In 1928 the first Volvo Truck was produced in Gothenburg, Sweden, one year after the first Volvo car rolled off the line. Volvo Truck Model 1 was an immediate success in Sweden and established Volvo trucks’ reputation for quality, safety and durability that has identified the Volvo brand for over 70 years. Volvo Trucks has since become one of the largest manufacturers of heavy trucks in the world, continuing to play a leading role in the development of new vehicles and transport solutions.
In the years after the World War II, as road-bound transportation became entrenched, societies around the globe became increasingly dependent upon trucks for moving goods. International demand for Volvo Trucks began to increase during this period based upon Volvo’s outstanding performance and proven longevity. Volvo Trucks expanded globally, continuing to innovate and renew its product range until by the end of the 1970s Volvo had emerged as one of the world’s leading truck-makers. In 1979 Volvo Truck Corporation, which had sold trucks in Saudi Arabia since 1962, strengthened its presence in the country by appointing Zahid Tractor its exclusive distributor in the Kingdom. The relationship between Volvo Truck and Volvo was reinforced in 1982 when Zahid formed its truck and vehicle division to represent Volvo cars, trucks and buses. Through Volvo Truck’s efforts in the marketplace and continuous investment in facilities and services to support the Volvo brand, Volvo Trucks have become a fixture on roads and highways throughout the Kingdom.
During the 1980s Volvo Trucks continued its ongoing technical program to improve on tried and tested solutions and develop increasingly efficient, durable and safe transport vehicles for the world market, a process which culminated in 1993 with Volvo’s breakthrough FH truck, the most technically advanced long-haul transport truck ever developed. The FH12 truck was voted European Truck of the year and took the world by storm. Launched by Volvo Truck in Saudi Arabia in 1994, the FH has since become one of the Kingdom’s most popular and highly regarded long-haul vehicles.
With 93 percent of its sales outside Scandinavia, it is natural that a large proportion of total production takes place in other parts of the world. Over the last three decades Volvo Trucks developed a global industrial infrastructure with manufacturing operations in Sweden, Belgium, US, Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Australia, Poland, Iran, Botswana, Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico, India, Egypt and Columbia. The growth of Volvo’s truck sales in the Kingdom throughout the 1990s encouraged both Zahid Tractor and Volvo Trucks to take the next logical step in their partnership and begin to build a facility to manufacture Volvo Trucks in Saudi Arabia. In 1998 a joint-venture partnership, Arabian Vehicles and Trucks Industry (AVI), was established between Volvo Truck Corporation, which has a 25 percent share, and Volvo Truck, which has a 75 percent share, to manufacturer Volvo Trucks in Saudi Arabia. The new AVI plant, built at Zahid Tractor’s Kilo 14 Complex on the outskirts of Jeddah, ergonomically designed and tooled by Volvo Truck Corporation engineers with a capacity to produce 600 trucks per year. The first FH truck rolled off the assembly line in the autumn of 1999 and AVI became ISO 9002 certified within an unusually short period.
“The AVI facility operates according to the highest international standards,” said Lennart Andersson, managing director of AVI. “The trucks produced here are exactly the same as those produced in Sweden and other Volvo plants throughout the word.”
Andersson added that production standards are not only rigorously maintained by AVI management, but also by a team of Volvo Trucks Auditors sent around the world to inspect every aspect of manufacturing in Volvo factories to ensure that no compromise is made in the vehicles produced.
AVI also produces the Volvo FM truck, the Volvo FM was a replacement for the FL truck line, which had been a part of Volvo’s product range for 13 years. Yet the FM represented a development by Volvo of “a family” of trucks adaptable to all markets in every part of the world.Samir Shubaily, director of Zahid Tractor’s Truck and Vehicle Division said, “The Volvo FM is the most advanced truck of its kind operating in the Kingdom. The FM brings the same technology found in the FH truck, to its rigid-chassis line, for the construction, service, transport and medium haulage markets. This means that the FM truck, with enhanced performance, much better fuel consumption, improved reliability and higher average speeds is easier to maintain, requires less down time, allows faster trip times, and gives users overall higher productivity. The bottom line is that the FM gives higher productivity and better value.”
In the new millennium, the upgraded Volvo FH12 truck was named European Truck of the year for the year 2000, the second time the FH12 has won this award. With Volvo’s recent acquisition of Renault’s truck company, Renault VI/Mack, which includes ownership of US-made Mack Truck brand, Volvo has become the largest manufacturer of heavy trucks in Europe and second largest in the world. According to Zahid Tractor management the market for trucks has strengthened during the first half of 2001 and, with higher oil prices and increasing confidence, the second half of the year should be even better.
