SODERTALJE, Sweden, Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Scania has sold 533 four-axle, all-wheel drive trucks to the Dutch army through its wholly owned Dutch subsidiary, Beers Bedrijfsauto b.v. The deal is Scania's biggest military order outside Sweden.
Warding off fierce competition from Europe's leading truck manufacturers, Scania, together with another make, was selected two years ago to provide prototypes for testing by the Dutch defence authorities. The vehicles have during a year been exhaustively tested by the Dutch army under a variety of climatic and terrain conditions.
All eight wheels of the four-axle vehicles are driven and the engine is Scania's six-cylinder 420-hp diesel. The trucks will be equipped with hook-lift gear for handling containers, while a number will be equipped with cranes. The contract also includes ballistic protection sets for half of the cabs.
Scania is also offering the new 8x8 chassis to customers in the civilian sector for heavy construction site applications. The first 8x8 chassis for off-road duty of this nature was unveiled by Scania at last year's Bauma international construction fair in Germany.
The components will be supplied by Scania's factories in Sweden and the vehicles will be produced at Scania Nederland in Zwolle, the Netherlands. The initial deliveries start in 2004 and will be finished in 2006.
A photo (neg. no. 00742-20) of the vehicle is available on Scania Image Bank, http://imagebank.scania.com
For further information, contact Bo Ostlund, tel. +46 8 553 828 46.
Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. With 28,200 employees and production facilities in Europe and Latin America, Scania is one of the most profitable companies in its sector. In 2002, turnover totalled SEK 47,000 million and the result after financial items was SEK 3,700 million. Scania products are marketed in about 100 countries worldwide and some 95 percent of Scania's vehicles are sold outside Sweden.
Scania press releases are available on the Internet, www.scania.com
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/11/17/20031117BIT00280/wkr0001.doc
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/11/17/20031117BIT00280/wkr0002.pdf