Mikael Jansson, Scania Australia’s managing director for the past five years has announced he will be returning to Sweden at the end of this month and will retire following what he describes as ‘his very enjoyable time in Australia’
The well liked and admired 63 year old Swede has been in charge of the local Scania subsidiary since August 2017, during a period of strong sales growth and plenty of challenges on the back of the Covid pandemic and difficult supply shortages. Jansson will be replaced in the local MD role by Manfred Streit who comes to the role from his current position as Scania’s country director for Austria. Streit will takes up his new role in August.
“I was very excited to be invited to run the Scania Australia business after 30 years working for Scania mostly in Sweden, and I have really enjoyed my time here,” said Jansson.
“Scania’s performance has stepped up another notch or two over the past five years as we powered our way toward 10 per cent market share for heavy trucks.
“While the pandemic has had a major impact on our business growth potential, I am very pleased to say that our order levels continue to reflect record demand,” Mikael said.
“Despite lockdowns and work from home orders, I was exceptionally proud of the effort our Scania family and the teams at our authorised independent dealers delivered to keep our customers on the road over the past two-and-a-half years. This effort, no matter the difficulty, really shows how we live the promise of our ‘customer first’ core value,” he said.
“Sales of buses and coaches continue to play an important role in our business, and our buses have been driving the shift towards a more sustainable transport future. Not only have we made significant inroads into the hybrid-electric bus market, but we have already landed our first consignment of battery electric bus chassis. I am also convinced that Scania’s battery electric trucks will have a successful future in Australia,” he said.
“We recently celebrated the opening of our ninth company-owned, capital city-based sales and service branch at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney, underlining our continued commitment to the Australian truck and bus markets.
“And with my background in the global parts and service organisation in Sweden, I am very pleased that our parts and service business in Australia has also improved significantly, maintaining our customers’ uptime and bolstering their profitability potential,” Mikael said.
“While I am sad to be leaving Australia, an amazing country in so many ways, I have some vivid and enduring memories to take back with me. I am also very pleased that I am seeing many more Scania vehicles on the road these days,” he concluded.
