SODERTALJE, Sweden, April 29, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The era of major product launches is over. Instead, the way ahead is rolling introductions. This means that continuous changes and improvements are made during ongoing production so that each new Scania is a little better than the one before.
That is how Scania described the company's concept for the development of tomorrow's trucks to Scania shareholders at the well-attended Annual General Meeting.
Scania's President and CEO, Leif Ostling, emphasised how Scania's current focus on leadership has prompted an organisation that is now stronger than ever before, ready to tackle forthcoming challenges. Not least among these challenges is a scenario where the demand for Scania vehicles might rise by between five and six percent per year:
"We are dealing methodically with the system's bottlenecks so we can gradually increase capacity, but we are also investing in the systematic development of our employees' competence and leadership," said Leif Ostling, who also expressed heartfelt thanks to Scania's 30,000 employees for making 2004 a record year for Scania.
With regard to the development of tomorrow's vehicles, Scania's development director Hasse Johansson pointed to more fuel-efficient vehicles as one of the major upcoming challenges. Scania's executive management provided a brief glimpse of this next technological frontier -- the successor to the conventional diesel engine -- which focuses on fuel-efficient engines that produce extremely low emissions.
Other challenges include a reduction in the environmental effects of vehicles. Alongside work on more economical engines, Scania focuses on exploiting each truck's load capacity more efficiently. Legislation that permits longer rigs and increased gross combination weights will mean more cargo with fewer trucks.
Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. A growing proportion of the company's operations is comprised of products and services in the financial and service sectors, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Employing 30,000 people, Scania operates in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production plants are located in Europe and South America, with facilities for the global exchange of both components and finished vehicles. In 2004, invoiced sales totalled SEK56.7 billion and net income amounted to SEK4.1 billion.
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