An ‘assured future’ for Scania as part of VW

Scania has an assured future as one of 12 brands that are part of the Volkswagen Group, the company’s president and chief executive Martin Lundstedt told Transport Operator, as the Swedish truck maker celebrated 50 years in the UK.

But he warned that the total European new truck market would not have returned to the levels of 2008 even by 2020, for which year he had set a target of selling 120,000 Scania trucks across the globe.

He welcomed the extra clout that the backing of VW was giving Scania: “We are now a big, small company; still close to our customers and focussed on quality,” he asserted, pointing out that in May Scania had recorded its best-ever month both in terms of customer satisfaction expressed through surveys and low numbers of warranty claims.

Lundstedt outlined the changing shape of truck markets –  as previously less-developed countries became more sophisticated, then “the demand for heavy trucks increases, demand for medium-weight trucks shrinks and demand for lightweights remains constant,” he said.

This is seen as advantageous for Scania, which only serves the market over 16 tonnes gross weight.

Lundstedt pointed out that Scania had a long-standing and historic relationship with Volkswagen, having been the German company’s Swedish importer for many decades. He anticipated tapping into the strength of Scania’s parent company: “For example, we will have sufficient resources to set up a finance company in China…it will be part of VW Finance but branded as Scania Finance.”

He was also looking forward to sharing resources with VW’s other heavy truck brand: MAN of Germany.

“We obviously have more buying power for materials as part of VW Group, and this extends to components that we can share with MAN.”

Lundstedt promised that Scania’s combinations of in-house engines, gearboxes, axles and control systems would remain unique to the brand, although he admitted that Scania gearboxes might find their way into some MAN vehicles and the two companies would share hybrid technology.

Another area for co-operation would be in bodywork for passenger-carrying vehicles, where both Scania and MAN currently struggle to achieve viable production volumes.

With new vehicle sales seemingly destined to remain at levels not much above those of the present for the foreseeable future, Scania was looking at new ways to develop business in partnership with its customers. Lundstedt was looking to increase the percentage of the company’s revenue from service from the current figure of 21 per cent to 25-30 per cent by 2020, and also getting more customers signed up to Scania’s Ecolution service, which combines help with specifying new vehicles for specific tasks, training and then coaching drivers, and monitoring vehicle usage through telematics. He claimed operators signing up to Ecolution had achieved average fuel savings of 10 per cent.

“Customers would do better to have this through the life of the truck than negotiate a few euros off the new price of a truck,” he said.

Asked by Transport Operator what his feelings were concerning EU plans to allow radical changes in cab shape and vehicle length for better road safety and aerodynamic efficiency, Lundstedt said: “We are in favour of any legislation that allows us to be more efficient. We are open-minded to change designs. The main functionalities of vehicles, such as turning circles, should be covered by legislation, but we welcome freedoms within that.”