Volvo eyes 20% growth in truck sales

“We target growth of at least 20 per cent this year following our expansion. We have set a capital expenditure budget of Bt5 billion for this year until 2015, when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) goes into effect,” president Jacques Michel said last week.
Although some economists forecast the economy to grow slowly this year, the company’s sales of 400 trucks in the first half was up 20 per cent over the same half of last year. That shows that demand for trucks is still rising, especially for transporting exports to neighbouring countries, he said.
Volvo’s UD trucks shared 3 per cent of the overall market of about 20,000 units last year, but about 80 per cent of the premium segment of units priced at Bt3 million or more.
The company estimates the new truck market will increase to about 30,000 units this whole year after 15,000 units were moved in the first half.
About Bt3 billion of the capital expenditure budget will be spent to extend its service network from south to north and west to east by expanding its dealerships from 10 now to 17 in 2015. Five of the new dealerships will owned by the company and the other two by its local partners.
The new service dealers network will support its after-sales service business nationwide.
“We are developing our service network and after-sales service for our customers – especially how to drive UD trucks to save energy by opening a training system for drivers and also holding the FuelWatch contest since 2010. This will help our customers to manage their fuel costs at a time when energy costs are rising,” he said.
Drivers who pass training will reduce energy costs by 30-50 per cent compared with drivers who never get the training, he said.
“The key to saving energy is not only to have the best truck but also the best driver,” he said.
Bt2 billion would be used to expand UD truck production at its assembly plant on Bang Na-Trat Road. This will support both local and export demand. The plant’s capacity is 4,500 units, with nearly 1,000 units allocated to the domestic market and 3,500 for the Southeast Asian market including Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
“Thailand is the production base for Volvo UD Trucks in Southeast Asia especially since the AEC will emerge in 2015,” he said.
Last week, the company named the winner of the fourth FuelWatch competition in Phuket. The winner will have the opportunity to represent Volvo Trucks Thailand at the Asia-Pacific final round in Australia in October.