Scania continues its sales charge into Russia, a country where it says "investments and growth are expected to remain high for many years to come". The Russian grocery chain X5 Retail Group has ordered 146 Scania trucks for supplying goods to its nationwide chain of more than 600 stores and supermarkets in major Russian cities such as Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, as well as to 600 franchised retail units in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
According to Raimo Lehtiö, MD of Scania Russia: "The deal confirms our customers' trust in Scania as a provider of high-quality trucks with low operating costs and a well-developed service network." It follows an earlier order for 144 vehicles.
Having previously had a fleet dominated by domestic makes, more than half of X5 Retail Group's heavy distribution truck fleet is now Scania. The latest order consists of two-axle and three-axle distribution trucks equipped with Scania nine-litre engines. The trucks are furnished with box-bodies from a Russian bodybuilder.
The rapid growth of the Russian heavy truck market continued last year with imports of Western European makes increasing by 115% during 2007. A total of 19,464 new trucks were imported, compared with 9,072 in 2006. With a market share of 27.4%, Scania is the largest Western European make in Russia for the seventh straight year.
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