Onwards and upwards at Scania

October 20, 2021

Scania made the headlines recently, thanks to changes in the company, both here in South Africa and on a global front. We unpack these developments…

On the local front, we have seen Scania Southern Africa’s current managing director, Fabio Souza, returning to Brazil, as regional head. During his tenure, Souza implemented multiple strategic initiatives, as well as governance processes, that have greatly contributed to Scania Southern Africa’s leadership position in the local transport industry. His successor has yet to be announced.

This move follows an announcement by Scania Southern Africa that it will be integrating several changes to its commercial operation. “This follows a global decision to implement a strengthened strategic transformation across the Scania Group’s regional hubs. The development builds on Scania’s ‘think globally, act locally’ strategy that allows customers worldwide to benefit from the consolidated knowledge sourced from across the group, while enjoying regional flexibility suited to their unique needs,” explains Nomonde Kweyi, general manager, marketing and communications at Scania Southern Africa.

She notes that Scania believes that everything begins and ends with its people. “It is with great sadness but with the best of wishes that we say farewell to Fabio Souza. During this period, changes to our local structure and processes will include the active participation of our employees and unions where applicable. We also look forward to welcoming the new MD for Scania Southern Africa, who will be appointed in the coming weeks,” she says.

Christian Levin, president and CEO of Scania, is now also president and CEO of the Traton Group.

Scania Southern Africa’s current managing director, Fabio Souza, is returning to Brazil, as regional head.

On a global front, there have also been some significant leadership changes. The CEO roles for the Traton Group and Scania have been merged – and Christian Levin, president and CEO of Scania, is now also president and CEO of the Traton Group.

Traton CEO Matthias Gründler and CFO Christian Schulz left the company on September 30, 2021. Annette Danielski, previously head of corporate finance at Traton SE, was appointed the new CFO as of October 1, 2021.

Levin is upbeat about his new role. “I am honoured to take on the role as CEO of the Traton Group while continuing as CEO of Scania. Looking ahead, the focus will be on transforming the business into new technology areas and geographies, while leveraging further synergies through modularisation and scalability. Our strategy includes a stronger focus on sustainability, not least through e-mobility, digitalisation and connectivity – as well as the continued integration of Navistar and growth in the North American market, and continued investments in China over the next few years,” he reveals.

On this next step of the Traton journey, the strength, competence and business logic in each brand in the group – MAN, Navistar, Scania and Volkswagen Caminões e Ônibus – will continue to be leveraged.

Meanwhile, Scania has also reorganised its regional structures. The global regional reorganisation sees Europe split into three regions. The American structure remains unchanged, except for Brazil, which will now be a regional structure on its own.

Kweyi explains that these changes will allow Scania to strengthen the customer proposition. “Speed and flexibility will be enhanced, innovations leading to increased customer profitability are under development, and an intense focus on customer collaboration aims to position all the regions as strong commercial collaborators aligned to the overall global strategy and mission.

“Increased regional efficiency will give Scania’s customers access to expanded business efficiencies, smart cost savings and faster turnaround times.”

It’s clearly a case of onwards and upwards at Scania!