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Volvo Trucks Sees Apocalypse: Sales Down by 99.7%

It's well known the fact that the global recession massively affected car manufacturers from all over the world but Volvo Trucks yesterday came out with shocking figures. In the last three months, European demand for trucks produced by Volvo was reduced by 99.7 percent, meaning that the Swedish manufacturer sold no more than 115 trucks!

Volvo Trucks sold approximately 41,900 units in the third quarter of 2007, according to figures provided by This is Money, with the global orders lowered to 55 percent in the last three months of this year, which coincides with the apogee of the global economic crisis. The other Volvo-controlled truck manufacturers saw their sales going down too, with Scania demands reduced by 69 percent.

“The downturn in the economy has been significantly exacerbated by the global financial crisis. The important European market has declined significantly while North America and Japan continue to show weak demand,” Volvo officials were quoted as saying by This is Money.

Volvo was one of the first companies that reacted to the global economic crisis, announcing massive job cuts and lowered productions all over the continent. Moreover, with North American demand continuously decreasing, Volvo reduced the local production capacity and focused on small cars, similar to other American carmakers.

Earlier this month, Volvo announced a 1,400 jobs cut as a result of the global recession but thousands of new employees may be fired in the near future if the truck demand keeps the same decreasing trend.

There's no secret that active companies in the automotive industry were heavily affected by the global economic crisis, more and more manufacturer asking for government funds in order to reduce the loses. Even Asian markets, which were often regarded as less-affected areas, started experiencing problems, taking almost the same decision as the rest of the world and focusing on small-car production.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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