Volvos Chief Executive Olof Persson speaks during a news conference Wednesday Feb. 6, 2013, presenting financial results for the fourth quarter 2012. Swedish truck maker AB Volvo saw profits tumble in the fourth quarter as sales slumped 17 percent on weakening demand in key markets. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT
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Volvos Chief Executive Olof Persson speaks during a news conference Wednesday Feb. 6, 2013, presenting financial results for the fourth quarter 2012. Swedish truck maker AB Volvo saw profits tumble in the fourth quarter as sales slumped 17 percent on weakening demand in key markets. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT
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In this photo taken Saturday, April 21, 2007, the TX4 London cab built under a joint venture company between Manganese Bronze Holdings Plc and Geely Automobile Holdings Limited and Shanghai Maple is unveiled during the Shanghai Auto 2007 held in Shanghai, China. The Chinese automaker that bought Sweden's Volvo Cars in 2010 has acquired the British manufacturer of the distinctive London cab. Geely Holding Group said Friday, Feb 1, 2013 it bought Manganese Bronze Holdings out of bankruptcy court administration. Geely said it paid just over 11 million pounds ($17.5 million).(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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This Sept. 10, 2012 photo shows the Gevrey-Chambertin castle amid vinyards in Burgundy, eastern France. Gevrey-Chambertin is the kind of French village where the waiter chastises diners who don't order a glass of locally made wine, even at a midweek lunch. So when Louis Ng Chi Sing, a Macau casino magnate, purchased the thousand-year-old Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin and some surrounding vineyards in May for 8 million euros ($10.5 million) it set off a firestorm. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
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In this Sept. 10, 2012 photo, Jean-Michel Guillon, owner of the Domaine Guillon, stands in his cellar Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy, Eastern France in Burgundy, Eastern France. Guillon, who led a local bid to buy the thousand-year-old Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin, says a state agency valued the estate at 3.5 million euros. His group first offered 4 million euros, then 5 million, but the Masson family, which has owned the estate for more than 150 years, refused. "They said, 'We want more, we want a million each,'" Guillon says. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
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In this Sept. 10, 2012 photo, a modern sculpture of a monk by a French artist sits near the Gevrey-Chambertin castle in Burgundy, Eastern France. Gevrey-Chambertin is the kind of French village where the waiter chastises diners who don't order a glass of locally made wine, even at a midweek lunch. So when Louis Ng Chi Sing, a Macau casino magnate, purchased the thousand-year-old Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin and some surrounding vineyards in May for 8 million euros ($10.5 million) it set off a firestorm. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
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In this Sept. 10, 2012 photo, the Gevrey-Chambertin castle stands in Burgundy, Eastern France. Grape growers in Gevrey-Chambertin say the price Macau casino magnate Louis Ng Chi Sing paid for the chateau is exorbitant and threatens their ability to keep their vineyards in family hands. But in some ways, China has become a savior for some French vineyards, although few in France are willing to say that out loud. China is now a major buyer of wine, picking up the slack as sales to other countries slip. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
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This Sept. 10, 2012 photo shows the Gevrey-Chambertin castle in Burgundy, eastern France. In an email, Macau casino magnate Louis Ng Chi Sing who bought the chateau says it was the quiet, enduring traditions that first drew him to the Burgundy region and he promised not to ruin that. He describes his purchase of the chateau not as a business opportunity, but in the way most people explain why they bought their summer house. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)
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In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, dairy cattle are milked on a farm near Reporoa, south of Auckland, New Zealand. For Shanghai Pengxin, the purchase of 13 dairy and three cattle and sheep farms in the area was an opportunity to expand its fledgling farming interests. Among those who can afford it, baby formula made with New Zealand milk is highly valued in China because it is seen as pure, particularly in light of the melamine scandal. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
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In this Sept. 24, 2012 photo, dairy cattle return to pasture after being milked on a farm near Reporoa, south of Auckland, New Zealand. Earlier in the year, Chinese investor Jiang Zhaobai's company, Shanghai Pengzin, bought 13 dairy and three cattle and sheep farms in the Waikato region in a sale that was the subject of national debate and legal actions. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
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In this photo taken Sept. 25, 2012, a livestock transport truck drives into the self-declared shearing capital of the world Te Kuiti, on New Zealand’s central North Island. A Chinese investor this year bought 13 dairy and three cattle and sheep farms in the Waikato region in a sale that was the subject of national debate and legal action. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
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Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner talk about the souvenirs they took from the sets of the hugely successful 'Twilight' movie series. (Nov. 20)
Volvo truck sales and profits plunge in Q4
STOCKHOLM (
AP) — Swedish truck maker AB
Volvo saw profits tumble in the fourth quarter as sales slumped 17 percent on weakening demand in key markets, the company said Wednesday.
The net profit in the final three months of 2012 was 793 million kronor ($125 million), down from 4.72 billion kronor in the same period a year earlier. Sales fell to 71.8 billion kronor from 86.5 billion kronor in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Europe's debt crisis eroded demand, particularly in financially strapped southern Europe, where Volvo-owned Renault Trucks' order intake dropped by 18 percent. In North America, orders fell by 21 percent as customers delayed purchases due to sluggish job growth and concerns over the fiscal cliff, Volvo said.
"North American customers have remained cautious because of uncertainty about the future economic development," the company said. Still, it maintained its forecast that the market for heavy trucks in 2013 would reach about 250,000 in North America and 230,000 in Europe.
Volvo shares rose 4 percent to 96.55 kronor in Stockholm.
Last month, Volvo announced it would buy a 45 percent stake in China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co. — a deal it said would make it the world's biggest heavy trucks maker.
Trucks represent two-thirds of Volvo's sales, but the Goteborg, Sweden-based company also makes buses, construction equipment and boat and aircraft engines. Volvo sold its car division in 1999 to Ford Motor Co., which in turn sold it to China's Geely Holding Group in 2010.
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