Man, Scania & Co.
Weak start to the year for VW truck division Traton
In uncertain times, freight forwarders are reluctant to buy new trucks worldwide. The consequences feel the commercial vehicle division of the VW Group.
Volkswagen’s truck division Traton started the year with a drop in sales and profits. In the first three months, sales fell by ten percent to 10.6 billion euros compared to the previous year, as the company in Munich reported. The net profit even fell by 38 percent to 466 million euros. However, Lichtblick is a strong plus of the new orders of 12 percent.
The Wolfsburg Group’s Traton-Holding includes, Scania, the US company International and the commercial vehicles of the Volkswagen umbrella brand. The weak first quarter did not come as a surprise, Traton had made the moderate expectations for this year in March. A key cause is the purchase of buying the customer associated with the weak global economy, increasingly reinforced by the trade conflicts respected by the US government. Traton boss Christian Levin described the situation as a “challenging economic and political environment”.
“As expected, we recorded declines in sales, sales and results,” said Levin. “Despite considerable uncertainty, the look forward is confident,” said the manager with a view to the higher order intake. At Man Truck & Bus, the new orders even increased by 50 percent.
dpa
Source: Stern
