Traton CEO: ‘We need to somewhere expect that price increases cannot continue’

Truck manufacturer Navistar finished 2022 riding a big wave, recording a 35% increase in fourth-quarter unit sales and an operating profit of about $177 million, which reversed a small loss in late 2021.

Navistar, which has been a subsidiary of Germany-based Traton SE since mid-2021, sold 21,984 units in Q4 versus 16,231 in the same period a year earlier. Higher factory utilization and rising prices helped lift its sales and profits even though supply chain and material price pressures persisted.

While those problems are gradually easing, they have still led CEO Christian Levin and his team to put limits on the orders they’re taking at Navistar and Traton’s other divisions.

“We continue to be restrictive in accepting orders as we are tightly managing the supply chain situation and the input costs,” Annette Danielski, company CFO, told analysts and investors March 7. “The development of order intake is more driven by supply and the ability to produce and deliver later.”