, and financiers should really evaluate the long-term risk of a strategy that prioritizes legal battles and backdoor lobbying over technological leadership. When a company sues to dismantle the very market certainty it needs to scale, it isn’t just fighting regulation, it’s sabotaging its own future viability. It’s a spreadsheet decision, and right now, Daimler is failing the math,” said Rustam Kocher, industry consultant and formerly of Daimler Truck North America

“Daimler has spent years slow-walking the transition to clean trucks, and its role in lobbying against life-saving U.S. truck standards has been egregious. By continuing to align with the Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association—which is intervening with the Trump EPA to roll back the clean truck standards—Daimler is undermining American competitiveness and harming truck drivers and communities that depend on the health and climate benefits of clean trucks,” said Katherine Garcia, Clean Transportation for All Campaign Director at Sierra Club 

“Daimler’s recent anti-climate lobbying surpasses even many of the largest global emitters, including many oil majors, in its ambition to completely stop the US government from regulating greenhouse gases. Oil companies, airlines, and other vehicle manufacturers have voiced deep concerns about the impact of suspending all GHG regulation, which poses serious risks to businesses’ planned investments and truckmakers’ international competitiveness, as zero-emission vehicle sales accelerate globally with new entrants filling the gap. However, Daimler has instead asked the government to finalize the rule “expeditiously” despite these risks,” said Leo Menninger, Analyst at InfluenceMap