We enjoyed a warm welcome in a cold climate recently at the invitation of Scania who put no less than 20 trucks at our disposal, enabling us to get up close and personal to the manufacturer’s extensive portfolio, as Export & Freight’s Phil Eaglestone reports.
With a party of other journalists from five different countries, we spent a day and a half in Norway, staying at Radisson Blu Resort, situated at the foot of the Trysil ski slopes for the event, tagged ‘Scania Winter 2020’.
During our stay we were able to experience Scania’s in harsh winter conditions – snow ploughs, long-distance, heavy haulage, tippers, off-road and tractor tipper semi-trailers – around 20 in all.
We also heard about the manufacturer’s road to a de-carbonised transport sector, focusing on electrification, with a presentation given by Scania’s Electrification Officer, Peter Forsberg.
We were welcomed to the event by Senior Vice President and Head of Scania Alexander Vlaskamp.
“We have just left a fantastic year behind us, a year where it was manifested how well received and appreciated Scania’s offer is today. When we launched our new generation some years ago, we had a market share in Europe around 14-15%. This last year, we have hoovered round 19% and been close to a position as the market leader in Europe, something we have never been able to achieve before,” he told us.
Cautious Outlook
He added, however: “We all know that the coming year might be a bit dire for our industry, but may I remind you that the forecasts predict a market on a par with the 2016 level, which was not a bad market then.
“Behind our success lies, obviously, a lot of hard work from many hands. But the core of it is, when everything comes around, the fact that Scania offer outstanding solutions for many different industries and applications, offers that include everything from a strong network and smart services to high quality and the best fuel performance in our industry.”
He reminded us that Scania has been extremely successful in recent years when we journalists have been able to test and compare the manufacturer’s trucks against competitors. “So far, we have not been beaten in that particular field and that is, of course, something that our customers have noted gracefully and benefit from in their daily operations,” he said.
“The subject of fuel efficiency leads me into another highly important and actual subject, sustainability. All the diesel trucks you will drive here are actually fuelled by HVO, hydro-treated vegetable oil. I have to mention this since you will not notice otherwise!”
Speech finished, we donned our hats and gloves and headed out into the snow to inspect and put to the test what was an impressive line-up of Scania trucks.
Over the course of the two days, myself, together with fellow journalists from Norway, Hungary, Denmark and the Baltics, spent over five hours finding out how the trucks, with a mix of body types, handled and performed in what was a winter wonderland – we all left for home suitably impressed!
More in the next print issue of Export & Freight
