STOCKHOLM: World number two truck maker Volvo said on Monday that shipments of its trucks rose 22 percent year-on-year in November, led by North America, after a 25 percent rise the previous month.
Volvo, which sells trucks under the Renault, Mack, UD Trucks and Eicher brands as well as its own name, said unit shipments were up 12 percent in Europe while they rose 75 percent in North America. In Asia, deliveries were up 12 percent.
Deliveries totalled 22,440 in the month.
Shares in Volvo were down 0.1 percent in early trade, slightly outperforming the wider index.
"It was a little better than expected. We had expected 22,000 (total deliveries," said Hampus Engellau, analyst at Handelsbanken Capital Markets.
"If you look at the markets, Europe was a bit better given that Renault didn't have such negative deliveries as we had foreseen. North America was very strong and shows that they are starting to see results of the increase in the pace of production that they have put in place."
Truck makers have seen demand pick up sharply since the last downturn in 2009, but worries about slowing global growth and the euro zone debt crisis have soured the outlook.
Earlier this month, Volvo said it would introduce a shortened work-week for employees at its Renault Trucks unit as it looks to adjust production to an expected fall in demand.
It gave no further details at the time, but November figures showed that deliveries under the Renault brand fell in Europe by 6 percent in the month.
Deliveries of Renault trucks were also down in South America, though they rose in Asia.
When it reported third-quarter results in October, Volvo said it expected overall European truck sales to rise this year to 240,000 units from last year's 179,000 units, before an expected 10 percent drop next year.
Year-to-date, deliveries in Europe - Volvo's biggest market - are up 50 percent.
For North America, it expected the market to total 210,000 trucks this year and rise 20 percent in 2012.
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