Volvo Purchases Stake in Arrow

Volvo Trucks North America completed its purchase of a 50% stake in used truck dealer Arrow Truck Sales.

The deal is expected to help Volvo sell new trucks by giving its dealers an outlet for trade-ins.

The partnership with Volvo is "a great business decision for us and for our stockholders," commented Lewis Nerman, president of Kansas City, Mo.-based Arrow.

"Volvo’s resources will help us continue to grow, and to take advantage of new opportunities," he said.

In a subsequent announcement, Arrow expanded its involvement in the medium-duty truck market with the acquisition of 2,000 diesel-powered commercial rental vans from Ryder TRS.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The vehicles are 1993 and 1994 models with automatic transmission, mileage in the low 100,000s and do not require a commercial drivers’ license to operate. They will sell for under $20,000, according to Richard Koch, chief operating officer of Arrow.

"For any small business owner, this is an unusually good price for trucks with an unusually good pedigree," Mr. Koch said.

Ryder TRS is the former consumer truck rental business of Miami-based Ryder System.

In addition to Kansas City, Arrow operates used truck outlets in Atlanta; Chicago; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Houston; Los Angeles and Stockton, Calif.; Minneapolis; Newark, N.J.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix, San Antonio and St. Louis.