Volvo Buses has won an order for 100 bus chassis for South Africa

Volvo Buses has won an order for 100 Volvo B7R bus chassis for South
Africa. The order is a breakthrough for Volvo Buses on the South African
market. The customer is Remant/Alton Land Transport (PTY) Ltd., and the
buses will be used for public transport services in and around Durban on
the east coast of South Africa.

The chassis are packaged as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) by Volvo Buses
in Boras and are being built locally at the company's assembly plant in
Gaborone, Botswana. The South African bodybuilder Busaf is bodybuilding
the chassis in Johannesburg.
"This order represents a breakthrough, not just for the Volvo B7R, which
was introduced to the market in 2001, but for rear-engined buses in
South Africa as a whole," says Andreas Wahlgren, sales manager for
Africa and Iran at Volvo Buses.
"So far the market has been totally dominated by front-engined buses.
The fact that South African drivers and other operators will now be
seeing a lot of rear-engined buses about from an important operator will
be significant for the continued development of sales of the Volvo B7R
in the country."

Head of Volvo Buses in South Africa, Sam Mansing, sees a strong
development for Volvo in South Africa.
"Buses are a very important means of transport in South Africa. At the
same time there is pressure for a general change in the bus fleet which,
together with an expansive development of society, is creating big
opportunities", says Sam Mansing.
The total market for imported brands in South Africa is approximately
1,000 bus chassis per year. Volvo has a market share of approximately 20
percent and is consequently the third largest imported brand in the
market.

November 13, 2003

For further information, please contact Christina Fjellman, 
+46 739-02 42 80