10% for Volvo FL4
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• Volvo Trucks (GB) plans to capture a 10% share of the lucrative UK 7.5-tonne market "within a reasonable time" — possibly a year — of the launch of its Belgian-built FL4 chassis, according to managing director Bernt Brandtzaeg, although currency fluctuations between sterling and the Belgian franc could pose a serious threat to the company's plans.
Around 35% of all Volvo products sold in the UK — currently the 12-16 tonne FL6 range — is supplied by Volvo's Ghent plant. The FL4 is already being produced in Belgium and right-hand-drive versions are expected to be available in Britain from midMay 1987.
To meet the different demands of 7.5-tonne customers, Volvo Trucks (GB) is currently strengthening its service dealer network in the UK (CM October 4).
If the FL4 sells particularly well in Britain, Volvo could switch right-hand-drive chassis production from Ghent to Irvine.
Although Brandtzaeg says that this option "is not an ambition at this stage", he claims that there is sufficient room for an FL4 line to be set up at the company's Scottish assembly plant.
Heavy sales, coupled with an unfavourable exchange rate could well provide the spur to any production switch.