At Volvo Group’s recent Capital Market Day in Eskilstuna, Sweden, CEO Leif Johansson announced that the OEM has developed a new medium-heavy engine for use in its trucks and buses and that it is scheduled to be rolled out next year.
Johansson said Volvo Group is developing an in-house, company-wide platform for medium-heavy diesel engines. He said investments in research and technology will remain at high levels in the next few years since new emissions legislation will be introduced for trucks, buses and construction equipment.
In the future, the emissions laws from the various countries will become more harmonized and by having a global technology platform in place, Johannson pointed out, adding that Volvo will be able to generate economies of scale in research and development as well as purchasing and production.
He also said the sales trend for trucks has continued to weaken in the second quarter and spoke of the need to continue developing additional services and accessories that support products throughout their lifecycles.
“We have not yet seen any signs of our primary markets in Europe or North America recovering, although we may have started seeing indications of trends leveling out,” said Johannson. “We are working intently on reducing our stock of trucks and construction equipment, while striving to defend our price levels. In light of the weak demand in the market, we have made further reductions to production compared with the first quarter. We will continue to have low cost coverage until we have balanced our stocks and costs with demand in the market, and this will impact profitability.”
