Sweden's Sсania, the heavy truck and bus producer, in late September 2009 plans to open an integrated distribution and dealer center for sales and servicing of Sсania trucks and buses near Kyiv (in Makarove district, ten kilometers from Kyiv on the Zhytomyr highway).
Sсania Ukraine's commercial director, Andriy Dallakyan, said at a press conference as a part of the opening of the SIA-TIR-2009 show that the construction of the center was started in Q3, 2008 and would be finished by late September 2009.
The total investment in the project was estimated at EUR 10 million, and Dallakyan said that around 70% of the sum had already been spent.
He said that this is the second Sweden investment in the development of the Sсania service chain in Ukraine – the first investment of several million euros was made in 2006 in the creation of a service centre in Donetsk.
At present, there are seven Sсania dealers in Ukraine, and half of them have certificates confirming that they meet the standards of the Swedish company.
The new center near Kyiv would be located on over 4,700 square meters, and it would include 18 service sites, a diagnostics and instrument control line and a body repair department.
Dallakyan said that the company evaluated the proximity to international highways and a convenient hub during the selection of the center's location.
"Today, our dealers work in Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sarny and Lviv, and from 2005 a need to open the second center in Kyiv appeared," he said.
He said that in the long-term outlook (around ten years), the company plans to expand its sales and service chain to 20-25 stations.
He said that taking into account the downturn, the company's plans to develop its dealer chain have been adjusted and prolonged for two or three years.
At present, the construction of service stations in Kirovohrad, Uzhgorod and Simferopol has been frozen.
Commenting on the present situation on the market, Dallakyan said that in Q1, 2009 there is low demand for trucks, but at present interest from carriers has appeared, the company is in talks, in particular, with possible buyers in those segments where the crisis has had less impact – in the agriculture, food and processing sectors.
He also said that a certain revival was also noticeable in the construction sector.
