Volvo has announced the first of what is expected to be a series of wholly-owned service facilities in Russia, according to Staffan Jufors, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks.
The shop is fully equipped to perform repairs and maintenance on all types of Volvo products – from trucks to buses, construction equipment and industrial engines. The investment in the new operation totals 100 million Swedish kronor.
Volvo claims to be the first western truck manufacturer to deliver vehicles to the Soviet Union, entering the market in 1973. Today, there are about 20,000 Volvo trucks on Russian roads.
Volvo has been operating in Russia since 1994 and has had a factory for truck assembly in Zelenograd, just outside Moscow, since 2003. The factory can build about 40 trucks a month and is operating at full capacity.
Truck sales have increased steadily. Through the first eight months of 2005, the company delivered 715 trucks, an increase of 76 percent over the same period last year.