Volvo Trucks Middle East has announced a year of growth in 2015, with sales doubling in Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar.
The Swedish truck manufacturer also recorded double-digit growth in Oman, its third largest market in the region. Meanwhile, sales in Jordan were up by 5%.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – the company’s two biggest markets in the Middle East – remained stable in 2015 compared to the previous year, as they did in Egypt. Overall, sales increased in almost all Middle Eastern markets despite challenging economic conditions, Volvo Trucks said.
The announcement – which was made at an event for media representatives – comes at the end of an active year for Volvo Trucks. The manufacturer last year opened a new production facility in Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City, in cooperation with its Saudi dealer Zahid Tractor.
“2015 has been significant for Volvo Trucks in the Middle East. We have stayed a step ahead of our competition and continue to set new standards in the trucking industry,” said Lars-Erik Forsbergh, president of Volvo Trucks for the region.
“The opening of the new production facility in Saudi Arabia demonstrated our on-going commitment to the region. We will continue to build on this in 2016.”
In addition to the plant in Saudi Arabia, the company also opened a Volvo Trucks CKD assembly line in Babel, Iraq, in conjunction with ZamZam Spring Group, Volvo Trucks’ official distributor in Iraq.
“It’s not easy to get things up and running in Iraq these days,” said Forsbergh, commenting on the opening of the facility in the troubled country. “But as soon as the market starts to recover, we have a strong competitive advantage by having both production and a service network there.”
