Scania grows in Saudi Arabia
Scania grows in Saudi Arabia: New customer purchases 70 trucks On Wednesday, Scania signed a contract for the rapid delivery of 70 tractor units to the car haulage firm of Al-Bassami in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Added to an earlier order for 32 trucks, this means that GCC, Scania's Saudi Arabian importer, has sold more trucks after the first six months of this year than during the entire 1998. "Scania has experienced a strong turnaround in 1999," comments Göran Östensson, who is responsible for the company's markets in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. "The Saudi truck market has been under severe pressure for several years and the competition has been murderous. We achieved sales of 79 vehicles in 1998 and we have now more than doubled that." At present, 24 different makers of heavy trucks are competing in Saudi Arabia for a total market of no more than 2,000 vehicles per year. By mid-year, Scania's importer, General Contracting Company-Olayan (GCC), had achieved a market share of 7.5%. Al-Bassami operates all over Saudi Arabia, transporting private cars for domestic air passengers between the country's airports. The company formerly had eight older Scania 3-series trucks in its fleet and has now opted for the modern 4-series. For further information, please contact Bo Östlund, Corporate Communications, tel. +46-8-553 828 46 or +46-70-543 81 42 (mobile). Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 23,500 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1998, turnover totalled SEK 45,300 million and income after financial items SEK 3,200 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and approximately 96 percent 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/1999/07/08/19990708BIT00270/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/07/08/19990708BIT00270/bit0002.pdf