Scania Australia has announced the appointment of a new head of bus and coach and power solutions, with Niklas Walter joining the company from Scania head office at Södertälje in Sweden.
Walter was most recently, the head of sales for Scania bus and coach in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Oceania markets.
Scania says Walter has 14 years of experience at Scania, initially joining as a trainee in the production department for trucks, before moving to bus and coach sales.
En route to his new role he also served as group manager for production and as a process engineer following his traineeship within Scania.
He also earned a Masters’ degrees in mechanical engineering and technology management from Lund University in Sweden prior to joining the company.
Walter was seconded to Scania Australia during 2017-2018, to work on a customer relationship management development project and says he thoroughly enjoyed his time here.
“I am very excited to return to Australia not only to join Scania here but also because the culture, lifestyle and the transport industry in Australia is very close to my heart, and this is also a logical move for me, to broaden my business experience, and get closer to our customers,” Walter said.
“At head office I was primarily focused on setting our sales strategies for the regions and I was the interface between the factory and our distributors, but in this new role in Australia I will have far more focus on customer relations and their purchasing motivations,” he said.
“Being really close to the customer and having a better understanding of their business brings far clearer insights for us to reflect back to the factory, thus influencing our future strategy and direction.
“I believe we have very professional and enthusiastic Bus & Coach and Power Solutions teams in Australia, and over 40 years we have developed very strong relationships within the Australian market,” Walter said.
“We are a stable business, our customers know they can rely on us, and that we are well set-up to assist our them achieve maximum uptime, thanks to a well-established network of service workshops across the country in addition to our company-owned branches.
“Scania is a premium brand, with excellent products that are suited to the local market across several segments, and many decades of operator experience with our products and our aftersales service.
“We have a full complement of renewable fuel solutions for customers keen to reduce their environmental footprints, particularly for long-distance touring, as well as of course full battery electric products, such as the city buses we are currently delivering in to South Australia for route bus work,” he said.
“I am particularly excited to be starting at Scania Australia now given that we have some very exciting new products on the way that will further cement our position in the market and give us the opportunity to grow our footprint, both in the Bus & Coach and the Power Solutions sectors,” Walter concluded.
