VOLVO Trucks this week announced that it has logged its best lorry sales performance in the history of its 50 years of business operation in Malaysia with a total of 479 units of prime movers and rigid lorries sold to customers in the financial year 2019.
The figures represent a 6.5% increase, selling 29 units more than the 450 total units sold in 2018.
Out of the 2019 total lorries sold, more than 70% are of the Volvo FM models, while the rest were made up of Volvo FMX and Volvo FH models.
Volvo Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director Mitch Peden said: “We are extremely pleased to have achieved such a remarkable and record-breaking overall result for the year despite some market challenges such as the changes in regulations, more intense competition and stringent loan approvals. Our sales volume increased despite the local heavy-duty truck market having experienced a decline by an estimate of 13% last year.
“Our sales performance is a positive sign of Volvo Trucks’ continuous and sustained growth in Malaysia, enabling us to start the new year with stronger momentum and energy.”
Volvo Trucks’ stellar performance also helped increase its market share in the prime mover segment to 26% in 2019, in spite of a stagnant growth for prime mover segment last year, based on data released by the Malaysia Automotive Association (MAA).
According to Volvo Trucks, its sales volume has been growing in the past 10 years with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13% since 2010, and taking a leading position in the prime mover segment.
“Our stellar truck sales performance in 2019 is the fruit of our labour from all the continuous commitments we have underscored in conjunction with Volvo Trucks’ 50 years’ anniversary in Malaysia. It is a very significant achievement for us, which is partially supported by fleet replacement exercises by several of our key customers,” added Peden.
In conjunction with its 50 years’ anniversary, Volvo Trucks had also introduced several improvements on product and service quality for enhanced aftermarket support.
Among those was the launch of Volvo Uptime Promise, a first-in-the-market feature for its Gold Service Agreement customers. This unique benefit provides monetary compensation to customers who have lorry on breakdown time that exceeds Volvo Trucks’ 12 hours committed time to put the vehicle back on the road.
“The introduction of Volvo Uptime Promise has helped to strengthen our aftermarket offers and value proposition in the market through the Gold Service Agreement, and this is one of the important contributors to our success last year,” said Peden.
“Eventually, truck uptime is very crucial for transport operations and we are very committed to helping our customers maintain this aspect.”
Volvo Uptime Promise also includes effective planning and prediction of lorry component wear and tear, enabling Volvo Trucks to proactively help their customers plan lorry maintenance schedule.
“Last year, our management team took the opportunity to visit many of our key customers in various parts of Malaysia and to celebrate our 50 years’ anniversary with them. We recognise the importance of customer engagement and we want to understand their business needs and further strengthen ties,” said Peden.
He added that many of Volvo Trucks’ key customers in Malaysia have grown together with the company through repeated purchases.
He attributed their support and trust to Volvo Trucks’ continuous improvement in enhancing quality deliverables for its products and services, and consistent aftermarket support through all its 13 dealers in the country.
This also include value-added features that offers 300,000km warranty and 24 months’ fitted parts warranty, and financing scheme by Volvo Financial Service (VFS) with 2.88% special interest program for customers who fulfilled selected criteria.
In addition, last year the company also introduced two other features in its product offering, the Volvo Torque Assist (VTA) and Active Safety Package, which help to improve on fuel efficiency and streamline the execution of safe driving on the road respectively.
“We want our customers to know that we truly value their loyalty and support and that Volvo Trucks is committed to be their long-term partner. The strong relationships that we have built with our customers is without a doubt, a very significant factor to our success. We continue to look forward to progress into this new decade with them,” Peden concluded.
