Swedish Volvo Group’s sale of trucks was “terrible” last month.

Volvo’s sale fell dramatically last month as the global economic turndown hit demand. The total deliveries from the Volvo Group’s truck operations in May amounted to 9,446 vehicles, a decrease of 57 percent compared with the year-earlier period.

“The figures are terrible”, said Patrik Sjöblom, Stockholm-based analyst at Cheuvreux, to the news wire SIX. “But we were expecting them to be terrible”.

The number of delivered vehicles was down 64 percent in Europe (4,033 units), 62 percent in North America (1,115 units), 54 percent in Asia (2,198 units) and 37 percent in South America (958).

However, figures in Europa and North America were slightly better than in April. Compared with April this year, deliveries increased by 3 percent in May.

AB Volvo, based in Göteborg, manufactures trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial power systems, and aerospace systems.