Truck sales boom is running out of steam
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II by Toby Clark be recent boom in truck sales ould be over, as the first quarer of 2001 has been a bad one or some of Europe's major manufacturers. Scania is cutting ,200 manufacturing jobs, while folvo is expected to "restrucure" some of its operations, ncluding Renault VI in Europe ind Mack in the US.
Scania's interim report, out ist week, warned that "the apid growth in recent years of he Western European heavy ruck market ended during the econd half of 2000".
The firm's UK sales from anuary to March were 1,330 his year compared with 1,792 in he first quarter of 2000. Scania's report predicted: "By year-end 2001, the number of production employees will be about 1,200 lower." Scania employs many workers on limited-time contracts, which will not be renewed, while others will retire. The cuts will affect manufacturing plants in Sweden and elsewhere around the world, but are unlikely to hit Scania's UK employees.
Volvo—which still owns a substantial stake in Scania—will release its own interimfigures this week, and the Financial Times predicts that it will report losses for the first quarter.
Within the next few months 700 jobs are to be cut from Mack, after a 34% decline in first-quarter sales. Sister company RVI's sales are doing welt—up 3% in the same period—but, as the FT puts it, Volvo 'hopes to eradicate duplication with RVI in Europe".
DaimlerChrysler is also having problems with the North American market: sales from its Freightliner and Sterling subsidiaries have fallen by almost 50% since last year.
Mercedes-Benz truck sales were static during the first quarter of 2001, but the German market declined.
Overall, the commercial vehicle arm of DaimlerChrysler recorded an operating loss of around Euro100m (162m) from January to March.