Volvo laying off 141 from Wroclaw plant as competitor Neoplan flourishes

Volvo Poland will lay off 141 of its 1,100 workers at Wroclaw's Centrum Przemyslowe Volvo factory, due to lower demand for its buses and the company's need to adjust its workforce to the reduced production level. Around 80% of the total production in Wroclaw is sold abroad. Last year the company sold 60 buses in Poland, three more than in 1999, and 296 complete buses and 425 undercarriages were exported from Volvo's Polish plant. This year 400 buses and 420 undercarriages will be produced in Wroclaw. Meanwhile, Volvo's competitor Neoplan has won a tender for delivery of 148 buses to to the Latvian capital, Riga, and is looking for revenues of euro 43 million from this contract alone. In February, the company signed a deal to deliver 165 buses to Warsaw. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B4) J.K.