Truck maker Volvo Group lifts outlook as orders grow

STOCKHOLM – Swedish truck maker Volvo Group reported more than 30 percent boost in first-quarter orders and lifted its sales forecast for the full year.

The company also confirmed preliminary results showing its best-ever net sales in a first quarter, up 25 percent from the same period last year to reach 131.4 billion kronor ($12.7-billion).

Volvo Group added that it booked a more than 80 percent rise in net profit, reaching 12.9 billion kronor.

“Despite a deteriorating economic outlook with high inflation and rising interest rates, transport volumes and infrastructure activity have continued to be solid in most of our markets,” Volvo Group chief executive Martin Lundstedt said in a statement.

Lundstedt also cited an improvement in supply chain bottlenecks in Europe in the autumn, helping productivity rise, but he said the situation remains “unstable” in North America.

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The auto industry has been hard hit by the supply chain crisis and shortages in raw materials caused by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and the war in Ukraine.

Truck orders rose 32 percent to 60,040 in the first three months of the year.

The truck maker also lifted its forecast for the full year by 20,000 trucks in both Europe and North America, now projecting sales of 320,000 trucks on both continents. AFP