Despite higher sales, Volvo posted a fourth-quarter loss of 487 kroner ($46 million) in fourth quarter 2001,compared with a net profit of 1.19 billion kroner in fourth quarter 2000.

Net sales were 48.6 billion kroner ($4.6 billion), up from 33.2 billion kroner a year earlier. The fourth-quarter results included a restructuring charge of about 1.14 billion kronor ($107 million). For 2001, Volvo lost 1.46 billion kronor ($138 million) in 2001, versus a net profit of 4.7 billion kronor in 2000. Sales rose 50 percent to 180.6 billion kronor ($17 billion).
The company said growth in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America were insufficient to offset the depressed North American truck market. In 2001 Volvo Global Truck delivered 155,311 trucks worldwide, a decrease of 17% compared to 2000. The biggest drop came in North America where deliveries of Volvo and Mack trucks totaled 34,645, down 40% from the previous year.
In Europe, total deliveries were 98,041, down 9% from 2000. Western European
deliveries were down 10%, to 90,460 units. Deliveries to Eastern Europe rose 8%, to 7,581 units. South American deliveries were up 13%, to 5,789 trucks. A strong fourth quarter boosted Asian deliveries to 6,603 trucks.
Order intake for Volvo’s truck operations worldwide declined 12% in 2001 -- 4% in
Europe and 35% in North America.