The Volvo Group’s storied Mack brand can quickly grow its way to a 10% market share as its teams remove long-running capacity constraints and roll out new models, President Stephen Roy said late last week.
Key to that in the short term, Roy told attendees of Volvo Group’s investor day gathering in Virginia, is the recent $40 million acquisition of a Commercial Vehicle Group Inc. plant in North Carolina making cabs. That move, which was announced in August and completed Oct. 1, came in response to production issues that Volvo CEO Martin Lundstedt last month said had caused “a significant loss of volumes” in the third quarter.
Speaking Nov. 14 at Volvo’s capital markets day, Roy said the acquisition was “really, really important” in helping the company address the capacity issues it has faced since 2019. The Volvo team has quickly gotten its hands on operations at the 230-employee plant in Kings Mountain west of Charlotte, which makes cabs for Mack’s medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
“We’re already seeing improvements in our total production systems,” Roy said.
Mack’s market share stands at about 6.5% this year, about two points below its historical average because of those production issues. Roy said he’s confident the CVG buy and other capacity investments will quickly get the brand back to its traditional level.
“As we expand our capacity, we know we’ll grab that share back because these have been loyal customers for a long time,” he said.
See also: Monterrey selected as site for new Volvo heavy-duty truck plant
Anticipated gains in the long-haul sector, which currently accounts for about half of unit sales, will power Mack's growth to an overall double-digit share, he added. The 2025 launch of a new truck for that market—Roy teased it with a promotional video but a full reveal and feature details will come in the near future—is expected to be a big driver of that. Volvo also is expanding its medium-duty plant in Roanoke, Virginia, to make a push in that corner of the market.
“They’ve been pushing us, quite frankly, because we haven’t delivered on the production,” he said. “They’ve invested while we’ve been short and so now it’s our turn. We’re investing.”
The shares of Volvo listed in the United States (Ticker: VLVLY) slipped nearly 1% to $24.71 Nov. 15. They are down about 6% over the past six months, which has trimmed the company’s market capitalization to about $51 billion.
