Traton hopeful for recovery

The Traton Group, which owns the MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Truck and Bus businesses is optimistic of an imminent recovery in the truck market, despite seriously compromised figures in the first half of 2020. An operating profit of around €1 billion in H1 2019 has been transformed to a loss of €220 million in the same period this year. Orders fell from 120,500 units by 27% to 87,400. Europe has seen the greatest fall in sales, down 46%, compared with a drop of 22% in South America, the group’s other key market. Reflecting the greater impact in Europe, Scania and MAN unit sales both fell by 41%, while the mainly South American Volkswagen brand fell by 22%

Matthias Gründler (pictured), Traton’s newly appointed CEO, who took over from Andreas Renschler last month, said “We had already expected a downturn in demand in the European market, but the Covid-19 pandemic meant that it turned out to be more significant and also affected other regions. Now that our business is slowly stabilizing following the severe slump in April, we are assuming a gradual recovery in sales in the current quarter, provided there is no surge in the number of new infections. Together with our experienced team, the coming weeks will see us paving the way for the further stabilization of our operating business and the continuation of our Global Champion Strategy.”

Traton CFO Christian Schulz elaborated “Provided there is no surge in the number of new infections and the associated countermeasures adopted by the countries, we are assuming a gradual recovery in our business activity in the second half of 2020. Overall, however, we continue to expect a dramatic fall in unit sales for the fiscal year, and cannot rule out an operating loss for the Traton Group in fiscal year 2020”