Volvo’s North American Orders Rise 39%
Volvo Trucks’ second-quarter North American orders rose by 39% from a year ago, led by a strong performance by Mack Trucks, the company said Wednesday.
Mack’s second-quarter orders jumped 80% to 4,260, while Volvo Trucks’ North American orders gained 23% to 6,809.
North American truck deliveries slipped 4% to 13,203 units, while sales declined 7% to 11,568, Gothenberg, Sweden-based Volvo said.
Second-quarter earnings before interest and taxes fell 58%, due in part to currency exchange-rate moves. Volvo reports its earnings in Swedish kronor.
Revenue fell 12%, while deliveries slipped 4.3% to about 52,000 vehicles, although that was 35% higher than the first quarter. Worldwide truck orders rose 16% to 56,349 trucks.
For the first six months of the year, the total North American retail market for heavy-duty trucks fell 11% to 111,834 vehicles from 125,590 in the same period last year.
The primary truck-market driver continues to be replacement demand in the highway segment, and Volvo said it expects the 2013 total market for heavy-duty trucks in North America to hold at about 250,000 trucks.
