Order intake for trucks world-wide declined 55% to 32,072 vehicles from 71,572. In Europe, the order intake for trucks fell sharply, to 115 vehicles from 41,970.
And it also neglected to mention that the dramatic falloff was the result of cancellations.
I'm missing something. Whether the falloff is due to cancellations or lack of new orders, Volvo's still in a world of hurt. In fact, wouldn't cancellations mean that Volvo may in fact be stuck with inventory it can't clear?
In other words, how are the original post and the WSJ article misleading?
Scania also reported Q3 Friday and truck orders in Europe were down 69% y/y - similar to volvo that had 20,000 new orders in Q3 compared with 47,000 in the same period last year.
"...fell only 4.8 percent last month, not 99.7% ...Aaahrrgghhhhh..."
The 4.8% is for European truck orders from all truck manufacturers, not just Volvo.
As for the Volvo story, their heavy truck orders in Europe fell by about 50%. You can get much better details of the accounting behind the numbers on page 11 of Volvo's Q3 2008 report (warning: pdf file):
As Miles suggests Volvo's 3rd quarter truck orders in Europe fell 50%. The net 115 figure comes from netting out all of Volvo's cancellations for whatever period in the third quarter, e.g. taking additional non-obligatory write downs for cancellations in the third quarter and for '09 delivery. Volvo acknowledges in their Conference call transcript that the write downs left a somewhat misleading picture for the third quarter as being actually much worse than it was. It was bad enough.
I agree with the thanks for all of CR's good work and a consequent occasional error is to be expected. The problem is with all the bloggers and other news sources that went whistling right past it. We will have a long time before we come out of this crisis. Thanks again for the excellent work CR and for the correction!
...fell only 4.8 percent last month, not 99.7% ...
Aaahrrgghhhhh..
And the american supremacists loved tha story soooo much
(while ignoring Chryslers axing of 25% of its white-collar employees).
(Well, the original source was thisismoney.co.uk, maybe that name explains a lot.)
CR, where is the original thread?
There were such nice comments in it.
Yes, but the original story was fun, and given the hard work of CR we expect an occasional misleading article to filter through.
The Wall Street Journal expressed it as follows:
And it also neglected to mention that the dramatic falloff was the result of cancellations.
Volvo and Scania Orders Retreat - WSJ.com
Still not a good month for the salesmen.
Or are they on commission in Europe?
Trade is dropping... fast! Let's not gloat on any one else's problems. As noted in an early comment... our Automakers are laying off like mad.
I'd rather keep overpaid assembly line workers than Realtors (tm) any day. But due to the bubble... both go out on the street.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
I'm missing something. Whether the falloff is due to cancellations or lack of new orders, Volvo's still in a world of hurt. In fact, wouldn't cancellations mean that Volvo may in fact be stuck with inventory it can't clear?
In other words, how are the original post and the WSJ article misleading?
Scania also reported Q3 Friday and truck orders in Europe were down 69% y/y - similar to volvo that had 20,000 new orders in Q3 compared with 47,000 in the same period last year.
Bubble of American Supremacy wrote:
"...fell only 4.8 percent last month, not 99.7% ...Aaahrrgghhhhh..."
The 4.8% is for European truck orders from all truck manufacturers, not just Volvo.
As for the Volvo story, their heavy truck orders in Europe fell by about 50%. You can get much better details of the accounting behind the numbers on page 11 of Volvo's Q3 2008 report (warning: pdf file):
http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/0D/7F/64/wkr0003.pdf
"Nine-month deliveries rose 3.5 percent to 250,580 vehicles."
Short term changes don't make a trend.
As Miles suggests Volvo's 3rd quarter truck orders in Europe fell 50%. The net 115 figure comes from netting out all of Volvo's cancellations for whatever period in the third quarter, e.g. taking additional non-obligatory write downs for cancellations in the third quarter and for '09 delivery. Volvo acknowledges in their Conference call transcript that the write downs left a somewhat misleading picture for the third quarter as being actually much worse than it was. It was bad enough.
I agree with the thanks for all of CR's good work and a consequent occasional error is to be expected. The problem is with all the bloggers and other news sources that went whistling right past it. We will have a long time before we come out of this crisis. Thanks again for the excellent work CR and for the correction!
An Economist.
They're boxy, but sales are dropping
Thanks, CR, for the great insight and 100% integrity you bring. If only all the business media were up to your standards.