Volvo advances LNG models to fill diesel delivery gaps

Long waits for deliveries of new commercial vehicles to customers thanks, in part, to shortages of key components are bedevilling manufacturers at present. Volvo Trucks is no exception.

The majority of models in its latest line-up will not arrive with British customers until sometime during the first quarter of 2022 admits Christian Coolsaet (left), managing director of the company’s UK and Ireland operation.

“That’s the hard reality,” he says. “We can’t get the semiconductors we need and the car industry is in the same position.”

The situation has been exacerbated by socially-distanced assembly plants that were shuttered for several months last year still playing catch-up as demand for vehicles rises. At least all manufacturers are in the same boat, and there is one crumb of comfort Coolsaet can offer.

While lead times for diesels are stretching for month after wearisome month, a difference in the sort of parts they rely on means new models powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) looks set to arrive earlier. “We’ll be able to deliver them during quarter three of this year,” he promises.

Electric models are in similarly free supply.

The shortage of new trucks means fleets are hanging on to the vehicles they have already got until replacements arrive. As a consequence, the second-hand market is being starved of retailable stock, with an acute shortage of late year, low-mileage models.