Swedish Truckfest success
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'I'HERE were 300 exhibitors at Sweden's second trucking festival — Lastbil 85 — in J6nk5ping last week. Lastbil is a combined show and Truckfest. The show attracted 70,000 visitors and 140,000 attended Truckfest.
All the main European manufacturers were represented with the exception of the British. Exhibits were mainly in the one-tonne to 16-tonne classes with the exception of those shown by Scania and Volvo. There were no buses or coaches on show.
The importers without exception were conscious of the different market conditions in Sweden, where the two national companies share 90 per cent of the market. The three leading importers are MAN/VW, Mercedes and Iveco. The Italian consortium sells 600 units annually and is strong at the lighter end of the range.
Daf expects to sell about 60 units this year after five years' marketing in Sweden. It complains that discounting is suicidal with 33 per cent on general offer. It is therefore not surprising that British manufacturers are less than excited with the Scandinavian market.
The Daf managing director said that they had been making substantial losses in Sweden for five years. He was hopeful that the position would now improve.