Throughout 2007, Scania employed a strategy of intensive focus on the driver. The third edition of Scania’s driver competitions began early in the year – the world’s largest competition for heavy truck drivers, with 40,000 young drivers from nearly 40 countries on five continents competing.

In June, the company expanded its Scania Truck Gear Collection of clothing and accessories. And in September it unveiled a new common, quality-assured basic content for Scania’s driver training courses throughout the world.

“All these activities are very much interwoven, especially the driver competitions and driver training courses,” says Mikael Person of Scania’s Marketing Communications department.

The purpose of the competitions and the training courses is to strengthen the status of professional drivers and underscore their importance to the environment, to safety and to the profitability of transport companies.
“The driver competitions also help attract a larger number of capable young people to become professional drivers, which is one of the predominant issues facing the whole industry,” Person says.

The final burst of activities for 2007 is now beginning, but Scania will continue its focus on the driver. An important tool is the new platform for bus and truck driver training that Scania launched in September 2007. Scania’s driver training courses now have the same content and quality level, regardless of the country in which a course is held.

“This means that a large customer can let its drivers undergo our training programme in Poland or Germany and still be sure they will receive the same quality of training,” says Maria Jobenius, who works with the development of Scania’s driver training courses.

Investments in driver training pay for themselves quickly, according to experience from Scania’s driver training in nearly 40 countries worldwide over several decades. Fewer accidents and reduced carbon dioxide emissions are among the human gains. Lower repair costs, lower insurance premiums and better fuel economy are among the economic ones. “Fuel economy usually improves by 10 to 15 percent,” says Jobenius. “For a truck that drives 200,000 kilometres a year, this means a saving of at least about 5,400 euros and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 19 tonnes per year.”

Scania’s activities 2007
• Young European Truck Driver and other driver competitions.
• Driver training in most markets around the world – now with a common platform.
• New products for active and passive safety.
• Expanded Scania Truck Gear Collection, with drivers themselves specifying what they want their work clothes to be like.
• In development work, the focus is always on the driver