Breakthrough for Scania in Morocco:70 city buses to Marrakech
Breakthrough for Scania in Morocco:70 city buses to Marrakech Scania announced its first major bus order from Morocco on Friday: Spanish bus operator Alsa chose Scania when it secured the hard-won contract for public transport in Marrakech in the face of extremely tough competition. Alsa is buying 70 Scania buses in the first wave of orders. The agreement was announced on Friday in conjunction with the inauguration of the all-new service facility in Agadir by Scania's wholly-owned subsidiary, Scania Maroc. "For Scania, this order represents a historic breakthrough on the Moroccan bus market," says Marc Haezenberghe, MD of Scania Maroc S.A. "Last year saw the start of a concerted drive to sell buses here, and the order from Marrakech is a direct result of this effort." The new buses will operate in city traffic in Marrakech. They are built on Scania's new L94IB city and inter-city bus chassis and they are powered by 9- litre engines producing 220 hp with automatic gearbox. The chassis will be built as knock-down kits at Scania's factory in Katrineholm, for subsequent assembly and bodybuilding locally in Morocco. Scania has gone on the offensive in the past year to enhance its presence in Morocco in both the truck and bus segments. The investment of 10 million kronor in the service network with new service workshops and customer centres is part of this strategy. A new regional centre was inaugurated in late autumn in Casablanca, with the new service facility in Agadir following suit on Friday. Friday also saw the start of work on a new service centre in Tangiers in northern Morocco. For further information, please contact Gunnar Boman on telephone number +46 (0)150-58599. Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 23,800 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1998, turnover (preliminary figures) totalled SEK 45,200 million and income after financial items SEK 3,200 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and approximately 96% of total production is sold outside Sweden. Scania press releases are available on the Internet, www.scania.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/01/29/19990129BIT00250/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/01/29/19990129BIT00250/bit0002.pdf