Mr Jansson (63), who has been managing director in Australia since August 2017, said he will retire following his “very enjoyable time in Australia”.

“I was very excited to be invited to run the Scania Australia business after 30 years working for Scania mostly in Sweden, and I have really enjoyed my time here,” he said.

“Scania’s performance has stepped up another notch or two over the past five years as we powered our way toward 10 per cent market share for heavy trucks.”

He said that while he was sad to be leaving Australia – “an amazing country in so many ways” – he had some vivid and enduring memories to take back.

“I am also very pleased that I am seeing many more Scania vehicles on the road these days.”

Mr Jansson will be replaced by Manfred Streit, currently Scania’s country director for Austria, who will take up his new role in Melbourne in August.

Despite living through lockdowns and work from home orders during the pandemic, Mr Jansson said he was “exceptionally proud” of the effort the Scania family and the teams at the authorised independent dealers delivered to keep our customers on the road over the past two-and-a-half years.

“This effort, no matter the difficulty, really shows how we live the promise of our ‘customer first’ core value,” he said.

“Sales of buses and coaches continue to play an important role in our business, and our buses have been driving the shift towards a more sustainable transport future. Not only have we made significant inroads into the hybrid-electric bus market, but we have already landed our first consignment of battery-electric bus chassis.

“I am also convinced that Scania’s battery electric trucks will have a successful future in Australia.

“We recently celebrated the opening of our ninth company-owned, capital city-based sales and service branch at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney, underlining our continued commitment to the Australian truck and bus markets.

“And with my background in the global parts and service organisation in Sweden, I am very pleased that our parts and service business in Australia has also improved significantly, maintaining our customers’ uptime and bolstering their profitability potential.”

By Neil Dowling