GREENSBORO, N.C. — Volvo Trucks has suffered a 54% decrease in North American sales during the second quarter, due to the pre-buy that preceded the launch of the EPA07 engines.

The company sold 5,892 trucks during the second quarter of 2007, compared to 12,748 the same time last year. Second quarter order bookings were 3,906, a 20% drop from the same period last year. And new truck deliveries were down 69% to 5,540.

The total market for heavy trucks in North America declined during the first six months of the year by 32% to 116,618 trucks, compared with 171,490 trucks during the first six months of 2006, Volvo announced in its Q2 financial report. The decrease is a consequence of customers choosing to buy new trucks ahead of the new emission standards, which came into effect on January 1, 2007.

Volvo also attributed lower freight volumes and a pre-existing dealer stock of trucks with EPA04 engines for the sluggish start to 2007.

Despite the sharp decline in sales, the company said it is encouraged by early feedback from customers operating the EPA07 trucks and engines.

Even though there have been delays in deliveries to customers, initial customer reactions to the performance of the new trucks have been very positive for both Mack and Volvo Trucks, the company reported. There have been positive reactions to both fuel economy and driveability.