Scania checks in after challenging year

Scania has released its financial results for 2021, with another challenging year characterised by huge demand for new trucks as the world transitions out of the global pandemic, tempered by persistent supply chain issues.

Net sales across the Scania Group were up 17 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year while net income was up 33%. The order intake across trucks and buses was up 26% year on year, while deliveries still increased by 25%.

“The year 2021 for Scania has been characterised by record strong demand for trucks while we faced an extreme challenge in meeting this demand due to a shortage of components in the supply chain,” said Christian Levin, Scania’s President and CEO.

“Together with our suppliers, the organisation has made an extraordinarily strong effort to get so many trucks out to our customers in such a difficult situation. The shortage of components, in particular of semiconductors, meant that we were forced to reduce our production volume during the third and fourth quarters of 2021. The production disruptions led to a loss of volume of trucks and increased costs.

“We have also faced increased costs for materials and freight in our supply and delivery flows. Despite this we continued to perform and both sales and earnings increased in 2021 compared to last year. Despite a strong demand for trucks, this is not fully reflected in the order intake as we were restrictive with the placing of orders in the fourth quarter due to already large order books and the production start of Scania’s new powertrain program.”

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Despite the challenges the year presented, Scania says it has maintained its path towards sustainability.

“During the turbulent year of 2021, we remained focused on Scania’s decarbonisation commitment and we took several important steps towards sustainable transport,” said Mr Levin.

“In the fourth quarter, we introduced Scania Super with a powertrain based on our new engine platform which provides fuel savings of at least eight per cent. Just like all our vehicles, it is prepared for operation on renewable fuels.

“We also launched our second generation of hybrids and plug-in-hybrids during the fourth quarter. In innovative partnerships with customers, we have also developed fully electric trucks for the heaviest applications, demonstrating that all applications are possible to electrify. Serial production of our e-offering – hybrids, plug-in-hybrids and fully electric trucks – is now underway side by side with combustion engine vehicles on the production lines.

“We are continuing to invest in electrification in order to drive this shift. In 2021, we increased our R&D investments and we are now investing more in technology linked to electrification than in traditional combustion engine technology. We have pledged to bring our customers at least one new electric product application in the bus and truck segment every year.”