Volvo Group Trucks aims to double sales in Korea by 2020

By Park Jin-hai

Christophe Martin, president of Volvo Group Trucks’ Asia-Oceania sales division

A senior executive at Volvo Group Trucks Asia said the Swedish truck manufacturer plans to double sales of its products in the Korean market by 2020.

“Volvo aims to double annual sales by 2020 focusing on medium and heavy-duty trucks. Volvo is confident in maintaining its leadership in the local truck segment thanks to strong brand awareness,” Christophe Martin, president of Volvo Group Trucks’ Asia-Oceania sales division, said in a recent interview.

He stressed Korea is a “very unique” market for the group for two reasons. “Volvo was impressed to see the outstanding growth rates over the last few years unlike other truck brands. Also, the consistency and speed of this trend is very strong and impressive,” the executive said.

Volvo said it holds between 45 percent and 50 percent market share in the imported heavy-duty truck segment in Korea. According to Martin, the release of its brand-new FL-series medium-duty truck lineup in Korea represents the company’s commitment to bolster its presence, here.

“Demanding customers here is the other thing that distances Korea from the other Volvo’s 191 global markets,” he said, adding Korean customers require high standards in product quality pushing the truck brand to invest more in quality.

“Most of the customers are owner operators. When they decide to buy a truck, it is their own money they are spending. This characteristic gives us an important indication, having demanding customers help us to improve quality and customer care service in Korea, but also helps us to benchmark for other countries globally,” he added.

Mentioning the smoother operation of its local facilities, the executive said Volvo plans to expand the output of trucks in two key local spots.

“One of our largest truck delivery facilities is in Pyeongtaek. It is planned to mirror our future growth in Korea, with five times larger delivery capacity than the existing facility in Changwon,” he said.

“We have put great effort into introducing new trucks such as the Volvo FL. I believe it is the time to make everything happen as planned and to take good care of our customers for their greatest satisfaction,” according to the executive.