September 30, 2008

Commercial vehicle makers are reporting decent levels of turnover on a global level, due to increased sales in commercial markets.  Emerging markets are proving to be so buoyant that many manufacturers are even predicting a rise in sales for 2008

While the traditional markets of Western Europe and the USA are down, it's the BRIC markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, that are driving sales of vans and trucks.

Volkswagen reported a sales increase of 9.3% in the first eight months of 2008 against the same period in 2007, with Eastern Europe and Latin America driving the rise. “In the booming Eastern European markets, we managed to grow our delivery numbers by nearly 30%,” said Stephan Schaller, CEO of V W Commercial Vehicles. “In Russia alone we sold 87% more vehicles than in the previous year.”

The situation was similar in South America, where deliveries of light and heavy commercial vehicles rose by around 25%. Roberto Cortes, president of VW truck and bus, said: “Considering the favourable economy in Latin America, we expect to end 2008 with a sales volume close to 60,000 trucks and buses, representing a new all-time record.”

Iveco CEO Paolo Monferino had a similar review: “We foresee a contraction in Western European demand during the second half of 2008, but this will be partially offset by the growth in other markets, in particular Latin America and Eastern Europe.”

Daimler’s head of trucks Andreas Renschler reported Commercial Vehicle sales up 3% in the year to the end of August.  Hew put this down to 17% growth in Latin America; 14% in Eastern Europe; 11% in the Middle East, and “an astounding 60%” growth in Southeast Asia.

“We continue to systematically expand our presence in the world’s growth markets,” he added. “In Brazil we’re investing more than 600m Euros to increase our production capacity by 25%. We’ve also launched production of trucks and buses in India and we’re preparing for market entry in China and Russia as well.”

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