New UK bosses at Scania and Volvo
Scania and Volvo have both appointed new managing directors to their respective UK market companies, with the men taking up their posts this Autumn.
Claes Jacobsson (left), currently senior vice-president Financial Services for Scania CV AB and based at the company’s headquarters in Södertälje, Sweden, has been appointed managing director of Scania (Great Britain) Ltd with effect from 1 September, and Arne Knaben (right) has been appointed Volvo Trucks’ managing director at Volvo Group UK from 1 October.
Claes Jacobsson succeeds Hans-Christer Holgersson, who will continue with board assignments within the Scania group.
A Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics, Jacobsson joined Scania CV AB in 1999 as director, business development of Scania Customer Finance. From there he progressed to head of Scania Customer Finance before being appointed to his current role in 2003, since when he has also chaired the boards of a number of Scania subsidiary operations around the world.
Claes Jacobsson said: “I am very much looking forward to moving to the UK to take up the reins at Scania (Great Britain) Ltd. The UK has been a key market for Scania for almost half a century and I am looking forward to continuing to build upon the excellent foundations laid by my predecessors. In particular, I would like to thank Hans-Christer Holgersson, with whom I have worked closely for 14 years, and wish him every success for the future within Scania’s board structure.”
At Volvo UK, Arne Knaben succeeds Ulf Magnusson who is moving to Gothenburg to become senior vice president Volvo Buses, Business Region Europe. Arne will report to Bruno Blin who is senior vice president SWE Sales Area, group trucks sales & marketing EMEA.
Currently Arne holds the position of President of Volvo Group Australia. He will take up his new position in the UK on 1 October. He will be based at Volvo Group UK’s headquarters in Warwick.
In the interim, Volvo Trucks’ commercial truck director Ian Mitchell is acting managing director.
Arne Knaben was born in 1958 in Norway. He graduated from Agder Ingeniør og Distriktshøgskole (AID) in Grimstad, Norway with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economics. He later undertook postgraduate studies in Industrial Marketing at the University of Linköping, Sweden.
He began his Volvo career in 1992 and has held various positions within sales, aftersales and management in Norway, Sweden, India, Denmark and Australia. During the last four years, he has been responsible for Volvo Group Australia working with the Volvo, Mack, UD and Renault truck brands. Before his Volvo career he worked for several years as a mechanic and as a truck driver.
