Swedish road extravaganza
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A NEW CONCEPT in transport marketing was introduced in Sweden last week.
For four days the Swedish public were treated to a road transport festival which included conferences, a vehicle exhibition, an accessories and components exhibition, two livery competitions, a lorry driver of the year competition, and a gala evening with barbecue and folk music.
The event attracted more than 30,000 spectators (the population of Sweden is 7.5m). It involved operators, drivers, manufacturers and distributors and was organised and sponsored by two Swedish transport publications — Lastbilen, the operators' journal and Trailer, the drivers' magazine. The exhibition held 550 stands.
Between them, Saab, Scania and Volvo have 96 per cent of the vehicle market in Sweden. Nevertheless Daf, MercedesBenz, MAN-VW, Renault and lveco mounted substantial exhibits. British manufacturers were not represented.
The driving competition was less sophisticated than the British version but more spectacular. Eight manoeuvres were completed at speed in less than five minutes. Every driver used the same vehicle and there was only one class — a 56 tonne drawbar outfit. The Swedes are now confident that their gross weight limit will be raised, soon, to 61 tonnes.