Scania going for pole position

Scania going for pole position

At its Capital Markets Day on 17 September (today), Scania presented its
preparations for the next market upturn phase.

“We believe that the downturn has levelled off, even if the activity level
remains low among our customers,” said Leif Östling, President and CEO of
Scania. 


At the event, Scania also unveiled the new R-series, which will ensure the
company's leading position in trucks for the vital long-haulage segment.

“We are working hard to reduce our costs in response to weak demand, but at the
same time we are preparing for the next upturn phase. Today's launch will
further strengthen our product range. Together with continued streamlining of
Scania's production system and service network, this will provide a great
opportunity for strong and profitable growth when the market eventually turns
around,” Mr Östling said. 

“The strong focus on costs and cash flow will lay the groundwork for a more
efficient organisation going forward. Among other things, the experiences from
our four-day week in the European organisation will contribute to more efficient
working methods in the future. Implementing the principles for continuous
improvements - Scania Production System (SPS) - will result in increased
productivity at the offices as well as within the sales and services network.” 


“We are increasing our production compared to the second quarter, but at the
same time the third quarter is seasonally weak due to holiday periods in many
markets,” said Jan Ytterberg, Scania's Chief Financial Officer.

At the Capital Markets Day, Scania also presented its strategy for the bus and
coach segment, which aims to further increase the degree of industrialisation in
the production of complete buses and coaches by means of closer collaboration
with selected bodybuilding companies. This will result in higher product quality
and opportunities to increase service content, for example through service
agreements.

Scania's business unit Engines is also well-positioned for the future with
engines complying with the new emission legislation for the off-road segments
that will come into force in both Europe and the US as from 2011.

“As a result of the new range of SCR-engines that was presented earlier this
year, we have received an increasing number of inquires from large OEMs from all
over the world that today are not using Scania. Some of these OEMs have now
chosen Scania engines for their off-road products as from 2011,” says Martin
Lundstedt.


For further information, please contact:
•	Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, mobile +46 70 346 88 11
•	Per Hillström, Head of Investor Relations, +46 70 648 30 52.

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 consists of products and services in the
financial and service sectors, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective
transport solutions and maximum uptime. Employing 35,000 people, Scania operates
in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in
Sweden, while production takes place in Europe and South America, with
facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. In
2008, invoiced sales totalled SEK 89 billion and net income amounted to SEK 8.9
billion. 


Scania press releases are available at www.scania.com