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Scania Boosts Its Presence in Malaysia With Wholly-Owned Subsidiary

12 May 2000

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden--Scania is enhancing its position in South-East Asia as the region's economy picks up following more than two years of economic stagnation. With a new subsidiary to Scania Trade Development AB, Scania is bringing operations in Malaysia under its own wings to boost its presence on this growth market.

    The new Scania company starts operating at the end of June this year, with a payroll of about 70 employees.

    Scania truck and bus chassis will continue to be assembled locally by Tractors Malaysia, the majority owner of Scandinavian Truck and Bus, the company which has represented Scania for 12 years in Malaysia.

    Prior to Asia's recent economic turbulence, Malaysia was one of Scania's strongest markets in this region. The Malaysian market for heavy trucks was in the region of about 5,000 trucks in 1996. This year, sales of about 1,800 new trucks are expected. Scania's market share in the tractor segment has remained around the 25 per cent mark in recent years. With the takeover of direct responsibility for the Malaysian market, Scania intends to further improve the market position.

    Malaysia will be the second important market in Asia in which Scania takes over and runs its operations in-house. The first such move was in South Korea, with the creation of Scania Korea Ltd. in January last year.

    Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 25,800 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 1999, turnover totalled SEK 47,100 million and the result after net interest in- come/expense was SEK 4,500 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and some 95 percent of Scania's vehicles are sold outside Sweden