Scania has a presence in Iraq again, including both production and sales.
Trucks ordered by government customers are being assembled locally, while an independent distributor is supplying the private sector market with imported vehicles. This distributor is also responsible for the reconstruction of Scania’s sales and service network in the country.
“If the situation in Iraq continues to stabilise, within a few years the country can regain its position as Scania’s most important market in the Middle East,” says Martin Lundstedt, Executive Vice President and responsible for the company’s sales and marketing.
In the early 1980s, Iraq was one of Scania’s largest markets. At the peak, sales totalled 3,900 trucks in one year (1981).
Late in 2009, Iraq’s State Company for Automotive Industry (SCAI) began production of the first of 500 trucks ordered under the terms of an agreement between Scania and Iraq’s Ministry of Industry & Minerals. Production is taking place at the government’s Iskandariyah industrial complex south of Baghdad.
“Creating jobs in the country’s industry has been an important aspect of the agreement between Scania and the Iraqi government,” Lundstedt says.
Today the SCAI facility in Iskandariyah employs about 300 people in its Scania operations, which not only includes final assembly of truck chassis but also bodywork for delivery of ready-to-drive trucks.
