Volvo Trucks Korea, the No. 1 commercial vehicle importer by sales, aims to sell over 3,100 units this year, as part of its long-term sales goal to reach 4,000 units in 2020, the company said Wednesday.

“Last year, we celebrated a successful 20th anniversary of business here. By prioritizing safety and customer service this year, we hope to increase sales by 10 percent from last year,” Kim Young-jae, managing director of Volvo Trucks Korea, told reporters during a New Year’s conference in northern Seoul.

Volvo Trucks Korea sold 2,900 units last year, up 10 percent year-on-year.

By vehicle type, sales of midsize cargo trucks ranked No. 1, amounting to some 1,400 units, the company said.

Riding on growing sales of medium duty trucks, the company will introduce the FE lineup this year.

For heightened safety, vehicles rolled out by Volvo Trucks Korea from Jan. 1 are equipped with systems that provide collision warnings with emergency brakes and lane departure warnings, the company said. The installation of safety systems has led to a price hike of tractors by some 4 million won ($3,741).

Following a series of fatal highway accidents caused by trucks and buses, the government has made it mandatory for commercial vehicle makers to install safety systems in all its vehicles from 2019.

Regarding the company’s progress in autonomous driving, “I believe Volvo Trucks has secured level 3 self-driving. But for us, safety and economic efficiency is more important than autonomous driving,” Kim said.

For better customer service, it will construct a service center in the first half of this year and continue to train top level mechanics through theVolvo Trucks Tech College.

The company currently operates 29 service centers nationwide, which it plans to expand to 40 centers by 2020.

South Korea is Volvo Trucks’ ninth-biggest market by sales.

Volvo Trucks Korea, which entered the country in 1997, currently leads in the market share of imported commercial vehicle companies, followed by Man Truck & Bus Korea and Scania Korea, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)