Sales of heavy trucks in Europe are set to drop 40 percent in 2009 according to Volvo chief executive Leif Johansson.
 
However, he told Dow Jones that demand globally will recover before the end of the year.
 
He believes 180,000-200,000 trucks will be sold in Europe this year, down from 318,700 units in 2008.
 
Volvo Trucks said that deliveries in February declined to 4,512 units, a drop of 49% on the same month last year.
 
The company said that lower demand is now affecting all markets with the exception of Africa, where the deliveries still were higher in comparison to last year.
 
Acea today reported that European commercial vehicle sales were 38.7% down on last year in February.