STOCKHOLM, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The world's number two truck maker, AB Volvo , reported expectations-beating third-quarter earnings on Thursday and upgraded its forecast for total sales of heavy trucks in Western Europe this year.
Pre-tax profit was 1.3 billion Swedish crowns ($169.5 million) compared with a forecast of 940 million crowns in a Reuters poll of analysts, and 584 million crowns in the same period last year.
Volvo's sales at 40.5 billion crowns for the July-September period also beat market consensus at 37.8 billion crowns.
The company raised its forecast for total sales of heavy trucks in Europe this year to 214,000 units from an earlier forecast of 200,000 but left its forecast for North America unchanged at 170,000 units.