Volvo announced plans to cut the workforce at its New River Valley plant by nearly one-third. The Dublin, VA, facility, which assembles vehicles for Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks, will eliminate 1,000 of its 3,170 positions during the first quarter of 2007.
According to Volvo, “the…reductions are the result of an expected industry-wide decline in demand for heavy-duty vehicles, driven primarily by many customers’ desire to delay purchasing trucks equipped with the new emissions technologies necessary to meet the U.S. EPA emissions standards that go into effect on January 1, 2007.”
The heftier ticket prices attached to the new trucks are considered to be one of the primary reasons fleets are holding back.