Tailor-made Scania serves Sweden's national skiing team

Tailor-made Scania serves Sweden's national skiing team

Leaving nothing to chance has been Gunde Svan's recipe for success, both as a
skier and as a TV programme host. As General Manager of the Swedish national
cross-country skiing team, this cross-country world champion and Olympic gold
medallist is continuing in the same spirit. In preparation for the World Cup
premiere in Gällivare, Sweden, on 22 November, he is joining forces with Scania
to unveil an innovation that will help Sweden's cross-country skiers achieve
their full potential: A tailor-made ski waxing truck.


“I always see it as an advantage to be first. With this truck, we are assuming a
leading position when it comes to waxing service. It will provide a mental
advantage to our active team members, but above all it represents a more
efficient waxing service and a substantially better working environment for our
waxers. The truck is an innovation that will give our top Swedish team the
world's best waxing service. Hopefully it will take a few years before our
competitors manage to copy this concept,” Mr Svan says. 
With this unique truck, Scania is becoming a sponsor of the national
cross-country ski team. Its agreement with the Swedish Ski Association runs for
two years.

“Just like Scania, Swedish cross-country skiing has a strong international
brand. World elite skiers stand for many qualities that correspond to the way
our products are perceived,” says Erik Ljungberg, Scania's Senior Vice
President, Corporate Relations.

In preparation for this year's skiing season, Mr Svan is investing in
comprehensive solutions for his team, including expanded service to active team
members in the form of access to coaches, ski waxers and other key functions.
Understanding the importance of investing in such solutions is an attitude that
corresponds well to Scania's way of providing support to its customers.

“To enable all team members to perform at their best in competitions, there has
to be an organisation behind the team that backs up its active members. A good
service network is as important to Charlotte Kalla, Emil Jönsson and the other
members of Ski Team Sweden as it is to Scania's customers,” Mr Ljungberg says.

Specially built but using standard components
The truck attracts attention even from the outside − not only because it is
painted in the colours of the Swedish flag and the national team logotype, but
also because of its unusually large four-door cab, known as a Scania CrewCab.
This cab is much appreciated by customers that need a truck with room for many
passengers, for example fire brigades and other emergency response
organisations.  

Inside the three-plus metre long cab are seven seats, and upstairs are two
bunks. Equipment such as a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave oven make
the cab both a comfortable workstation and a place for eating and relaxing.

Along the walls inside the truck's nearly 20 square metre box body are plenty of
storage spaces with room for waxes and equipment. There are also benches where
seven service technicians can work with preparing the cross-country team
members' skis. At the very back is an ingeniously designed storage module with
room for 400 pairs of skis. When the truck is parked, the module is pushed
backward out of the box body, opening up the inside floor space.

The truck is also equipped with its own power generation system, making the rig
self-sufficient in electricity for lighting, heating and ventilation in
locations where no connection to the public grid is possible.

The skiing team's head waxing technician, Larry Poromaa, is pleased with the
design and convinced that the truck will be a great help, providing a
competitive advantage.

“The truck will make a big difference. It will give us a working environment
that beats anything seen before in connection with ski waxing. Those of us who
handle the waxing will also be much more efficient and will be able to test many
more skis, both between and during competitions. Handling of the team's
materials will be much smoother, and their skis will be spared from the damage
that often occurs during transport. It's great to be ahead of our competitors,”
Mr Poromaa says. 

The ski waxing truck is not only an innovation that will boost the level of
service to the skiers on the Swedish national team, but Ski Team Sweden sponsors
can also scale new heights − via a stairway leading up to an exclusive
spectators' deck on the roof of the mobile ski waxing cabin. 

For further information, please contact Hans-Åke Danielsson, Press Manager, 
tel. +46 8 553 856 62.




Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy
transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. A growing
proportion of the company's operations consists of products and services in the
financial and service sectors, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective
transport solutions and maximum uptime. Employing 35,000 people, Scania operates
in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in
Sweden, while production takes place in Europe and South America, with
facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. In
2007, invoiced sales totalled SEK 84.5 billion and net income amounted to SEK
8.6 billion. 

Scania press releases are available on the Internet at www.scania.com