Swedish victory in Scania’s young truck driver competition

​The 26-year-old Swede Andreas Söderström won the exciting final of Scania’s Young European Truck Driver 2010 competition, which was decided in Södertälje, Sweden on Saturday afternoon before thousands of spectators. Andreas Söderström beat 17 other talented young professional drivers from countries throughout Europe.

“Andreas Söderström turned in a fantastic performance. He is now an ambassador for the profession and a role model for young truck drivers throughout Europe. All the competitors who took part in the YETD 2010 final should be proud of their achievements,” says Erik Ljungberg, Senior Vice President and head of Scania Corporate Relations.

Andreas Söderström, who works for his father’s hauling company Göran Söderströms Åkeri, turned in the best performance in the concluding battle between the three finalists who competed for overall victory in the last event, which involved advanced precision driving.  Patrick Schildmann from Germany was the runner-up in the competition, and Zarko Tokic from Austria took third place. 

The road to the final was not easy for Andreas Söderström, who first had to make it through a regional qualifying round and then beat seven other skilled truck drivers in the Swedish national final.

A total of more than 10,000 young truck drivers under age 35 from 18 European countries competed in Scania Young European Truck Driver.   

The Young European Truck Driver final took place over a two-day period and included such tests as defensive and fuel-economy driving, cargo securing, pre-driving checklists and safety manoeuvring. The contestants in the final had to prove that they had the skill and attitude of responsible heavy truck drivers as they completed a programme consisting of complex manoeuvring and obstacle tests. 

Young European Truck Driver (YETD) is a major part of a global initiative for responsible, safe driving that Scania started in 2003. By highlighting the role of the driver, Scania also wants to attract more young people into the driving profession.

“The driver is absolutely the most important factor in heavy vehicle transport. Vehicles and infrastructure are obviously of major significance, but fuel-efficient safe driving is primarily a matter of human behaviour. Through YETD, Scania wants to help raise the status of professional drivers and emphasise their great importance to the profitability of transport companies and to road safety, as well as to the reduced environmental impact. We want to help attract more young, capable drivers into the transport business,” Mr Lungberg concludes.

Scania’s Young European Truck Driver initiative has the endorsement of the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union (IRU). Its sponsors is Michelin. Scania is also running similar competitions in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The complete list of results, as well as photos and scores from the final, are available on Scania’s website, www.scania.com  From approx. CET 20:00 video footage for TV (B-roll) also will be available on the website.

For further information, please contact:

• Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, tel. +46 8 553 856 62
• Mikael Person, YETD Project Manager, tel. +46 8 553 856 57

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 some 32,000 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 2009, net sales totalled SEK 62 billion and net income amounted to SEK 1.1 billion. Scania press releases are available on www.scania.com